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Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Fri May 15, 2015 2:31 pm

Hello, everyone!

I've been lurking for about a month now. I was prompted to have a sleep study because my now-ex girlfriend couldn't sleep with my loud snoring.

First, I had a home sleep study. The thing fell off twice during the night and I woke up with the nasal cannula on top of my head. I didn't think they'd get much, but I was told I did have sleep apnea and should come in for an overnight.

To cut to the chase...Overnight #1 was awful and uncomfortable, but I did sleep. I then met with my ENT who told me that my apnea was mild, but I was awakening a lot during REM sleep and not getting restful sleep. Sooo, I went in for Overnight #2 (titration? with CPAP) and couldn't take it. Day staffer had the heat on (in Houston...HEAT?!?!) so when I arrived, the room was unbearably warm. After four hours of sweating, I threw in the towel and terminated my study. If I didn't fall asleep within the next 30 minutes, it would have been a wash, anyway. I emailed my doctor about my experience and I an APAP was ordered for me, which I'm picking up tonight (5/15/2015). A tech will show me how to set it up and use it, I guess, and I'm to report back to my ENT/sleep center soon.

I didn't complete the titration study, which might be bad or counterproductive (?) but I am excited to get started on this. I'm generally lethargic, have a dull headache/brain fog, occasionally depressed and unmotivated to do much of anything after work each day. I'm not expecting a miracle, but my doctor said I should notice quite a bit of difference in how I feel.

My case is probably mild. I'm still trying to make sense of all the lingo, but this seems like a pretty knowledgeable community that's willing to listen, help, give encouragement and reality checks when called for.

So I'm just dropping in to introduce myself and say "hey."

I'll be back to chronicle my experiences on the hose.

This is a link to photos of the what-seemed-relevant parts of my sleep study:
http://imgur.com/a/Sljhs

Have a good day, y'all!

kaiasgram · Post by **kaiasgram** » Fri May 15, 2015 3:01 pm

Looks like a pretty straightforward case of OSA and you should be fine doing your titration at home with an APAP machine. When you get your equipment post the information here and we'll be able to point you to the clinical manual for your machine and possibly a video tutorial showing the therapy settings and comfort settings. Often the DME rep sets the comfort features and may or may not familiarize the patient with them. It can make a world of difference to the success of your therapy if you know how to adjust things like Ramp time, exhale relief, temp and humidification...

Welcome to the forum.

bwexler · Post by **bwexler** » Fri May 15, 2015 3:29 pm

From someone who is still in learning mode (slower than I would like) it seems like your sleeping pulse rat is rather high. Some of the brains here may chime in and correct me or comment otherwise.

Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Fri May 15, 2015 7:06 pm

Alright... I'm back, machine and mask in-hand.

I received a ResMed AirCurve 10S and a ResMed Quattro FX full face mask.

Setting up now...

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Fri May 15, 2015 8:28 pm

The aircurve should at least be an autoset, since lab titration was a failure.
If they gave you a "cpap", they did you no favor!

Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Fri May 15, 2015 8:39 pm

It's auto.

Gave it a 15min test run. I like the exhale relief. It was all a little weird for five minutes, but after that I was perfectly comfortable. It's still a while before my usual bedtime and I'm not tired, but I'm gonna strap in and probably doze off while I half watch Big Trouble in Little China.

kaiasgram · Post by **kaiasgram** » Fri May 15, 2015 9:50 pm

Mzee wrote:It's auto.

Gave it a 15min test run. I like the exhale relief. It was all a little weird for five minutes, but after that I was perfectly comfortable. It's still a while before my usual bedtime and I'm not tired, but I'm gonna strap in and probably doze off while I half watch Big Trouble in Little China.

If you've selected the correct machine in your profile you have the AirCurve 10 Bilevel machine (not an APAP). Just to be sure, check the number on the label (side or underside of the machine) -- if it says 37213 then you've selected the right machine. If not, let us know what the number is.

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Fri May 15, 2015 10:09 pm

kaiasgram wrote: if it says 37213 then you've selected the right machine. If not, let us know what the number is.

it won't say 37213, that's a bundle ordering code for a two pack.

the S is either 37045, 46 or 47, not sure which.

Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Fri May 15, 2015 10:13 pm

Ah, OK.

PHOTO:
http://imgur.com/gMEIywp

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:07 pm

The AirCurve 10 S isn't an auto adjusting pressure machine (that's what an apap does) but it's not a big deal.
You can find a suitable pressure with this machine in the fixed bilevel mode fairly easily....might just take a little more time than having apap available could have done.....or it might not even take any time at all depending on the settings now and the results those settings are giving you.

You can use SleepyHead or ResScan software to evaluate how things are going. Links for information about SleepyHead are in my signature line. If you want to try ResScan send me a private message....Windows only though...no Mac version of ResScan but SleepyHead has both a Mac and a Windows version.

Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:12 pm

I've installed Sleepyhead in my Mac and resmed has something called MyAir. Apparently this thing might send reports via a cellular network.

Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:13 pm

Btw, thanks for the input, y'all. I'm excited to see how the night goes.

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:57 pm

The level of data available on the MyAir website is very basic and not much detail at all.
Just some summary stuff and that's it.
No where near what you will see with SleepyHead.

Mzee · Post by **Mzee** » Sat May 16, 2015 5:05 am

Just woke up.

I feel pretty good. Alert...like I've had a gallon of coffee, but in a good way.

I took some screen caps of the Sleepyhead report.

I do know that I adjusted the mask a couple times before I fell asleep, woke up maybe once more to adjust it, and those were definitely big leaks.

It probably took about 30 minutes for me to fall asleep.

Anyway, screen caps here:
http://imgur.com/a/rLGFn

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Sat May 16, 2015 7:16 am

Geez....they gave you a really nice bilevel machine and not only did they not give you the auto adjusting pressure (apap) machine..they are running it in CPAP mode with a fixed pressure of 10. How odd.
SleepyHead is having a little trouble with the AirCurve machines getting the settings right because this version of SleepyHead was released about 4 months before the Air Curve line was released.

According to SleepyHead you are using fixed cpap mode at a pressure of 10 with no EPR exhale relief.
Can you confirm that those are indeed the settings just in case SleepyHead is confused?
Do you know how to get to the clinical setup menu to see exactly what the settings are?
If not...go here and request the clinical/provider manual for the
ResMed AirCurve 10 VAuto, S & ST (combined manual)
So you can learn about the features your machine offers.
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual

For a first night...quite decent of a report.

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