Hello!

[Geografreak]

I've been lurking for a couple of weeks now, but wanted to finally log in and compliment y'all on the amount of information on this site!

I just started using my APAP about three weeks ago. Not feeling like it's doing anything for me, but I tend to be impatient. Hopefully it'll kick in soon - I'm tired of being tired!

Cheers!

[yaconsult]

Hi, George - welcome! Please go to your profile and fill out the equipment section.

While some, me included, were lucky to see results immediately, for others it takes a while. Checking your data is the best way to see if your settings are working for you. Check out the sleepyhead info at the top of the forum if you have a compatible machine.

Just being able to use the equipment every night, all night is a huge step forward.

[yaconsult]

Nice - you have the same machine that I do. What pressure settings did they do for you and what kind of AHI numbers are you getting? Mine are usually less than 1 but I've been on cpap for quite a few years.

[Geografreak]

Haha, so, funny story. I had a response typed out at home. Checking the board over lunch and apparently I didn't hit submit!

Oh well, just one of the many not-right things I've done on this Monday.

My AHIs have been around 1.5. A couple of times they've been as high as 4 after a gradual increase. Mask leak rates have been 95%+. Prescribed pressure 6-14, 90% 7.4.

My at-home study noted 17 hypopneas, 7 oa, and 2 ca. That seems to be consistent with what sleepy head is telling me - the majority of events are hypos with RERAs typically making up over half the remaining events. Sometimes the flow chart looks weird, other than the "sleep-wake-junk" as you call it, but that weirdness hasn't been getting scored as anything. Not quite sure what to make of it.

Hope you're all having a good day!

[robysue]

Mask leak rates have been 95%+.

Can you explain where you are getting this mask leak rate number from?

Sleephead reports total leak rate and an estimated excess leak rate, but both of these are measured in L/min and are not reported with a %.

The PR System One's LCD reports a Large Leak %, which is the percentage of time the leaks are in the Official Large Leak territory.

The on-line SleepMapper website presents a "Mask Fit" number (that's a % if I recall correctly), and the Mask Fit % represents the percentage of time when them mask has a good quality seal (I think)

So the interpretation of that leak rate number you cite depends heavily on where its coming from:

• If it's from the machine's LCD, you have a huge problem.
• If it's from the SleepMapper site, you don't have a leak problem.
• If that number is coming from SleepyHead, we need to know which of the various leak rates reported in SleepyHead you are talking about:
  • If that leak number is the 95% Total Leak Rate and the Median Total leak rate is much lower, you probably don't have a problem.
  • If that leak number is the Median Total Leak Rate, then you probably do have a problem.

[Geografreak]

Thanks for the catch, Roby!

The 95% is the MASK FIT percentage from Sleep Mapper.

[Geografreak]

Feel silly replying to my own post... but my post from earlier this afternoon was soo off... So many numbers running through my head - and it doesn't help that I have to deal with numbers quite a bit at work (yes, someone has been checking my math lately, as embarrassing as that is to admit).

The real sleep test result was 136 hypopneas, 7 obstructive, 2 centrals, with an REI of 17.

I understand there's a difference between AHI and REI... According to this my AHI would be 1.07...

Sleepyhead is reporting "AHI 1.9" for my last night's sleep (H = 11, O = 2, CA = 0, Minutes: 485), so it looks like its actually reporting REI. I'm sure if I'd made it all the way through the documentation it would have told me that.

Sorry, rambling. But the point is, it looks like I *should* be feeling better, just gotta not be quite so impatient.

[archangle]

Remember that even if you don't feel better with CPAP, untreated apnea will probably be slowly killing you. Untreated apnea is a bit like smoking. Even if you don't feel the bad effects yet, they're slowly building up over time.

Also, don't forget tiredness can be due to other reasons. Don't get "apnea blindness," where you blame everything on apnea or CPAP.

Sometimes, it takes a while to feel better. However, if you don't get to feeling better in a month or too, you might want to do some more investigation and/or tinkering with pressure. I find I feel better with a higher minimum pressure even though my AHI is good without it.

[Nick Danger]

Feel silly replying to my own post... but my post from earlier this afternoon was soo off... So many numbers running through my head - and it doesn't help that I have to deal with numbers quite a bit at work (yes, someone has been checking my math lately, as embarrassing as that is to admit).

The real sleep test result was 136 hypopneas, 7 obstructive, 2 centrals, with an REI of 17.

I understand there's a difference between AHI and REI... According to this my AHI would be 1.07...

Sleepyhead is reporting "AHI 1.9" for my last night's sleep (H = 11, O = 2, CA = 0, Minutes: 485), so it looks like its actually reporting REI. I'm sure if I'd made it all the way through the documentation it would have told me that.

