Too early?

[cctex]

So the first 2 nights with my CPAP and the numbers I got off the machine are:
1st night. AHI 14.8 Periodic breathing 10%
2nd night AHI 17 Periodic breathing 13%
Leakage for both nights was 0.
My pressure setting is 13.
I have not pulled the card so see what additional information is on it.
I'm disappointed the numbers aren't better but is it too early to worry about?
CC

[Pugsy]

Yes, it's a little early to be expecting much especially for such an adjustment .

How is the sleep going? Spending much time with the mask and machine on and being awake? Fiddling with the mask?
If so that could explain a good bit of the AHI and the PB%. The machine can and will flag awake/semi awake breathing irregularities as some sort of event by mistake.
Now if you tell me you put the mask on and went to sleep in 5 minutes and never woke up till 7 or 8 hours later and got up immediately...then we might start worrying about those numbers.

[cctex]

Actually the sleep is going pretty good. About 7 hours a night. It takes a little longer to go to sleep, about 20 minutes. During the night I will wake up 3 or 4 times. It only takes about 10 minutes to go back to sleep though.
Thanks

[Pugsy]

Waking 3 or 4 times a night with about 10 minutes for each time to go to sleep could maybe account for some of the events and the PB.

While not horribly alarming I suppose we should watch things pretty closely.

Do you have the software so we can see what one of those nights looked like and see the event category breakdown for that AHI?

[cctex]

I have not downloaded the software yet. I was planning on doing that this weekend and look into it further.

[Julie]

Are you using the ramp feature? For how long and starting at what pressure?

[cctex]

Yes, using the ramp. It was pre-set at 6 for 20 minutes.

[Pugsy]

Once you get the software installed you may see a little clustering of some of those events when you first turn on the machine and ramp is being used especially...either because you are maybe awake and getting some awake event flags or maybe because you go to sleep and some events happen during ramp. 20 minutes isn't bad though.

When you get time if you can show us your detailed report it will help us have a better idea what seems to be going on.
Don't know how to post an image of your report?
This thread explains it.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81072&p=737779#p737779

[Julie]

Have you tried setting the ramp time for less than 20 minutes, or even not used it at all? You certainly don't 'need' it as therapy, only for comfort, and I think the majority of us don't use it at all beyond the initial few days or weeks unless our pressures are set very high, as it can add to problems getting to sleep rather than helping, providing we get used to going straight to our scripted pressures once the mask is on... it's a personal choice though.

[jweeks]

Actually the sleep is going pretty good. About 7 hours a night. It takes a little longer to go to sleep, about 20 minutes. During the night I will wake up 3 or 4 times. It only takes about 10 minutes to go back to sleep though.

Hi,

This sounds OK to me for a new user. Since you have all this new gear, it is only natural to take a little longer to fall asleep. Over time, you will be so used to it that you will be able to get to sleep easier. Another factor is that you are probably sleeping better. That can actually make it seem to take a little longer to get to sleep. What could trigger that is when you have OSA, you are often really tired, and go to sleep very, very quickly (you just don't get useful sleep). When you are sleeping better, you are not so dead tired at bed time.

Most normal folks wake up a few times each night. Most people never realize it, and they drift back to sleep quickly. You might remember waking up like this if you happen to look at the clock. However, with all this new CPAP stuff, when you wake up like this, you wake more fully up, and then you remember it. Over time, as you get used to the CPAP machine, you will probably not wake up so fully, and then quickly drift back to sleep. Us CPAP users sometimes remember our wake-ups more because we are more in tune with our sleep. Most of these wake-ups happen right after a REM cycle. If this is your case, having 3 or 4 REM cycles is a really good sign since you probably were having poor REM prior to starting on the machine.

As Pugsy suggested, getting a data download would be helpful. In the mean time, for the first week or 10 days, your goal should be to try to get as much sleep as you possibly can. Do that even if you have to rearrange your schedule or take a few days off of work.

-john-

[cctex]

I tried to download the patch for sleepyhead so I could view my card but did not work. I downloaded encore basic and this is all I have been able to view. Might be all I get to view. This is from Thursday night and it looks pretty ugly at times.

[Pugsy]

That's the wave form graphs....click on the "detail" line at the history tab and wait for the detailed reports. It will seem like the software freezes because it is so slow.

[cctex]

Thanks Pugsy.

[Pugsy]

Your pressure isn't sufficient. Too many snores and OAs. And in cpap mode it won't flag Flow limitations so that 0.0 for FLs isn't necessarily what is happening.

Is this 13 cm pressure what was determined by a sleep lab titration study?

Are you doing this yourself or under a doctor's care?

Its not too early to see that things aren't going so great. Your leaks aren't an issue...your pressure is an issue.

[cctex]

Is this 13 cm pressure what was determined by a sleep lab titration study?

Are you doing this yourself or under a doctor's care?

Its not too early to see that things aren't going so great. Your leaks aren't an issue...your pressure is an issue.

Yes I had a sleep study done. I was a one night deal. If they detected sleep apnea they would come in and hook me up to a cpap and that's what they did. 13 is what they determined that it needed to be set at. Communication with them is like pulling teeth though. I know how to adjust the pressure or should I consult them. If I did, in what increment should I adjust it up?