What To Do? Self Titrating

[tedburnsIII]

Would it be at all helpful to see a Respiration chart/graph (if such exists with SH) to determine if OP was breathing during the numerous Clear Airway/mixed apnea events reported?

That would be the flow rate zoomed in on a breath by breath in SleepyHead or wave form graph in Encore.
I wasn't going to both with those yet until he reports actually getting good solid blocks of sleep which he isn't getting now.

There's a real good chance that those CAs/centrals are awake/semi awake breathing artifacts because he is having a LOT of wake ups from general adjustment to all this.
I already asked about those 2 particularly ugly clusters..the first one right about 1:00 and we think that he wasn't yet asleep and the other at 2:45 he reported that he was likely awake.

The first to short sessions shown he never went to sleep..

The wave form/flow rate will definitely show a reduction/cessation of air flow but it's difficult to determine wake status from the air flow graphs. It takes a practice eye to tell the difference and mine isn't that practiced (that I am all that comfortable with stating with any certainty).

But sense he is reporting numerous wake ups fiddling with the mask and stuff...we know there's a lot of awake/semi awake SWJ (Sleep/Wake/Junk) already and until he can say I slept a solid so and so time frame it really wouldn't help much to look at it.

At this point he is slowly increasing the minimum because raising it quickly caused sleep problems too. Just not comfortable and was fighting breathing with the machine.
We are keeping an eye on the centrals/CAs but not too worried at this time because there's a logical reason for them at this time. Will worry later if they are still present and no logical reason for them.

So, reliability of the data in OP's chart(s), above, is questionable, due to the above remarks.

And there is no 'Respir' chart or graph per se for SH, but Flow rate would be the equivalent?

Asked the question because I seem to recall seeing a 'Respir' rate in SH posts previously. Perhaps that was related to pulse oximeter in SH? ...just don't remember for sure.

Flow or Flow Limitation I thought related to less air going through the airway, but wondered if there was a separate indication of Respiration Rate. I also thought that Flow Rate would be related to the machine, not the person's own respiration. Sorry about my lack of knowledge/confusion about these matters, but that's one of the reasons for a forum.

[Pugsy]

Go over to clearyt's thread to see examples of wave form or flow rate.
Respiration rate is just a numerical rate and wouldn't help.
Flow rate isn't just a SleepyHead data point...Encore calls it wave form...breath by breath
Scroll through to find the images of the wave form that I posted. I don't remember what page they are on.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=106598&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

And there is no 'Respir' chart or graph per se for SH, but Flow rate would be the equivalent?

[tedburnsIII]

Thank you.

Later:

Here is where some of my confusion lies. There is a separate readout for Respir. Rate in clearyt graphs at bottom, so I'd like to know
the distinction between respiration and flow rates. What do each represent?:

[Pugsy]

I'd like to know
the distinction between respiration and flow rates. What do each represent?:

Respiration rate is nothing more than the rate of breathing...breaths per minute. Varies widely among people for any number of reasons and doesn't really tell us much unless extremely abnormal and if it were that bad the doctor would already be all over it. I don't even bother looking at respiration rate.

Flow rate or the breath by breath (you have to zoom way in on the SleepyHead flow rate graph to see it) is the actual breathing pattern. Sometimes it's useful to evaluate and sometimes not.
Depends on how far under the microscope we want to put these reports and how much work a person wants to do. Until Joe reports getting good solid blocks of sleep it really isn't particularly useful to put these reports under the microscope because it can be difficult to differentiate between awake and asleep breathing unless you really know what you are looking at....and the awake breathing flagged events don't count anyway.

Some examples of what has to be sorted through and this is asleep breathing I think

[tedburnsIII]

I'm not trying to oversimplify but perhaps I am?

If an event is a true central apnea then the brain fails to signal for the patient to breathe. The patient fails to breathe for at least 10s and many times longer, correct?

Woudn't that failure to breathe show up in the respiration graph?

[Pugsy]

If an event is a true central apnea then the brain fails to signal for the patient to breathe. The patient fails to breathe for at least 10s and many times longer, correct?

Woudn't that failure to breathe show up in the respiration graph?

The respiration graph is a numerical graph of the breaths per minute...it doesn't show the respiration or the absence of respiration.
You can't see the breath on that graph to know if it happened or not..it's just a number.
Below is a zoomed in picture of a short time frame on one of my reports where a couple of apnea events occurred. SleepyHead calls them UAs with my machine...ResScan just calls them apneas but they are OAs.

What you are asking cannot be seen on the respiration graph in the manner to make it shown on the RR graph..it's only on the flow rate graph. It just doesn't do RR that way on these graphs. I don't know why, I just know this is what you get.

[tedburnsIII]

Great, Pugsy, and thanks! I've read your post, above, and will review the chart posted, and will follow-up if I have any further questions.

So, I learned something. Inter alia, Respiration Rate will not show cessation of Respiration, it will likely show up on Flow Rate if at all, or always?

Does the area that I've highlighted in yellow depict abnormal/low flow leading to the UA event?

[Pugsy]

Respiration Rate will not show cessation of Respiration, it will likely show up on Flow Rate if at all, or always?

Cessation or simply a reduction in air flow will show up on the wave form/flow rate graphs every time as long as the machine is working properly. If someone wants to study the entire night's flow rate there are often reductions and cessations that don't meet the criteria to earn a flag but they will still be there without a flag.
One of the advantages to using a machine that gathers this sort of data.

[tedburnsIII]

Thank you.