Bear's CPAP thread

[rested gal]

NRA_Bear, you're doing absolutely wonderful! Looks like the chin strap is taking care of your mouth air leaks very, very well.

I mentally cut the HI number in half when I use a ResMed machine. Then I add that "half of the HI" number to the AI to get the total AHI. When I do that "halving of the HI", the resulting AHI corresponds almost exactly to the AHI I usually get from Respironics and Puritan Bennett machines.

It's not that one brand is right and another wrong about "hypopneas." It's just a difference in the design of the different brands and what each manufacturer chooses to set as an abitrary line in the sand for when a certain degree of "flow limitation" will be called a "hypopnea" in their machines.

So, don't be discouraged if you don't see AHIs below five. A lot of ResMed users are getting just as effective treatment with an AHI of 7 or 8 or 9 as users of other brands are getting with AHIs under 5. Cutting the HI number in half with a ResMed machine will give you a better "comparison AHI" to what you read other people reporting with Respironics or Puritan Bennett / Covidien machines. Just my opinion on that. Could be wrong.

[NRA_Bear]

Thanks for the info and encouragement rested gal! I'm getting really good numbers with the chin-strap on, however, it is absolutely killing my teeth! I woke up this morning with the taste of blood in my mouth (kinda like when you brush a little too hard) and my teeth still hurt 4 hours later. I think I'm going to give one of those cheapy boilable mouth guards a shot. At least it'd be teeth vs. wax instead of teeth vs. teeth. I know many of you rave about mouth taping, but I'm not ready to take that measure just yet. Every once in a while I still drink a little, eh, lot too much It's definitely going to be hard to beat last night's numbers.

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9

[NRA_Bear]

Alright, I've got to say that trying the mouth guard turned out the be a terrible idea. I slept for 55 minutes and then woke up with my heart racing like I used to before CPAP. I ripped the mouth guard out and looked at the numbers on my machine; my AI was 15.9!!! I spent the rest of the night without a mouth guard or chin strap and woke up with a leak rate of 0.44L/s... ouch! I tried again last night thinking that maybe I just had the chin strap cranked down too tight the might before, but that ended with a rude awakening as well. So, no more mouth guard for me. My teeth sure did hurt this morning after going back to just the chin strap though. I took a glance at my numbers this morning, but in my rush forgot to write any of them down. I know they weren't too terrible, but they weren't stellar either.

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?

On another note, between diet, exercise and CPAP my blood pressure has dropped from 170/93 to 145/76 between my doctor's visit at the beginning of February (pre-CPAP) and this past Monday. I know that the jury's still out on how much CPAP lowers BP, but when I went in for my split-night I went to bed with a systolic reading of 170 and woke up with systolic reading of 156. I don't think it's a coincidence.

[tattooyu]

Great job Bear!

Last night I had my best night (overall) ever!

Leakage: 0.14 L/s
AHI: 4.3
AI: 0.4
HI: 4.9

If you go by rested gal's advice for ResMed's my numbers were really:

Leakage: 0.14 L/s
AHI: 2.9
AI: 0.4
HI: 2.5

I had teeth pain, too, but it's starting to subside now, although I do have some jaw soreness. My tongue now seems to be staying wide, flat and the tip just behind my front teeth to make a good seal. My wife hasn't heard me mouth leak once in the past 3 days.

Keep up the good work!

[NRA_Bear]

Wow, those are some impressive numbers Kenny! I'm glad to hear that the pain subsides after a few days. I reckon I'm just going to have to keep fiddling with the chin strap until I find the right balance between leak rate and mouth comfort. I loosened the strap a little last night and my leak rate went up, but looking at my AI, it looks like the machine did a pretty good job of compensating for it. I still can't figure out whether it's rainout or sweat that's waking me halfway through the night with a wet mask.

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?
3/18 | 7:24 | .14L/s | 5.9 | 0.2 | 5.7

[NRA_Bear]

Stupid mouth leaks...

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?
3/18 | 7:24 | .14L/s | 5.9 | 0.2 | 5.7
3/19 | 6:05 | .26L/s | 6.5 | 0.6 | 5.9

[NRA_Bear]

Took the CPAP with me on vacation over the weekend, but I didn't take the time to record the numbers. On another note, I ordered a CMS-50F pulse oximeter today , now I just need to save up for the ResMed data link cable and ResScan 3.7. I figure that the oximeter's a little more important since I receive at least a little feedback on my CPAP usage from the unit's LCD - I've got no clue what my O2 levels look like though.

