Side Effects of CPAP

[Miss Emerita]

Fenianfield, it’s good to hear you’re feeling somewhat better. As in less dizzy?

Once you get going with Oscar, I am certain the people here can help you understand what’s going on and perhaps make some suggestions that will help.

Please let us know if you have questions as you delve into Oscar. We’d be happy to try to help.

Keep good track of how changes affect you, e.g., adjusting the humidity. It’s a bit like being an experimental scientist!

[palerider]

. My apnea is rather mild (about 17 events an hour without CPAP)ic.

Just to emphasize what others have said.. an ahi of 17 means you're not sleeping, you're getting a series of *short* naps all night long, you're not even getting a whole 4 minutes before something happens.

[Fenianfield]

. My apnea is rather mild (about 17 events an hour without CPAP)ic.

Just to emphasize what others have said.. an ahi of 17 means you're not sleeping, you're getting a series of *short* naps all night long, you're not even getting a whole 4 minutes before something happens.

And again, when I discussed my sleep test with the doc he said it was mild. That may not be the case, but what my primary told me. I'm not trying to give false info, I only know what I am told

[Fenianfield]

Fenianfield, it’s good to hear you’re feeling somewhat better. As in less dizzy?

Once you get going with Oscar, I am certain the people here can help you understand what’s going on and perhaps make some suggestions that will help.

Please let us know if you have questions as you delve into Oscar. We’d be happy to try to help.

Keep good track of how changes affect you, e.g., adjusting the humidity. It’s a bit like being an experimental scientist!

Thank you. Definitely gonna keep at it. Felt better today as well. I imagine it will take a while to feel "normal" again.

[Pugsy]

Let me give you an example....mild, moderate or severe are just categories based on numbers. They had to come up with something for a base or standard to go by. By normal standards you are on the low end of moderate....despite your doctor telling you that yours is mild.
There's more to it than just the number of apnea events but the apnea events per hour average is what is currently used to establish a diagnosis. There's how many arousals you might have which disturb your sleep and you end up feeling like crap during the day.
There's how low your oxygen levels might go which ends up damaging your body.
There's how long the apnea events might last....10 seconds is the minimum duration but sometimes people have events lasting a minute or more. I know someone who had a non REM AHI of 12 but the oxygen levels went down to 73% which is extremely low.
Mild by category classification but severe in terms of what it does to the body.

Besides...it's like being pregnant...you either are or aren't pregnant...there is no gradual pregnancy.
With OSA...if you have it ...you have it and it doesn't really make much difference what you call it. You need to address what it is doing to your body whether you barely meet diagnosis criteria of 6 or 60.

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/sle ... ng-results

Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI)

The AHI is the number of apneas or hypopneas recorded during the study per hour of sleep. It is generally expressed as the number of events per hour. Based on the AHI, the severity of OSA is classified as follows:

None/Minimal: AHI < 5 per hour
Mild: AHI ≥ 5, but < 15 per hour
Moderate: AHI ≥ 15, but < 30 per hour
Severe: AHI ≥ 30 per hour

[radler]

I don’t have much to add except my PCP looked at my AHI of 16-17 and a decent chunk of desats in the mid to low 80s and said I had mild apnea too. It doesn’t sound like that’s how it’s actually classified by the experts, however!

If your machine has an EPR (or A-flex) function, raising your minimum pressure to 6 or 7 should give you more pressure relief when you exhale. I find I don’t exhale well at lower pressure differences which makes me feel dizzy. I also have lung issues like asthma and more central type issues so Your Mileage May Vary! But having at least 2cmH2O pressure difference and a little more airflow like 6 or 7cmH2O minimum helps me breathe better and sleep more soundly.

This probably isn’t it since you had dizziness before, but I found the full face mask was giving me what I think are vestibular migraines. I think it was due to the pressure on the lower back of my head from the FFM. It seems to have gone away, knock on wood, since switching to the Dreamwear nasal mask! It was confusing because I didn’t have much of a headache, just neck pressure and dizziness and nausea, but I’m 90% sure it was vestibular migraines and 99% sure it was related to the FFM strap.

Good luck!!!

