Centrals - Graphs added

[ladyhen]

I just pulled data off my card for the first time in about a month. (I've been on CPAP since Feb. 18)

I'm noticing that fairly consistently about 35% of my events are marked as Central. They are spread throughout the night, not clustered (although on a couple of nights, all of the centrals fell between 3 and 6am.)

I don't see many leaks on the graphs and they do not seem to coordinate with events. My pressure has been 5-20, but I increased the minimum to 7 one night and 10 another and saw no difference in AHI (which is still quite low at 1-1.. Early on, I was seeing AHI's of 0.2-0.8 each night. My AHI during my sleep study was only 6.3 I believe.

I saw my primary care doctor today and he ordered an overnight oxygen study to see what my oxygen levels are doing. (Had a bad experience with the neuro/sleep doc's office and haven't returned.)

Since starting CPAP, the primary thing I've noticed is that my chronic headaches have gone away. However, I'm still exhausted and in a brain fog. I've also gained 18 pounds (but am not sure if this may have more to do with stopping Metformin for PCOS than CPAP.)

Thoughts?

Editing to add a couple of graphs.

[Otter]

Thoughts?

Do the centrals occur more often when the machine is delivering the highest pressure?

Do they occur mostly as you go to sleep, as you wake up, and when you're likely between sleep cycles (1½-2 hour intervals)?

5-20 is a very wide range. Your therapy may work better if you can narrow it down.

It often takes a while to recover from chronic sleep deprivation.

[ladyhen]

I'll see if I can figure out how to post a couple of graphs. My pressure doesn't appear to ever go over 13.

[avi123]

Why don't you set your max pressure lower to see if it reduces the Centrals?

Overall,

"◦Central sleep apnea during sleep-wake transition: Up to 40% of healthy individuals may exhibit central apneas during sleep-wake transition. The central apneas occur during the period that chemoreceptors are resetting and instability of ventilation control occurs. They are usually brief and not associated with significant oxygen desaturation. The clinical significance of this entity is unknown. Once stable sleep is reached, normal individuals should not have more than 5 central apneas per hour of sleep.

◦Postarousal central apnea or postsigh central apnea: During a PSG review, central apneas are commonly seen following an arousal or after a sigh and are usually inconsequential. They are thought to be a result of Herring-Breuer reflex or hypocapnia induced by hyperventilation caused by a sigh or arousal"

In my case I see the follwing rate of Central Apneas in a random check (and I don't know about having any medical condition underlying this disorder):

Just by looking at the Central Apnea column I think that I on the average I have a bit more than 5 Central events per hour.
In the 4th line from the top there is a typo and the Central should be 6 instead of 11.