New and need advice based on sleepyhead data

[Longwalksonthe]

Hello everyone,
I finally got sleepyhead and imported my sd card but i dont know how to interpret the data to make improvements. My AHI is always fluctuating, so i have no idea how to improve it. One night i'll have an average pressure around 10 with 3 AHI and the next night i'll have similar pressure but an AHI of 10. Ive tried changing my pressure ranges and everything and i can never get consistent low AHI's. So that is why i come to the forums, can you guys please give me suggestions? I included a couples screenshots but if you need more data please let me know! I hate CPAP but i'm trying to make the most of it and when my AHI is fluctuating so much it makes me not want to use it. When i took my sleep study, my average events per hour was around 15. I'm 5'4 and about 140 pounds and go to the gym often and i'm only 22. Thanks
*edit* I always wake up in the middle of the night as well. Most of the time my face is wet with drool so i have to wipe off my face and mask(gross), i've been waking up at 4 am for the past week or so, everytime.
http://imgur.com/a/II5bn

[grayghost4]

have a look through this site ... there is also a note about organizing the charts

https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepy ... screenshot

[robysue]

Longwalksonthe,

Welcome to the forum.

Take the time to read through the link that GreyGhost posted. It would be useful to see what your leaks look like. And in your case, it would also be useful to see the Flow Limitation graph. We don't need both the pressure at mask and the pressure graphs---you need one, but not both of them, and the pressure graph is the easier one to understand.

As for suggestions on what to do: There's a bit of clustering of the obstructive events at times, and that points towards suggesting a modest 1-2 cm increase in the minimum pressure setting on your machine if you are not dealing with aerophagia issues.

But there's also some CAs mixed in on the worst nights. And more pressure is not likely to make the CAs go away and could increase them. Sometimes new CPAPers see some CAs during the first few weeks, but as their body acclimates to PAP therapy, the CAs start to disappear over a few weeks to a couple of months. And so most sleep docs would look at this data and probably not jump to any conclusions about whether the CAs represent a real problem with pressure-induced CAs yet.

But there are a number of things other than "too much pressure" that can cause the machine to record CAs. One of them is using the machine while fighting for sleep: Wake breathing is less regular than sleep breathing, and hence the machines can (and often do) mistake normal wake breathing patterns for sleep disordered breathing if you spending a long time fighting to get to sleep while using the machine. Or if you are waking up frequently and having a tough time getting back to sleep.

So important questions to be asking in your case are these: How often are you waking up in the middle of the night? And how long do you think it takes you to get to sleep after waking up?

[Longwalksonthe]

Thanks for all the info! I'll check the link out. As far as aerophagia goes, I was suffering from it when increasing pressure but ever since I put my epr to 3 instead of 2 it hasn't been happening. I usually wake up 1-3 times per night and it probably takes 15-20 minutes to fall back asleep. I've been using the machine since October of last year so I'm kind of accustomed to it but I feel I haven't been feeling as great as everyone says they have from using their machine.

[Longwalksonthe]

Longwalksonthe,

Welcome to the forum.

Take the time to read through the link that GreyGhost posted. It would be useful to see what your leaks look like. And in your case, it would also be useful to see the Flow Limitation graph. We don't need both the pressure at mask and the pressure graphs---you need one, but not both of them, and the pressure graph is the easier one to understand.

As for suggestions on what to do: There's a bit of clustering of the obstructive events at times, and that points towards suggesting a modest 1-2 cm increase in the minimum pressure setting on your machine if you are not dealing with aerophagia issues.

But there's also some CAs mixed in on the worst nights. And more pressure is not likely to make the CAs go away and could increase them. Sometimes new CPAPers see some CAs during the first few weeks, but as their body acclimates to PAP therapy, the CAs start to disappear over a few weeks to a couple of months. And so most sleep docs would look at this data and probably not jump to any conclusions about whether the CAs represent a real problem with pressure-induced CAs yet.

But there are a number of things other than "too much pressure" that can cause the machine to record CAs. One of them is using the machine while fighting for sleep: Wake breathing is less regular than sleep breathing, and hence the machines can (and often do) mistake normal wake breathing patterns for sleep disordered breathing if you spending a long time fighting to get to sleep while using the machine. Or if you are waking up frequently and having a tough time getting back to sleep.

So important questions to be asking in your case are these: How often are you waking up in the middle of the night? And how long do you think it takes you to get to sleep after waking up?

Thanks for all the info! I'll check the link out. As far as aerophagia goes, I was suffering from it when increasing pressure but ever since I put my epr to 3 instead of 2 it hasn't been happening. I usually wake up 1-3 times per night and it probably takes 15-20 minutes to fall back asleep. I've been using the machine since October of last year so I'm kind of accustomed to it but I feel I haven't been feeling as great as everyone says they have from using their machine.