Encore data from first night with mouth taped

[Spottymaldoon]

Thanks Jeff and Den for your added comments. Jeff, very interesting that you believe a high upper pressure can actually trigger 'centrals' - I will be patient as you suggest and shall do the next seven nights without changing anything. If the data for these continue to be as good as they are, it will give real weight to Den's view that APAP mode can be disruptive. Certainly the argument resonates with what I experience because I am very disturbed by face leakage and obviously that increases with pressure.

Den, you suggest that SOME people are disturbed by pressure changes during sleep, and I think I am one of those.

My oximeter readings were very steady, with no hypoxia coinciding with the apneas. Of course the oximeter occasionally shoots out a ridiculously low value (in the 80% range or lower) but if my heart rate stays steady during that I ignore it. When in full repose I get heart rates in the mid 40s typically and my SPO2 is fairly steady at 96%.

Thanks again,
Spotty
http://www.richardleveson.com/encore for my sleep data

[JeffH]

I'm with Den. I can't tolerate the pressure changes that apap does. I have my apap set for straight cpap....after trying to get comfortable with apap for about 6 months. Previous to getting my apap I had used an old Sullivan V for about eight years, so I was used to straight cpap. Once you get your machine set up for your correct pressure cpap will handle most events for you.

One mis conception I had about apap was that is was going to respond to everything and let nothing happen....wrong. I learned on this board that if you are using an apap and you have an apnea, the apap isn't going to do anything about it....it is going to look for a pattern of events and respond to that.

That's why IMHO cpap works better for some. Set up on the right pressure, it is going to keep most events from happening.

FWIW



JeffH

[JeffH]

I went back and looked at all the data you posted. You just proved what I was talking about. Notice that your AHI is always higher when your machine is set to APAP compared to CPAP. That was my experience EXACTLY.

You want to have the lowest AHI possible? Run it in CPAP mode.

[Spottymaldoon]

Last night CPAP at 9.0 - geesh, the house must have shaken during the first hour! (big snore) AHI = 3.0 (OA=1.4, H=1.3) BUT the last two 'apneas' happened while I was awake.

Jeff, it's certainly looking more and more as you say.

http://www.richardleveson.com/encore

[roster]

..... BUT the last two 'apneas' happened while I was awake.

I rarely can sleep until the alarm clock sounds. Not wanting to awaken my wife early, I often lie awake that last hour in the morning. My data often shows 10 to 15 apneas during that hour. If I subtract those my AHI is often in the area of 1.0.

[Spottymaldoon]

Rooster, is that with or without the cute baby on top?

[Guest]

That's really strange how just being awake can mess up the data so much. I've seen that for myself too. I usually wake up around 4:30, and sometimes lay there quietly awhile, until/when/if I fall back to sleep. I check my LED screen right after I wake up the first time and my AHI is something like 3. But when I check it an hour or two later, its 6 or higher. Its good to know to keep that in mind when we look at the numbers, if we've laid there awake for awhile.
I don't have software, but my numbers on the LED also showed that, even when my leak is very much under control, if my pressures are too high, my AHI is much higher too.
I think APAP can disturb some of us, without us necessarily even consciously remember being awakened. We have to deduce it from the numbers and how we feel.

[Guest]

I check my LED screen right after I wake up the first time and my AHI is something like 3. But when I check it an hour or two later, its 6 or higher. Its good to know to keep that in mind when we look at the numbers, if we've laid there awake for awhile.

The fact that an apnea can be registered when we know we were wide awake does make one lose a bit of confidence in these reports. Also, when I have used the oximeter and compared the blood oxygen level/pulse rate with a reported apnea, I haven't seen anything conclusive myself. This leads me to think that the machine probably doesn't have many 'false negatives' (because people with severe apnea do get high AHI readings) but we have both seen 'false positives' and so I assume they're quite common.

[TossinNTurnin]

OK... I'm sorry, I'm confused. Were his leak rates that high in the first place?

[roster]

......... we have both seen 'false positives' and so I assume they're quite common.
.......

Speaking just about apneas and not hypopneas, from personal experience, the false positives are common when I am awake.

Many nights I will only have a very few (4 or 5) apneas during 5 or 6 hours of actual sleeping. Even if these are all false positives, then that is a low number of false positives while actually asleep.