another sleep study, different results--opinion

[svh]

Thank you all! I have formally requested the full reports (in Rested Gal's language--thanks) from my doctor, so we'll see!

Re. the SSRI, I suppose there may have been small amounts in my system, as I know Fluoxetine has a long half life, and remains in the body for a while. I was definitely taking it during the study 4-5 years ago. I will say, though, I tend to sleep better on the SSRI than off it.

Thanks to everyone for trying to help. I'm really glad to be getting my machine today--I don't like being without one!

[roster]

So which position(s) did you sleep in last night?

[sleepmba]

Is this the thread for that bet?

NM

LOL, it may be! Work has been slow and I need a chance at some income.

[svh]

What bet?

I had to mail in a release to get my sleep study info.....Wonder how long it'll take?

[NotMuffy]

What bet?

search.php?keywords=alpha&terms=all&aut ... mit=Search

[svh]

Cool. I'm glad I may benefit from your personal urge to compete!

Still waiting for the machine to be delivered by courier. The DME was deeply troubled by my direction (backed up by my doctor's office) that they just send it, unprogrammed. Deeply troubled. We'll see what I get... The DME kept asking what setting I was using for CPAP, I told them, but said it was possibly wrong, and that the whole point of this machine was for self-titration. I suggested using 9.5 (my old setting) as a midpoint, and allowing a range above and below. Seemed sensible to me. It doesn't seem like they get a lot of confident patients who plan to be involved in the decision making process with their treatment. Whatever, so long as I can get going, I don't care!

[svh]

Yay--it came! It arrived set to CPAP mode, 9.5. I changed it (thanks to the miracle of the internet!) to APAP mode, EPR (was also off) 2, Smart Start, and the setting to provide more information post-sleep. I set the range to 6-14. Does that seem reasonable? I'm going without the humidifier for now, as I think I may run into more sinus problems with humidity than without. Also, They only sent an ordinary hose, not the Climateline, so I know I'll get rainout if I use it with humidity.

How silly is it that I almost look forward to going to sleep with this tonight--it's like getting a new toy!

Now to download the software......

[Emilia]

That range is reasonable to start off, you can always tighten it up in a week. I'd say your area is in for some humidity really soon.... LOL Earl is on his way... I live in FL, and I have been using my humidifier on passive mode.... water in the chamber but no heat. Good luck tonight!! We look forward to your report tomorrow. I just installed the new software for my machine today, too... looking forward to seeing my detailed report tomorrow!

New toys are always fun!

[svh]

Btw, I've been reading about UARS, and for the record, my blood pressure is completely normal, always has been, and it was checked last this past Saturday. I see that hypertension goes along with UARS, so thought this was relevant.

[NotMuffy]

Cool. I'm glad I may benefit from your personal urge to compete!

While we'll be talking about alpha rhythm soon enough, unfortunately, the aforementioned competition won't develop. Sleepmba made a mistake back there and now is simply stuck.

Btw, I've been reading about UARS, and for the record, my blood pressure is completely normal, always has been, and it was checked last this past Saturday. I see that hypertension goes along with UARS, so thought this was relevant.

Hypertension? Hypotension is more often noted as a landmark symptom of UARS.

While some hypertension was noted in http://www.annals.org/content/122/7/493.full, interestingly

Borderline (that is, diastolic pressure between 90 and 100 mm Hg) or high blood pressure was documented in 130 participants (38%).

139 women (40.5%) with sleep-disordered breathing attributed divorce or dissolution of a love relationship to their chronic sleepiness and fatigue and attributed their social isolation to a physical and not a psychiatric (depressive or otherwise) problem.

NM

[NotMuffy]

...Earl is on his way...

Tell me about it!

NM

[svh]

So, I'm up. Wow--this machine is so much nicer than my old one (M-Series Pro CPAP)! So quiet, and easier to breathe, I think. That said, it's not a miracle, and I am still tired, but that's to be expected after one night! I've printed out my data, and here's what I see:

Pressure: Median: 6.5, 95% 8.1, Maximum 9.4
Apnea index: 0.5, AHI 0.6, Obstructive: 0.0, Central 0.5, Unknown wn 0.0, Hypopnea index 0.1

From the graphs, it would appear I had a 30 second event at about 11:30pm, and a 10 second one at midnight, then a hypopnea at 3:30am. I snored at 11:30pm, 1, and 4:30am. Pressure was highest between 2 and 4am. Leak rate looks steady at 24.

Anything else I can provide that would be helpful? These numbers seem good to me.

[Rogue Uvula]

24 is way high for a leak rate!
Double check what you are looking at.
On my unit, I get a leak rate of 24 L/min when I take the mask off and the S9 is trying to pressurize the room!
In my statistics, it shows as the maximum leak rate.
If I look at "Detailed Graphs" there is a steady red line at 24. I assume this is showing the maximum level and think you might be thinking this is your data. There should be a blue line much lower on the graph. However, for leak, I usually look at the 95th percentile on the "Statistics" page.
HTH!

[svh]

Oh, you're right! There's a red line at 24, and a blue line at zero. In the charts, the leak rate is zero. Perhaps I'm not monitoring it? I'm not sure.....

[Rogue Uvula]

Oh, you're right! There's a red line at 24, and a blue line at zero. In the charts, the leak rate is zero. Perhaps I'm not monitoring it? I'm not sure.....

It probably is zero since you've been living with CPAP for awhile.
I've only been on it for 1.5 weeks, but I have 0 as my 95th percentile. My first few days saw 3.6 and 7.2 leak rates (which are not bad).
However, if I look at the detailed graph, I'll see a few spikes in the blue line where I rolled over and bumped the mask or if I lifted it to adjust it. Since you are using nasal pillows, you probably never experience this.

Since air is constantly flowing out of the mask port, I would guess that their software monitors for the minimum leak and subtracts it out so as to state a "zero" leak rate.