Can someone help me understand what happened last night?

[pwaterman]

Hi all,

I had what must have been a very rough night last night as I woke up light headed, exhausted, and sporting one heck of a headache. So, first thing I did was lean over and check the ol' CPAP thinking that I must have had a huge leak or that my AHI was through the roof. As far as it can tell it reports no leak and my AHI was below 2. I didn't sleep as long as I would have liked (got to bed late) but I don't understand how the CPAP can say it is working, report a low AHI, and I can still feel like I was oxygen deprived all night.

I have an album with the full set of screenshots for data from SleepyHead here: http://s1308.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... 12-29-data

Would anyone be willing/able to take a look and help me understand what happened so I can try to do better? I'm getting ready to face a 1k insurance bill for this thing and I'm a little terrified it doesn't work...

-Paul

[chunkyfrog]

Sometimes a headache is just a headache.
Without oximetry data, low blood oxygen is still a possibility.
There are dozens of other factors, besides apnea, that cause headaches.
Now your doctor can start working on the other possibilities.

[pwaterman]

Heyas Chunkyfrog and thanks for the quick reply!

I get what you are saying but this feels exactly like a bad apnea night... that feeling you get used to when you aren't being treated. The headache and fatigue have that very unique quality that you can't seem to get any other way. I'd never say it is impossible there is some other cause, but this certainly feels like apnea.

I'd love to have oximetry data, checking availability and pricing is on my list for today mainly because I feel a bit on my own from a diagnosis standpoint.

[BlackSpinner]

First - some machines do not provide the data immediately in the morning. You may want to try loading it again.

Second is make sure you are not mouth breathing. You have a nasal mask which leaves you vulnerable to less then optimal therapy.

[chunkyfrog]

Another possibility is that with the pressure range set to "wide open",
the peaks may be waking you up, preventing you from reaching restorative stages of sleep.
I set my range to no more than 3 cm above my 95% pressure, and my low to 2 below;
and the runaway pressures stopped. The manufacturer may say this does not happen--
but they haven't watched EVERYBODY sleep! Some of us need a little tweaking.

[pwaterman]

Heyas Blackspinner,

I definitely have the data (that's what is in the link). Looking over it I THINK it shows a larger than average amount of leakage so I guess that could be the culprit. Does mouth breathing show up as a leak by any chance?

Leaks Med: 0.00
Leaks 95%: 4.00
Leaks Max: 18.00

Total Leaks Med: 17.00
Total Leaks 95%: 32.00
Total Leaks Max: 46.00

This issue with SH is that I have all these numbers that I don't have any relational understanding for. Is 46 high, low? 46 WHAT? Liters? Quarts? Decibels?

ChunkyFrog, you are right in that I would definitely like to get my range dialed in a bit better. My Dr recommended the wide open AutoCPAP as a way to avoid a followup sleep study, which I now wish I had gotten anyway.

[jencat824]

Did you take any meds you don't usually take. I am taking Tamiflu & am having some bad sleep nites, I think its the Tamiflu, since I've not had these in a long time & usually when I'm on something outside the norm for me. Could this be the case?

Jen

[pwaterman]

Jen,

You type really well for a cat. MIne can't even figure out how to boot up the mac!

No new meds although I have been fighting a cold for the last week. It's mostly over now but my nose does get stuffed up. It wasn't any different then the past couple of nights though.

Incidentally, I think that's the worst part of the mask. Every time I need to itch or blow my nose I have to roll over, turn off the machine, remove mask, itch/blow, reattach mask, turn on machine. It gets to the point where I lay there thinking 'How bad do I want to itch that right now?'

-Paul

[msla]

Another thing might be something you ate. I found that having a dark micro brew (only one with dinner) did it to me. You might want to create a food diary of what you ate before the headache.

[cosmo]

How about a screen shot of the events tab and add to your album.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Every time I need to itch or blow my nose I have to roll over, turn off the machine, remove mask, itch/blow, reattach mask, turn on machine. It gets to the point where I lay there thinking 'How bad do I want to itch that right now?

You don't actually have to take off your mask and headgear or turn off your machine every time you want to blow your nose or scratch it. Just slide the mask up to your forehead while running and with one hand, keep the opening pressed against the skin (for nasal pillows, just slide them up to your nose and do the same). This will provide enough resistance to not skew your sleep data, plus you won't get a lot of whistling noise and turning over in bed to wake up your partner. Easy peezy. When you're finished, slide it all back down, tweak the straps, and you're back in business, without touching your machine. Sometimes in the middle of the night I need to apply a bit more Lansinol ...I find this technique works great and is very fast. It's also good if you want to say a few words to someone without sounding like Darth Vader.

[ddk]

Can you still have a low AHI with a nose mask/pillows even if you ended up breathing through the mouth? 'cause that would explain a lot for me.

[archangle]

Think about the term “Respiratory-Effort Related Arousals (RERAs)”.

The above post is either nonsense or way over my head. I think nonsense is the much more likely answer.

[idamtnboy]

Can you still have a low AHI with a nose mask/pillows even if you ended up breathing through the mouth? 'cause that would explain a lot for me.

Yes.

[pwaterman]

How about a screen shot of the events tab and add to your album.

Cosmo,

The events tab screenshot has been added to the library. Thanks for taking a look!

http://s1308.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... 12-29-data

-Paul