HELP ~~~ How to read my figure??

sanman723 · Post by **sanman723** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:40 am

I have been using my APAP for almost 2 months. The followings are reports (1 night) of my sleep at home.
Can you please help me figure out what has happened?

The "hypopnea" seems many, and many "snoring", as well as "apnea" too.
But why the pressure does not go up automatically?

The setting of my machine is 4.5 (Lowest) and 20 (highest), with humidifier
Thanks

dohdohbah · Post by **dohdohbah** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:25 am

hi sanman723, I hope someone savvy will help you with the data analysis soon. I also want to post a similar question with another software output. May I know how you posted the image? I'm a new user.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:25 am

Your 'settings' are not settings, but the default extremes of the machine. No one can realistically breathe at 4 (or 4.5) and having the lower setting at at least 6 (what #'s in fact is your prescription for?) would be a better start. THe thing is also that if you have an event that requires the machine to hit e.g. 11, and you're set at 4.5, by the time the machine came close to 11 the event would have been long gone, so setting your machine's low pressure at just below your actual prescription number or whatever lowest point you normally average out at (e.g. 7) makes more sense. Leaving the top open either to 20 or at least five points above the lower setting (your scripted level being just above that) allows the machine to reach higher 'at will', but only by having software can you know for sure just how often and how high that might be. A random one time 'reach' by the machine to a level much higher than usual isn't a big deal (tho' wearing an oximeter begins to look smart if it happens routinely), but at least with a narrower, but higher range compared to one starting at 4.5, you're more likely to catch the majority of events.

sanman723 · Post by **sanman723** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:33 am

Many thanks

Actually, I have not successfully finished the sleep test as I was so resistant to those wires and I could not fall asleep during the test night. The doctor finally suggested me to try on the CPAP to see if I feel better in day time. Yet I still buy the software to figure out what happened during the night.

So, how would you interpret that report that shows many "hypopnea" and "apnea"?
Should I increase the lower limit for pressure such that the number of "hypopnea" and "apnea" drop below a certain level? (and what level?)

Thanks

sanman723 · Post by **sanman723** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:35 am

dohdohbah wrote:hi sanman723, I hope someone savvy will help you with the data analysis soon. I also want to post a similar question with another software output. May I know how you posted the image? I'm a new user.

Hi, I am quite new to here too.
I use dropbox for posting images. I put all the images in the "public" folder of dropbox and it can generate a public link for you.
Hope this helps

JohnO · Post by **JohnO** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:22 am

sanman723 wrote:So, how would you interpret that report that shows many "hypopnea" and "apnea"?
Should I increase the lower limit for pressure such that the number of "hypopnea" and "apnea" drop below a certain level? (and what level?)

I'm no expert. I've been reading this forum voraciously since early June, and have been on an Auto-CPAP machine for 50 days. Based on what I see, I think it is as Julie suggested - your starting pressure is too low, and if there are events (hypoapnea, or apnea or snoring) the pressure is a long ways away from where it can help.

Since you have't completed a titration study, I'd recommended titrating at home by slowly increasing your lower limit pressure. I'd start by setting it moving it from 4.5 to 6.0 and try it for a week to see what happens. If you still have events, but are having fewer or shorter duration, then the next week I'd but it from 6.0 to 7.0 and see what happens the next week.

John

sanman723 · Post by **sanman723** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 9:16 am

JohnO wrote:
sanman723 wrote:So, how would you interpret that report that shows many "hypopnea" and "apnea"?
Should I increase the lower limit for pressure such that the number of "hypopnea" and "apnea" drop below a certain level? (and what level?)
I'm no expert. I've been reading this forum voraciously since early June, and have been on an Auto-CPAP machine for 50 days. Based on what I see, I think it is as Julie suggested - your starting pressure is too low, and if there are events (hypoapnea, or apnea or snoring) the pressure is a long ways away from where it can help.

Since you have't completed a titration study, I'd recommended titrating at home by slowly increasing your lower limit pressure. I'd start by setting it moving it from 4.5 to 6.0 and try it for a week to see what happens. If you still have events, but are having fewer or shorter duration, then the next week I'd but it from 6.0 to 7.0 and see what happens the next week.

John

It's very helpful. Let me try it on

Many Thanks

sanman723 · Post by **sanman723** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:28 pm

I have tried changing the prescription setting on the machine.
Now the lowest pressure is changed to 6.0
But I find that there are still many events (esp Apneas & Hypopneas)
What's happened? Should I further increase the lowest pressure?
Thanks a lot.

LEFT: Previous Setting and Result
RIGHT: New Setting and Result

JohnO · Post by **JohnO** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:19 pm

sanman723 wrote:I have tried changing the prescription setting on the machine.
Now the lowest pressure is changed to 6.0
But I find that there are still many events (esp Apneas & Hypopneas)
What's happened? Should I further increase the lowest pressure?
Thanks a lot.

Interesting data. I was hoping it would show lower or fewer events. It does show the snoring was lowered. That is good. I'm hoping someone else with more experience will chime in. I'm not sure if moving the lower limit up to 7.0 is warranted or not.

At the least, I think 6.0 is better than the 4.5 you were at.

John

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:47 pm

What bothers me is that the machine doesn't even seem to be trying very hard to respond to the events.
The first report with the snores you see a pressure increase when the snores popped up.
The second report the snores are gone but like you say there are still a good number of events but the machine isn't even trying to do any thing very much. Only some very minor pressure increases are shown.
I don't know what to make of it. Mainly hyponeas too. There should be enough of them close enough together that the machine should have responded in some fashion.
Only thing I can think of is another increase in the minimum to maybe 7 and see what happens if this were what I was seeing night after night.
Keep an eye out on the NRI and if it goes wild back off.

Since you didn't get a chance to have a real solid titration study it is possible that the snores are just easier to prevent than the other events. Though the machine has ample opportunity to increase the pressure but instead it really doesn't.
Makes me wonder "why no increase to speak of"?

HELP ~~~ How to read my figure??

HELP ~~~ How to read my figure??

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