Newbie to CPAP - Welcome advice and comments!

[ZZFlop04!]

I am new to this forum as well as sleep apnea. I am picking out my device tomorrow. I dont even know what to ask you guys but I am a nervous about this whole thing so I am reaching out. I am thankful that this forum is here.

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[ChicagoGranny]

I am picking out my device tomorrow. I dont even know what to ask

Make sure you are getting a fully data-capable auto-adjusting machine that is appropriate for your diagnosis. (There are different types of sleep apnea.) If you pick up a sub-par machine, DME/insurance may make it impossible to exchange. Get it right the first time.

[palerider]

I am picking out my device tomorrow. I dont even know what to ask

Make sure you are getting a fully data-capable auto-adjusting machine that is appropriate for your diagnosis. (There are different types of sleep apnea.) If you pick up a sub-par machine, DME/insurance may make it impossible to exchange. Get it right the first time.

That would be a Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset (or Autoset for her).

[ZZFlop04!]

Thanks!! Tomorrow is my first follow up appointment after 2 sleep studies. Do you think my Dr. Will have any idea if I have obstructive or central skeep apnea?

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[palerider]

Thanks!! Tomorrow is my first follow up appointment after 2 sleep studies. Do you think my Dr. Will have any idea if I have obstructive or central skeep apnea?

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One would hope so!

[ZZFlop04!]

Thanks!! Dumb question, I know, but I am very nervous.

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[ChicagoGranny]

Thanks!! Dumb question, I know, but I am very nervous.

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Get a copy of your CPAP prescription and keep it in a safe place at home. It might come in handy later.

[ZZFlop04!]

Thanks!! Dumb question, I know, but I am very nervous.

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Get a copy of your CPAP prescription and keep it in a safe place at home. It might come in handy later.

Thanks!! Will do.

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[palerider]

Thanks!! Dumb question, I know, but I am very nervous.

You shouldn't be.... and we can't honestly guess how competent, or not, your doctor is.

[avaholic]

My body just can not deal with 'FLEX' at all. I slept much much better last night with FLEX disabled. I know that a bit over 5 AHI is not great, but after having many AHI 9-13 nights previously AHI 5 is terrific IMHO. I notice on last night's chart that my central apneas were much lower than obstructive apneas. Does this mean that FLEX was actually causing those centrals previously?
Thursday

09-13-2018 - Thu.png (106.45 KiB) Viewed 726 times

I'm still trying to grasp the concepts of leak data using:
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... _Leak_Data

My leak stats from last night.

Leak Rate
Rate of detected mask leakage (L/min)
W-Avg: 11.50 6.00 10.00 18.00 29.00

Total Leaks
Detected mask leakage including natural Mask leakages (L/min)
W-Avg: 47.86 41.00 46.00 56.00 67.00

What do those stats mean exatly?
Remember that I am a definite mouth breather probably 90% or more of both sleeping and waking hours.

A couple of zoomed in FR charts.

2 minutes of breathing. It appears that even with FLEX turned off, I get a spike above zero during exhalation. What does that mean?

2 min snip from last night 3.JPG (102.63 KiB) Viewed 726 times

12 minutes of sleep with events. Are these 'real' events?

12 min snip from last night.JPG (126.51 KiB) Viewed 726 times

Note I was able to get my DME and insurance to swap devices. I should be receiving a ResMed 10 AutoSet **hopefully** sometime next week but that means I need to try and get the best usage of this Philips unit for a few more nights.

PS - ZZFlop - if you don't mind, plz start your own thread so you can get advice that's pertinent to your own therapy.

[palerider]

My body just can not deal with 'FLEX' at all. I slept much much better last night with FLEX disabled. I know that a bit over 5 AHI is not great, but after having many AHI 9-13 nights previously AHI 5 is terrific IMHO.

It's better, but still not good at all.

I notice on last night's chart that my central apneas were much lower than obstructive apneas. Does this mean that FLEX was actually causing those centrals previously?

entirely possible, some people are very sensitive to CO2 drops, caused by breathing harder (increased respiration) and flex increases respiration... though not much... but, yeah, it's enough to cause centrals in some people.

I'm still trying to grasp the concepts of leak data using:
What do those stats mean exatly?

Total leaks is how much air is escaping your mask, totally, it's the only accurate number that your machine creates.

Leaks is a *guess* by SH about how much of that is excess leakage, over and above the masks intended vent rate.

[avaholic]

Hmm.

Do you have suggestions to improve my 'better, but still not good at all' AHI?

Should I be concerned with my current amount of leakage?

[palerider]

Hmm.

Do you have suggestions to improve my 'better, but still not good at all' AHI?

Should I be concerned with my current amount of leakage?

Min 14, max 20. When your resmed comes in, go back to the 12 min, (and maybe lower after we see how it works for you).

Your leaks are fine, no LL flags, (and that's all that matters with a respironics)... As long as they're not bothering you.

[avaholic]

Wow, last night was really rough!

I only upped the minimum pressure to 13 to see what would happen.

Why then did the pressure spike all the way to to the top of the range (18) for so long? I'm pretty sure I wasn't asleep at 11 pm so this happened while I was still trying to fall asleep. It hasn't done that at all since I got the machine 3 weeks ago. I think my max so far was 17.

I was woken up by work at 3 am so even when I tried to go back to bed a couple of hours later, I couldn't go back to sleep. I just disabled those sessions in the graph.

I also must have swallowed a ton of air. I'm bloated this morning and have been burping ever since I got up.

I should note that I bought a 3 in soft cervical collar yesterday and attempted to use it last night. I took it off about 20 mins after I laid down to sleep. I had an extremely difficult time with it. I tried it tight, tried it loose, tried it not even velcroed around the back of my neck. I just couldn't get comfortable at all.

Friday

09-14-2018 - Fri - No SWJ.png (100.73 KiB) Viewed 684 times

20 min FR before event cluster @ 23:58

20 min snip 01.JPG (138.28 KiB) Viewed 684 times

20 min FR event cluster

20 min snip 02.JPG (137.82 KiB) Viewed 684 times