Newbie from Iowa

[Ollie4ISU]

Hello all,

I am an early 50's male pretty much right in the sweet spot for a sleep apnea diagnosis. Overweight, thick neck, heavy snoring, anecdotal reports of interrupted breathing/gasping, etc. Through a combination of not particularly good reasons, I have not done a sleep study of any sort, not the least of which is everything I do regarding apnea treatment will be out of pocket. I sleep mainly on my right side though I do occasionally sleep on my back. Generally, I wake up once or twice a night to use the restroom. There are times when I will wake up with a start, basically feeling like I snored myself awake. There have been occasions where my wife will wake my up either due to very heavy snoring or when I have gasped or had a gap in breathing. I have a deviated septum that was partially corrected by surgery when I was a teenager. I am presently working on losing some weight and am down about 17 pounds from a high of 237 pounds on a fairly broad shouldered 5'6" frame. Usually feel fairly rested when I wake up, though I have been finding that I want to take naps more frequently than in the past.

That being said, I happened upon a virtually unused Respironics System One REMstar Auto A-Flex 560P machine with heated humidifer and Wisp nasal mask with new, still in package, S/M, L and XL masks. The machine had 18 hours of usage. All the packaging, manuals, etc were in the carrying case. All of the protective stickers were/are still on the machine. I picked up some distilled water, cleaned and sanitized the tank, hose and a L mask and have used the machine the last two nights. The machine came set in auto with a 4-14 range, A-Flex was set at 1. Ramp was for 30 minutes starting at 4. I did learn how to change the settings so made a couple changes after the first night. I moved the minimum up to 7 and turned off A-Flex and lower the ramp time to 20 minutes. Below are the OSCAR results.

I have had good luck with mask fit and have noticed a couple of cases each night where I have awaken with my mouth open, but only one instance of dry mouth. I have taken the mask off once each night to use the restroom. Last night, I used the ramp function when I returned to bed.

Based upon what I have learned from this site, I am considering changing settings again this evening. These are what I am considering. Minimum to 9, Max to 20. A-Flex back on to level 1. Any input would be appreciated.

[LSAT]

I would increase both min and max...Min 9 and max 20 (Machine will only go as high as necessary to stop an event).

[Ollie4ISU]

I would increase both min and max...Min 9 and max 20 (Machine will only go as high as necessary to stop an event).

Those were the settings I was considering. Thanks for the confirmation that those seemed a logical step.

[Ollie4ISU]

Good morning,

Here are my last three days of readings. Pretty pleased so far. I am adjusting pretty well to the mask. Trips to the bathroom have been minimized. I plan on continuing at the 9.5 min and 20 max for a week and may revisit the minimum with perhaps an adjustment to 10. Thoughts?

OSCAR 3-3-20.PNG (138.33 KiB) Viewed 566 times

OSCAR 3-4-20.PNG (134.05 KiB) Viewed 566 times

[Miss Emerita]

It's good news that your bathroom visits are less frequent. Are you yet seeing any change in your desire for day-time naps?

[Ollie4ISU]

It's good news that your bathroom visits are less frequent. Are you yet seeing any change in your desire for day-time naps?

I am not really sure on the nap situation yet. It's been an interesting week at work and I haven't had the time to even consider a car nap at lunch. I do not seem as tired during the day, but that may just be adrenaline.

[Miss Emerita]

Keep track of how you feel during the day, maybe even jotting a daily note. This could include stuff like the stimulation of an "interesting" day at work.

The reason I suggest this is that when your apnea is well treated, additional adjustments might depend primarily on your subjective sense of restedness. Change in that sense can be gradual, and while you might not notice anything from one day to the next, you might be able to look back to your notes on a previous month and see you are actually feeling better -- with better memory and other cognitive function, less irritable, more optimistic, and more energetic.

[Ollie4ISU]

Keep track of how you feel during the day, maybe even jotting a daily note. This could include stuff like the stimulation of an "interesting" day at work.

The reason I suggest this is that when your apnea is well treated, additional adjustments might depend primarily on your subjective sense of restedness. Change in that sense can be gradual, and while you might not notice anything from one day to the next, you might be able to look back to your notes on a previous month and see you are actually feeling better -- with better memory and other cognitive function, less irritable, more optimistic, and more energetic.

There is a notes section in OSCAR that I am trying to make notes in every day. The whole journal idea seems logical for tracking.

[Miss Emerita]

Excellent!