CPAP report stats? what to look out for?

[stubbornsleeper]

Hi there,
I am new to CPAP, having gone into hospital after not sleeping for 4 nights in a row,
(the culmination of a long period of little or no sleep for years) I was told by the sleep clinician that I had severe Sleep Apnea with an AHI of 48. I was told that I needed a CPAP machine and that this would help, as apparently I "stop breathing" while asleep. This would explain the almost "panic attack' situation I seem to wake up to gasping for air. It got to the stage where I was too scared to go to sleep because of this. I understand stress can be a factor, but I found that the past few months I just had no energy during the day anymore and my main problem is I am short of breath. Problem is it just kept getting worse and worse till I decided to go see a Sleep doctor.

Anyways, I got a Phillips Respironics S1 Auto CPAP with A flex, on the 25 September,
and was told it should all get better in a jiffy. Problem is the Doctor and Sleep Tech don’t really give you much info as to whats wrong , what to look out for etc etc… and unless you go for a follow up which costs money, I wouldn’t know a thing , weather its getting better or worse or if there is an underlying problem.

I personally don’t think im getting better ( Using CPAP I am still tired, short of breath during the day, still waking up at night gasping for air in a panic, and waking up bloated and feeling gassy – from the cpap I assume) Understandibly I have only been using it for 15 days…. But what I would give/kill/do for a solid straight good nights sleep)

Thanks to #Pugsy I have installed EncoreBasic as I feel I needed to know what my stats were, and by monitoring them I hope to understand more of what my problem is and work at overcoming it.

Problem is what should I be looking for / at ? What is good / bad ? range?

This is my stats last night compared to average overall from 15 days

Detail: Last Night - Overall
Average 90% Pressure 12.5 - 12
Average CPAP Pressure 10.8 - 10.5
Average % of Night in Cheyne-Stokes Respiration 51.8% - 38.9%
Average CA Index 3.4 - 6.5
Average OA Index 10.8 - 10.6
Average AHI 30.9 - 27.1
Average Hypopnea Index 16.7 - 10
Average RERA Index 0.0 - 0.1
Average VS Index 3.8 - 7.3
Average FL Index 0.0 - 0.1
Average % Night in Large Leak 52.8% - 14.9%
Average Large Leak 2 hrs. 39 mins. - 54 mins. 32 secs
Average Usage 5 hrs. 1 mins. - 6 hrs. 7 mins.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Could you tell me what I should look out for, and what needs to come down.
The Average % of Night in Cheyne-Stokes Respiration and % Night in Large Leak worry me - high numbers ?
and would a different mask maybe be better perhaps? Any personal experience advice is greatly welcomed.
I have the Optilife Nasal pillow mask.

I can post pics of detailed report or waveform report if it helps.

Thanks so much in advance for your invaluable advice.

StubbornSleeper

[Xney]

This is my stats last night compared to average overall from 15 days

Detail: Last Night - Overall
Average 90% Pressure 12.5 - 12
Average CPAP Pressure 10.8 - 10.5
Average % of Night in Cheyne-Stokes Respiration 51.8% - 38.9%
Average CA Index 3.4 - 6.5
Average OA Index 10.8 - 10.6
Average AHI 30.9 - 27.1
Average Hypopnea Index 16.7 - 10
Average RERA Index 0.0 - 0.1
Average VS Index 3.8 - 7.3
Average FL Index 0.0 - 0.1
Average % Night in Large Leak 52.8% - 14.9%
Average Large Leak 2 hrs. 39 mins. - 54 mins. 32 secs
Average Usage 5 hrs. 1 mins. - 6 hrs. 7 mins.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Could you tell me what I should look out for, and what needs to come down.
The Average % of Night in Cheyne-Stokes Respiration and % Night in Large Leak worry me - high numbers ?
and would a different mask maybe be better perhaps? Any personal experience advice is greatly welcomed.
I have the Optilife Nasal pillow mask.

The numbers you need to be worried about: Large Leak, Obstructive Index, Central Index, % Night in CSR

All of those are problematic. However, your leaks sound like they could be very problematic. With high leaking, the machine can't detect events very well, or treat them. I think you first need to figure out what's leaking (mask? mask when you move? mouth?) and fix that before the other things.

If you can show some of the important graphs (pressure, events, leak rates) from a typical night, that would help, perhaps

P.S. If you really do have consistent CSR and Central Apnea events, and it's not an artifact of getting used to CPAP or leaking, you are almost certainly going to need a different type of machine. That doesn't change needing to fix the leaks first, however.

[stubbornsleeper]

Thanks Xney,

Here are pics of graphs etc from last night. I am certain I need to get a new mask , maybe even a full face? Not sure if these stats say much …thanks for the help.



















Anything stand out as being particularily bad?

Thanks again.

[Tino2You]

Hi stubbornsleeper;

I believe your number one priority is to get your leaks under control. What kind of mask are your using? It would be very helpful if you could complete the hardware section in your profile. (User Control Panel -> Profile tab -> Edit Equipment.

If you are using a nasal mask, maybe your mouth is opening and allowing ait to escape. A full face mask (FFM) maybe when you turn in your sleep you are breaking the seal. So many ways for leaks to occur. But one thing is certain, when your mask is leaking, you are not getting the therapy you are hoping to get.

-tino

[archangle]

I think apnea shouldn't make you short of breath during the day. Opinions, anyone else?

Make a note of the time when you wake up gasping and find out where it is on your chart.

Unfortunately, the bloating and gassy bit can be part of the CPAP experience for some. It sometimes goes away or people figure out how to reduce it.

Please fill in your equipment on your profile so it shows in your posts. See the links in my signature line if you need help on how to do it. In particular, we need to know if you have the Model 60 PRS1 machine (DS560) or the DS550 machine. It's at the top of the page with the compliance information.

Long term, that CSR/PB pattern needs to be investigated if it doesn't go away. Any of our central apnea sufferers care to comment?

[Pugsy]

Optilife Nasal pillows and a 560 machine I believe. What size nasal pillow are you using? Can you try the next size up?

How many times a night are you waking up gasping? How old are you? Do you have any other health conditions that you know of?
Can you estimate how much time actually asleep for the night that you posted the waveform graphs with all the green colored segments? Did you have many episodes of gasping during that night?
In general is your sleep poor and highly fragmented with lots of wake ups for various reasons?

When the leaks are as bad as you are seeing here with the massive large leaks the machine can't do its job properly. It can't sense the events properly, it can't score them properly, it can't respond properly.

Your gasping for air during the day bothers me. That is why I asked the age and other health questions. Do you know what your day time oxygen levels are?