Trying to figure if my Dad has OSA. Need opinions......

Ok, so I have severe OSA. I am 30 and at most 20 lbs overweight. My father is 52 and prob 100 lbs overweight and snores loudly. He says he wakes up several times a night, but has no daytime sleepyness and no other problems. So I figure he has OSA too, right?

I put him on my backup S8 Vantage for 2 nights set at 5-10. Looking at the data, I am not so sure he has OSA at all.........

After the "settling" time, the machine goes right to 10 and stays there all night. He isn't snoring anymore (that can be heard). Leak numbers are good (.1-.2). His AHI is around 5 with NO apneas......

Now, does this mean he doesn't have OSA? Or is it just a coincidence that he has none with the machine? (I have never not had at least 3 apneas in a night on cpap) I guess because I have it, I assume he does too. The data is pretty inconclusive although his risk factors are high.

Can anyone shed some light?

The only true answer is that your father should go to his doctor and have a sleep study. The results you get on your machine are no substitute for a medical evaluation.

While this is not a diagnostic device either, go out and get a cheap voice activated mini tape recorder and have your father stick it next to his pillow. For me, this technique provided inconclusive proof that I had sleep apnea.... Those 20-30 seconds of silence followed by violent snorting and gasping was pretty much all the evidence I needed to be motivated to go to a sleep doctor.

(By the way, my doctor told me that in 30 years of practicing sleep medicine, he had never had a patient show up with a tape of himself snoring and that the tape provided inconclusive proof for him that a sleep study was warranted).

By the way, did your father notice any difference after using your machine?

George

After the "settling" time, the machine goes right to 10 and stays there all night

Why should the machine go up to 10 if his breathing is normal?
Seems to me his apnea is getting properly treated at 10. If you want the machine to record apenas, without treating them, set it a a 4 to 4, or 5 to 5 range, at the most, and then look at the results.

Your dad seems to need a pressure of 10 to handle his apneas.

By the way, the amount of pressure needed to splint the airways open (in your dad's case, 10) is not related to the severitiy of the breathting disturbance, which measured in the number of apnea and hypopneas per hour.

O.

A way you might be able to use the machines recording function to tell is to hook dad up and set the machine for a very low range..maybe 4-5 or CPAP 4. Then see what the data says.

Howdy Dirk,

I agree with previous posters, he needs to go in for a sleep test.

If he insists on not going in, and wants an alternative, he may want to consider the SLP Sleep Strip.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/slp-sl ... study.html

If he is on the fence between going in to the test or not and wants to know why he should go and what it will be like, cpaptalk.com offers a free DVD that explains the process:

cpaptalk-cpap-video-movie.php?videos=mail

You are being a good son to your father. Hopefully between your drive and the tools available on this board, we can get conclusive information.

Johnny

Dirk,

I also agree with what the others have said. Other factors to consider are whether he's had a weight increase in the last few years, whether his glucose levels have been increasing, monitoring his breathing when he is not using your CPAP, setting your CPAP to a higher number to see if he goes up to that number, too. It could be that the setting of 10 eliminated his apneas during the nights you were testing him. He could be on the verge of developing OSA and hopefully will be lucky enough to reverse any affects before they do any long term damage. I definitely recommend that he talk to his doctor.

Best wishes,

Den