Sorry, rambling. But the point is, it looks like I *should* be feeling better, just gotta not be quite so impatient.

Hypopneas are included in AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index). I haven't heard of REI - are you sure that wasn't RDI? RDI counts not only apneas and hypopneas, but also includes respiratory effort related arousals (RERA's). To get your sleep test AHI add your hypopneas (136) and apneas (9) then divide by the number of hours of sleep.



Some of us felt better immediately after beginning CPAP - most of us felt better over time. I've been on CPAP for about 3 years (fully compliant for about 2.5 years). I know I feel MUCH better now than before, but I can't put my finger on when that happened - it was a gradual improvement over time.

How do I know I am better than before? I can't remember the last time I felt drowsy while driving. I don't fall asleep during movies, plays, concerts, etc. I can read while reclining for more than 15 minutes without falling asleep. I don't fall asleep in meetings. I rarely wake up with headaches. The more hours of sleep I get the more refreshed I feel. All of those responses are very different from the responses I would have given a few years ago.

[Geografreak]

Feel silly replying to my own post... but my post from earlier this afternoon was soo off... So many numbers running through my head - and it doesn't help that I have to deal with numbers quite a bit at work (yes, someone has been checking my math lately, as embarrassing as that is to admit).

The real sleep test result was 136 hypopneas, 7 obstructive, 2 centrals, with an REI of 17.

I understand there's a difference between AHI and REI... According to this my AHI would be 1.07...

Sleepyhead is reporting "AHI 1.9" for my last night's sleep (H = 11, O = 2, CA = 0, Minutes: 485), so it looks like its actually reporting REI. I'm sure if I'd made it all the way through the documentation it would have told me that.

Sorry, rambling. But the point is, it looks like I *should* be feeling better, just gotta not be quite so impatient.

Hypopneas are included in AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index). I haven't heard of REI - are you sure that wasn't RDI? RDI counts not only apneas and hypopneas, but also includes respiratory effort related arousals (RERA's). To get your sleep test AHI add your hypopneas (136) and apneas (9) then divide by the number of hours of sleep.



Some of us felt better immediately after beginning CPAP - most of us felt better over time. I've been on CPAP for about 3 years (fully compliant for about 2.5 years). I know I feel MUCH better now than before, but I can't put my finger on when that happened - it was a gradual improvement over time.

How do I know I am better than before? I can't remember the last time I felt drowsy while driving. I don't fall asleep during movies, plays, concerts, etc. I can read while reclining for more than 15 minutes without falling asleep. I don't fall asleep in meetings. I rarely wake up with headaches. The more hours of sleep I get the more refreshed I feel. All of those responses are very different from the responses I would have given a few years ago.

[spmccord]

[Geografreak]

Thanks for the welcome, SPM.

Nick, ArchAngle I apologize - I just now realized my response to you got lost some how....

REI - that's what's written on my lab report. Maybe the transcriptionist got it wrong?

"Apnea Blindness" - I actually wondered about this from the moment I first saw the sleep doctor. I had some of my own speculation about what's going on, but my PC said it was either A) Weight Related or B) Sleep Related (which she then went back to (A). So, she referred me to the sleep doctor. He educated me on sleep apnea and said he would arrange for a home sleep test because he didn't see any point going to the trouble of a full sleep study. Only reason he was doing the home test was to make insurance happy. I asked him, "What if it doesn't show OSA?" his response was that if it didn't show OSA then I did something wrong setting up the home sleep test. There was nothing else that could be going on based on his clinical evaluation.

However, I *KNOW* I didn't sleep well the night of the sleep test, but yet my lab report shows a full 8+ hours of "usable" data. Reading on here about "sleep-wake-junk" and looking at how Sleepyhead scores that stuff (and indeed when I'm having trouble falling asleep my hypopnea and OA scores skyrocket), there's a part of me that's really questioning the sleep study's results. I'm wishing I'd gone ahead and just gone for the full sleep study (I've met my annual maximum on insurance anyway), so that they'd know when I was actually asleep.

Or maybe that's just me about at my wit's end. I'm about 4 days shy of four months on this thing, and this week especially I've felt so exhausted [and stressed at work] that I've been nearly in tears. I was fed up months ago, but I kept telling myself, "I'm going to see a sleep doctor. He'll get me hooked up, I'll be getting better quality sleep, things will look brighter." Now I'm just waiting for the gosh darn thing to work. I'm hoping the Doc has something useful to say when he reviews my compliance data. I don't see him for another two weeks, though I have to reschedule the appointment so I may just try to go ahead and move it up a week.