Newbie.

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:14 am

Had a MUCH better night last night. Uped my number from 5 to 6 and fell asleep easier. All the CA's between 615 and 7...was after I took the mask off and turned off the machine around 615 . I turned it back on and laid there for a little thinking I would fall asleep but decided not to. My AHI was 2 before that happened. Anyway...thank you SO much for the advice yesterday. It was a great help in determining what I needed to do.

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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie.

Post by Pugsy » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:35 am

That is such a much better looking report and what is even better is you say you fell asleep easier and slept better. Win-Win.
There's still a few FLs and RERAs that I don't like but I would suggest staying the course for a few nights and then consider 6.5 minimum or 7.0 minimum...and unless something drastic changes I think that will be all the tweaking you need to do.
The FLs and RERAs aren't part of the AHI but I always look at them and want to keep them reduced also.
Think of them as OA or hyponea babies wanting to go up and earn a OA or hyponea flag. They aren't horrible but they want to cause trouble.

Sounds like you are one of those people who have a little trouble using 5 cm minimum...it's fairly common. It simply doesn't move enough air for us to be all that comfortable. My own sister (when I gave her an in home sleep study with my apap machine) yanked the mask off pretty much immediately when I tried to start her at 5 cm...said I was trying to suffocate her...we had to use 6.0 for her to be comfortable enough to sleep.

Good job on last night and I am so happy you did well and those pesky centrals were pretty much all awake CAs. Now don't panic if you see a CA flag every now and then. An occasional central is normal and not a big deal even if it is real. They are only a problem when they are present in large numbers.

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:49 am

I definitely feel better today. I am still have a elevated heart rate waking me up periodically during the night but it is usually only a couple times. I hoping those will start to resolve as my apnea gets better. They have not been able to find the source of the problem. I think its the apnea finally taking its toll on me and causing the rapid heart rate and elevated BP. Is RERA sand FLs the same thing?

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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie.

Post by Pugsy » Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:07 am

No, RERAs and FLs aren't necessarily the same thing.

FLs are reductions in air flow that don't make criteria for a hyponea or OA...certain criteria needs to be met to earn on of those flags...10 seconds is part of the criteria and a certain amount of air flow reduction is another criteria. The airway is trying to collapse but maybe it doesn't collapse enough or it doesn't last long enough...or both. So very many FLs means that maybe the pressure isn't quite there yet....hence more minimum pressure to better prevent them from happening.

RERAs Respiratory Event Related Arousal
Think of it as something going on in terms of respiration that could potentially be related to some sort of apnea event and it's potentially disturbing sleep and thus it's unwanted. Usually when we see these it means the minimum pressure is again not quite there yet and it needs to be a little higher to better hold the airway open in the first place.

These machines work best when they prevent something from happening in the first place and not be trying to fix something after it happens.

http://sleepyhead.sourceforge.net/wiki/ ... p/Glossary

Respiratory Event Related Arousal... a sequence of breaths characterized by increasing respiratory effort leading to an arousal from sleep, but which does not meet criteria for an apnea or hypopnea.”

RERA Detection in the Respironics System One data..Respiratory effort-related arousal..defined as an arousal from sleep that follows a 10 second or longer sequence of breaths that are characterized by increasing respiratory effort, but which does not meet criteria for an apenea or hypopnea. Snoring, though usually associated with this condition need not be present. The RERA algorithm monitors for a sequence of breaths that exhibit both a subtle reduction in airflow and progressive flow limitation. If this breath sequence is terminated by a sudden increase in airflow along with the absence of flow limitation, and the event does not meet the conditions for an apnea or hypopnea, a RERA is indicated.

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:57 pm

Thank you for all your help. Another question. I know taking naps during the day probably isnt good on some level because it could add to insomnia at night...but what about being on the APAP during the day for a little just to get some consistent air. I ask this because I tend to flare up into high blood pressure issues in the afternoon. My thought was to just lay in a relaxed position and use my APAP for an hour 1st to still help acclimate and 2nd to help lower blood pressure. I did that today and it helped lower BP. Silly question but can you spend to many hours on a Apap?

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palerider
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Re: Newbie.

Post by palerider » Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:02 pm

naomi402 wrote:My thought was to just lay in a relaxed position and use my APAP for an hour 1st to still help acclimate and 2nd to help lower blood pressure. I did that today and it helped lower BP.
Sounds like it's worth a try, relaxation is good.
naomi402 wrote:Silly question but can you spend to many hours on a Apap?
experts recommend NO MORE than 24 hours per day on an Apap. though most people use them less.

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Last edited by palerider on Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie.

Post by Pugsy » Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:02 pm

No you can't spend too many hours on apap.

If you sleep...wear the mask and use the machine...naps included.
Apnea events happen in naps too.

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:11 pm

Thanks for the advice.

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:00 am

had a okay night last night. Woke up around 430 and dozed on and off. Don't feel rested this morning at all and woke up with elevated heart rate and BP. Below are the stats . Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks again for all the help.


Image

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:14 am

screenshot above didn't show the complete width of the graphs. Not sure how to reduce the graph in Sleepyhead so the afternoon nap doesn't show up.

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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie.

Post by Pugsy » Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:23 am

Around 11 PM to 4:30 AM...5 1/2 hours...you can't expect to feel rested with that little sleep even if the AHI was perfect.
You may need more minimum pressure still but some of those events could be awake events. A good many were flagged when you were trying to get back to sleep after 4:30.
Sometimes we just have crappy nights...I had one last night. Couldn't go to sleep for some reason until after 1 AM then I woke up at 3:40 wide awake. Boy my butt is dragging today.

You might play around with 6.50 or 7.0 minimum and see how it feels.

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:24 am

I think this is a better screenshot


Image

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naomi402
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Re: Newbie.

Post by naomi402 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:27 am

Yep....I am being wakened up by rapid heart rate etc. Mask was not comfortable some reason last night. I remember messing with it some last night. Going to try and up it to 6.5 or 7 and go to bed a lot earlier. Thank you again for all your advice. Sorry you had a crappy night.

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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie.

Post by Pugsy » Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:03 am

Here's a little hint to help with the images so that they don't overwhelm the page.
When you are logged in to imgur and select the image you want to share look on the right side for that box of url addresses.
See down below the box...where all the "thumbnail" choices are.

Click on "large thumbnail" first and then copy the last line in the box of address (I think it says linked bbc code) and paste it in the body of your test here.
The end result is a large but not huge image that may be sufficient for easy viewing but if we need it larger we can click on it and enlarge it ourselves.
That way your image won't look like it is cut off on the right side and we don't have to do the "view image" trick so that we can see the part that's cut off.

Then you end up with something like this
Big enough for most viewing but not huge and we can actually click on it if for some reason we need it bigger.

Image

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Machine: AirCurve™ 10 VAuto BiLevel Machine with HumidAir™ Heated Humidifier
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palerider
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Re: Newbie.

Post by palerider » Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:04 pm

naomi402 wrote:screenshot above didn't show the complete width of the graphs. Not sure how to reduce the graph in Sleepyhead so the afternoon nap doesn't show up.
at the bottom of the left panel is a list of sessions, you can click on the control bar on the left of each session listed to turn it on, or off, in the display, and the display with adjust accordingly, it's better than zooming to hide a nap.

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Accounts to put on the foe list: dataq1, clownbell, gearchange, lynninnj, mper!?, DreamDiver, Geer1, almostadoctor, sleepgeek, ajack, stom, mogy, D.H., They often post misleading, timewasting stuff.