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?
3/18 | 7:24 | .14L/s | 5.9 | 0.2 | 5.7
3/19 | 6:05 | .26L/s | 6.5 | 0.6 | 5.9
3/23 | 6:10 | .06L/2 | 8.7 | 1.6 | 7.1

[NRA_Bear]

Just can't seem to get back above that 7:00 mark . I was well on my way to breaking it, but cluster headaches dragged me out of bed for a couple of hours.

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?
3/18 | 7:24 | .14L/s | 5.9 | 0.2 | 5.7
3/19 | 6:05 | .26L/s | 6.5 | 0.6 | 5.9
3/23 | 6:10 | .06L/s | 8.7 | 1.6 | 7.1
3/24 | 6:52 | .06L/s | 7.8 | 1.6 | 6.2

[NRA_Bear]

Finally got a true full night's rest on the machine last night . Had to fight the urge to get up at 5am (which I never, ever do) because I felt fully rested after 7:45 hours. Hopefully I can talk the wife into making me that hose cover this weekend because the condensation in my mask is killing me, even with the humidifier set to 1. At least hopefully it's condensation, because if it's sweat, then I'm up the creek. I fought the urge last night to take the mask off to wipe, because every time I do, I fall asleep without the machine telling myself that I'm just going to let the mask dry for a minute.

Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?
3/18 | 7:24 | .14L/s | 5.9 | 0.2 | 5.7
3/19 | 6:05 | .26L/s | 6.5 | 0.6 | 5.9
3/23 | 6:10 | .06L/s | 8.7 | 1.6 | 7.1
3/24 | 6:52 | .06L/s | 7.8 | 1.6 | 6.2
3/25 | 5:59 | .08L/s | 7.1 | 0.6 | 6.5
3/26 | 9:43 | .12L/s | 7.1 | 0.4 | 6.7

[tattooyu]

I haven't gotten one yet, but I hear Karen at Padacheek makes an AWESOME hose cover; triple-layer fleece.

Looks like your numbers are pretty darn good. That's where I'm at right now: AI between 0.2-0.6 and HI between 3-7.

[brucelegs]

Karen's hose covers are, as the kids say "da bomb". Mine came this week and the quality of her workmanship is outstanding! Yu simply cannot buy something like this from a store or DME office.

[NRA_Bear]

Heh, thanks for fueling the fire guys. Now I'm gonna tell her that there's some other woman "offering" to make one for me and it's supposedly superior to anything out there . She'll probably sew so much fleece around that hose that it'll pull me right off the bed.

On another note, I broke in the CMS-50F last night . Y'all were certainly correct about the Engrish! My blood pressure shot through the roof trying to figure out how in the heck to get the thing mounted on the wrist strap correctly. That was the hardest part of the whole process! I got a full 9 hours worth of data last night and after a little trial and error, managed to get it on the PC. Just remember that you have to turn recording off before trying to upload to SPO2 review over USB with these things. I was afraid if I turned off recording that I would lost all my data, but that turned out to be false because it won't let you upload in record mode. That being said, the last 10 minutes or so of recording (bpm shoots up) is actually me walking around the house trying to find the manual and trudging upstairs to figure out how to dump the data. Beyond that, the unit wasn't too uncomfortable. The pressure was noticeable, but not really uncomfortable. I didn't even really feel the weight of the unit strapped to my arm. My finger was cold this morning though . Below the chart and my newest data. I wish I had ResScan so I could determine if that dip down to 90% was caused by an apnea. That's next on my shopping list.





Date |Usage | Leak | AHI | AI | HI
----------------------------------------------------------------
3/9 | 9:00 | .18L/s | 16.2 | 2.8 | 13.4
3/10 | 7:45 | .32L/s | 10.2 | 2.0 | 8.2
3/11 | 7:26 | .18L/s | 11.7 | 2.8 | 8.9
3/12 | 7:16 | .34L/s | 13.4 | 1.5 | 11.9
3/13 | 7:56 | .12L/s | 9.8 | 1.3 | 8.5
3/14 | 10:47 | .12L/s | 7.9 | 1.4 | 6.5
3/15 | 6:41 | .04L/s | 6.1 | 0.2 | 5.9
3/16 | 6:20 | .44L/s | 10.1 | 2.5 | 7.6
3/17 | 6:56 | .08L/s | ? | ? | ?
3/18 | 7:24 | .14L/s | 5.9 | 0.2 | 5.7
3/19 | 6:05 | .26L/s | 6.5 | 0.6 | 5.9
3/23 | 6:10 | .06L/s | 8.7 | 1.6 | 7.1
3/24 | 6:52 | .06L/s | 7.8 | 1.6 | 6.2
3/25 | 5:59 | .08L/s | 7.1 | 0.6 | 6.5
3/26 | 9:43 | .12L/s | 7.1 | 0.4 | 6.7
3/27 | 9:11 | .06L/s | 5.9 | 0.5 | 5.4