[Fenianfield]

Let me give you an example....mild, moderate or severe are just categories based on numbers. They had to come up with something for a base or standard to go by. By normal standards you are on the low end of moderate....despite your doctor telling you that yours is mild.
There's more to it than just the number of apnea events but the apnea events per hour average is what is currently used to establish a diagnosis. There's how many arousals you might have which disturb your sleep and you end up feeling like crap during the day.
There's how low your oxygen levels might go which ends up damaging your body.
There's how long the apnea events might last....10 seconds is the minimum duration but sometimes people have events lasting a minute or more. I know someone who had a non REM AHI of 12 but the oxygen levels went down to 73% which is extremely low.
Mild by category classification but severe in terms of what it does to the body.

Besides...it's like being pregnant...you either are or aren't pregnant...there is no gradual pregnancy.
With OSA...if you have it ...you have it and it doesn't really make much difference what you call it. You need to address what it is doing to your body whether you barely meet diagnosis criteria of 6 or 60.

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/sle ... ng-results

Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI)

The AHI is the number of apneas or hypopneas recorded during the study per hour of sleep. It is generally expressed as the number of events per hour. Based on the AHI, the severity of OSA is classified as follows:

None/Minimal: AHI < 5 per hour
Mild: AHI ≥ 5, but < 15 per hour
Moderate: AHI ≥ 15, but < 30 per hour
Severe: AHI ≥ 30 per hour

That makes sense. Thanks for putting perspective on that. I know my oxygen drops to low 80s so in the next few weeks my pulmonologist is going to do a Pulse Ox when I sleep to see if it has improved and if it hasn't then I'd imagine I'll need oxygen as well.

[Fenianfield]

I don’t have much to add except my PCP looked at my AHI of 16-17 and a decent chunk of desats in the mid to low 80s and said I had mild apnea too. It doesn’t sound like that’s how it’s actually classified by the experts, however!

If your machine has an EPR (or A-flex) function, raising your minimum pressure to 6 or 7 should give you more pressure relief when you exhale. I find I don’t exhale well at lower pressure differences which makes me feel dizzy. I also have lung issues like asthma and more central type issues so Your Mileage May Vary! But having at least 2cmH2O pressure difference and a little more airflow like 6 or 7cmH2O minimum helps me breathe better and sleep more soundly.

This probably isn’t it since you had dizziness before, but I found the full face mask was giving me what I think are vestibular migraines. I think it was due to the pressure on the lower back of my head from the FFM. It seems to have gone away, knock on wood, since switching to the Dreamwear nasal mask! It was confusing because I didn’t have much of a headache, just neck pressure and dizziness and nausea, but I’m 90% sure it was vestibular migraines and 99% sure it was related to the FFM strap.

Good luck!!!

Thanks Radler, that's helpful

[palerider]

. My apnea is rather mild (about 17 events an hour without CPAP)ic.

Just to emphasize what others have said.. an ahi of 17 means you're not sleeping, you're getting a series of *short* naps all night long, you're not even getting a whole 4 minutes before something happens.

And again, when I discussed my sleep test with the doc he said it was mild. That may not be the case, but what my primary told me. I'm not trying to give false info, I only know what I am told

And again I'm just trying to point out that "mild" is actually "bad'.

Perhaps they should call the levels of OSA "Bad" "Worse" and "Terrible".

Sorry you felt attacked, there was none at all in my comment.

[Janknitz]

Sorry you felt attacked, there was none at all in my comment.

Nor in mine!

[Fenianfield]

. My apnea is rather mild (about 17 events an hour without CPAP)ic.

Just to emphasize what others have said.. an ahi of 17 means you're not sleeping, you're getting a series of *short* naps all night long, you're not even getting a whole 4 minutes before something happens.

And again, when I discussed my sleep test with the doc he said it was mild. That may not be the case, but what my primary told me. I'm not trying to give false info, I only know what I am told

And again I'm just trying to point out that "mild" is actually "bad'.

Perhaps they should call the levels of OSA "Bad" "Worse" and "Terrible".

Sorry you felt attacked, there was none at all in my comment.

Oh not at all. Didn't feel attacked, just trying to back peddle on a comment I made with little to no context. Understandable that folks get frustrated because you've probably heard this stuff over and over and it is more than likely used as a way to stop using CPAP. You're right though, even "mild" (horrible name really) is bad. I felt like total crap while trying to sleep and on a daily basis. I've been 100% compliant so far with the CPAP and it's been nearly two weeks and I'm starting to feel so much better. The dizziness is slowly fading, the exhaustion as well. I'm not scared to death that I'm gonna die in my sleep anymore. I'm 38 and slightly over weight because I powerlifted competitively for 10 years. This stuff can happen to anyone and I'd rather not be a statistic and simply use my CPAP