Sleepyhead reports high # of clear airway occurances

[mrshickadance9]

Hi all

I finally got my APAP machine yesterday, and when I woke up this morning - feeling pretty good I might add! - I quickly downloaded my data into sleepyhead from my APAP.

It appears that my AHI, which was 7.69 (vs. 17 diagnosis) was largely driven by clear airway occurrences, which I understand should be interpreted as central apneas. My pressure RX is 14 - 19, but it doesn't appear that my APAP's pressure ever went much above 14. I did a little research online and it appears that the machine might falsely read clear airway occurrences when pressure is set too high. Is this possibly the case here?

The other thing to note is that during my sleep study, my doctor found several instances of atrial fibrillation, which I've read could be triggering central apneas.

Sleepyhead screenshots attached. Any thoughts?

[Pugsy]

I did a little research online and it appears that the machine might falsely read clear airway occurrences when pressure is set too high. Is this possibly the case here?

It's not that the machine will falsely flag centrals at higher pressures...it's that at higher pressures some people with develop centrals.

Now what can happen in regards to false flags is that the machine will sometimes misinterpret awake/semi awake breathing irregularities as a central. Remember the machine doesn't know if you are awake or not....it just measures and records air flow.

Last night was your first night. I see at least two breaks in therapy where you turned the machine off so we know you were awake then.
How about other times during the night? Did you find that you woke often for various reasons including just everything being so new?
I wouldn't worry about the centrals right now. You are new to therapy and it is very possible that these are related to the machine misinterpreting awake/semi awake breathing irregularities.

Usually when people have a problem with higher pressures causing centrals we see a lot more centrals than this and we see them every hour all night long. Even if this were the case in your situation it is possible that with a bit of time they will go away on their own. So no one is going to get real excited about this number of centrals so soon into therapy.
Give it time and just keep one eye on them.

In the future when posting images save yourself some work...we don't need all those graphs.
All we need in terms of the graphs on the right...Events, Flow Rate, Pressure, Leak and maybe Flow Limitation if it is very active (and yours really isn't on this report).

[mrshickadance9]

Last night was your first night. I see at least two breaks in therapy where you turned the machine off so we know you were awake then.
How about other times during the night? Did you find that you woke often for various reasons including just everything being so new?
I wouldn't worry about the centrals right now. You are new to therapy and it is very possible that these are related to the machine misinterpreting awake/semi awake breathing irregularities.

Super helpful, thank you for this. The breaks where when I had to get up to go to the bathroom quickly. Otherwise, I definitely tossed and turned a decent amount last night. At times, the pressure felt a little strong and was uncomfortable. Other times, it felt like the air was leaking around the side of the mask a bit, so I was trying to get it fixed.

Totally get it's a sample size of one day, just found it interesting since my diagnosis was largely around OSA and hypopnea.

[palerider]

Sleepyhead screenshots attached. Any thoughts?

two.

next time, post like this: https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize just one chart needed to get all the relevant info.

second, I'd suggest lowering your min pressure to 12 for a couple of nights, and see how things look.

[avi123]

Click on it for a better view:

[palerider]

Click on it for a better view:

could you contribute less? I don't know, but, please try.

[mrshickadance9]

Sleepyhead screenshots attached. Any thoughts?

second, I'd suggest lowering your min pressure to 12 for a couple of nights, and see how things look.

I was thinking about that because the pressure got fairly uncomfortable at one point in the early morning. Going to try a few more days and then lower it a bit. Thanks

[palerider]

Sleepyhead screenshots attached. Any thoughts?

second, I'd suggest lowering your min pressure to 12 for a couple of nights, and see how things look.

I was thinking about that because the pressure got fairly uncomfortable at one point in the early morning. Going to try a few more days and then lower it a bit. Thanks

your pressure is effectively flat, any point you felt uncomfortable wasn't due to a change of pressure.

you've got almost no obstructive events, lowering the pressure, which I would suggest doing *tonight* will likely make it more comfortable, and may reduce the centrals.