New CPAP user looking for support and guidance! THANKS!

[wasserware]

Hi All – this is my first post here and I am glad to have found this great community. I just turned 28 (Height = 185CM, weight 185 lb, BMI = 24.5) and have just been diagnosed with mild sleep apnea which pretty much confirmed my suspicions over the years. I never seem to get enough sleep and always wake up tired; no matter how many hours of sleep I get and snore very loudly! So I finally decided to get a sleep study done and I’ve attached my results here. As you can see, most of my arousals are caused by hypopneas and my AHI is at 27. The sleep doctor prescribed me with the ResMed S9 elite and initially set the pressure at 7. He has also made another appointment for me to come back to the lab for another sleep study on Feb 15th to fine tune the pressure.

Fortunately I am deep sleeper and the CPAP machine did not bother me too much and I’ve been fully compliant since the day (Jan 24th) I received the machine and average about 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night without any disturbance. After reviewing the data from the machine for the past 12 days, it seems my AHI is under control and has never exceeded 3 and my snoring has completely ceased!

With regards to my energy levels, the first night was a bit of a challenge but the second to fourth morning I wake up feeling very refreshed and energized and I was extremely happy with the result. However after the fifth day of using the machine, the refreshed feeling went way and I was still sleepy in the morning and during the day so I am wondering if this is normal as I’ve read on this forum that it might take weeks or months to be fully adjusted to the CPAP therapy? I’ve included some of the data from the ResScan software…. So am I on the right track so far with my CPAP therapy vs untreated condition?

Thank a lot everyone!

Original Sleep Study Report from the Doctor:




CPAP Data from SleepyHead:

Jan 24th


Jan 25th


Jan 26th


Jan 27th



Jan 28th


Jan 30th


Jan 31th


Feb 2nd


Feb 3nd

[Pugsy]

Yes, on the right track for sure. Those reports look really good.
Are you sleeping soundly through the night or are you having some awakenings for some reason?
You will find that you will have some bumps in the road..nights where you wake up and don't feel so great. It happens to everyone.
We can't be "perfect" every night.

[wasserware]

WOW..thank you for the quick reply! I am able to sleep soundly the entire night without any awakening but I must add I've been dreaming very vividly ever since on the CPAP machine I read again on this forum is a good thing!

[SusieG]

I have just completed a month on CPAP and have had a couple of "off" nights, but all-in-all it has evened out. Hang in there and try not to stress about it too much. In the long run you will feel better and have lots more energy.

[Pugsy]

Sleeping soundly and feeling good...doesn't get much better than that.
You will do very well. Don't be disheartened if you have a few bumps in the road. It happens to everyone...even people without OSA.

I am a little pea green with envy...it took me 4 weeks to get reports anywhere near as good as yours and I still can't sleep soundly through the night (other issues unrelated to OSA).

[wasserware]

That is good to hear I am on the right track. Fortunately my apneas is mostly Hypopneas and my sleep doctor said it most likely didn't cause any permanent damage to my brain. In my next appointment I am going to ask him what is the cause of my Hypopneas? I think maybe the loud snoring restricting the airflow to my lungs?

[Pugsy]

In my next appointment I am going to ask him what is the cause of my Hypopneas? I think maybe the loud snoring restricting the airflow to my lungs?

Hyponeas are sort of like wannabe obstructive apneas...just not quite grown up.

If you look at the definition of Hyponea and obstructive apnea (see the link in my signature line to the Glossary) the hyponea is just a partial reduction (like around 50%) in air flow vs a 90 to 100% reduction in air flow for an apnea.

The snoring is caused by the vibration of the partially collapsed tissue in the airway as the air flow goes by the tissue.
So the snoring is a symptom of the collapse or partial collapse of the airway tissue and it is the collapsing tissue that restricts air flow.

[wasserware]

Yeah and Hypopneas can be just as damaging vs full blown OSA! I am glad my sleep doctor provided me with the detailed reports at no charge because it shows I have no central apneas while the software is showing ocassional central apneas here and there. Another thing I need to get sorted out is the whistling sound coming from the CPAP machine I've read that this problem do happens on some machine and it is very hard to resolve it unless the machine is swapped...

[cosmo]

You should look into using SleepyHead software. Its something people are more used to looking at. You can still import your data into both programs.

[Pugsy]

The machine will report what it senses and it likely senses a central but if you were in a sleep lab setting the sleep tech may not agree that it was worthy of noting. It is normal to have what we call sleep stage transition centrals or even a little turn over in bed central and for sure it can and will flag some awake/semi awake breathing irregularities as a central. These wouldn't make it to the sleep lab report. The machine doesn't know if you are awake or not. It just calls it like it sees it. Unless it is calling a lot of them we just shrug our shoulders and move on.

The whistling noise on the S9 ....is it mainly on exhale? Lots of people complaining about it. Some calling it a bird call.
I hear it myself. Seems to be related to force of my exhale. If I don't breathe quite so hard I can't hear it. It's not hugely loud for me anyway and doesn't prevent me from falling asleep.
Now if it is extremely loud and you are sure it is coming from the machine and not mask whistling and it is keeping you awake...talk to your DME about it.

Yes, hyponeas are still a problem and that is why they are counted even though the reduction in air flow is not as severe.
Have enough of them back to back and they can be a big problem...plus if they cause you to wake up just a little it messes with the overall sleep cycles and architecture with the result being we feel like crap the next day. Simply not good restorative sleep.
It's all about getting good quality restorative sleep with minimal interruptions in the the sleep cycles. Gotta have good quality sleep to stand a chance of feeling better.

[wasserware]

You should look into using SleepyHead software. Its something people are more used to looking at. You can still import your data into both programs.

I use that software as well but there are so many graphs and which one should I grab and post here for analysis?

[Pugsy]

I use that software as well but there are so many graphs and which one should I grab and post here for analysis?

SleepyHead has way more graphs than you really need to watch.
The unneeded graphs can be turned off via Preferences/graphs.
The remaining graphs can be resized so that you can get all that you really need on one screen shot. To resize just hover the mouse on the bottom line of the graph till you see a little short double line then click and drag to resize.
Main graphs I look at...the events graph on the top right...the flow graph that shows the flow and the events...the leak graph so I can quickly see if my leaks were bad or not...and in my case the pressure line graph because my pressures vary. When using cpap mode with fixed pressure there is no real need to show the pressure graph.
Flow limitation and snore graphs only if they seem excessive.

All that tidal volume and resp rate and stuff...not really needed.

Here in this thread I have sort of an example of what I look like. I cropped the leak line because it wasn't needed for what I was showing. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81072&p=737779#p737779

[wasserware]

I've updated the post with sleepyhead data and sorry for the large images They came directly from my 30inch monitor... Are there any sections that I should zoom in and show in detail for you?
As for the whistling sound, it only happens when I exhale and currently it doesn't affect my sleep but I can certainly hear it when using the machine.

[SethW]

As for the whistling sound, it only happens when I exhale and currently it doesn't affect my sleep but I can certainly hear it when using the machine.

Yup. Me too. Sometimes people on this forum say it sounds like an owl.

[wasserware]

I just completed another night of CPAP therapy and this time I felt great! I guess the first month it is really hit or miss!