Need Help Reading SleepyHead Graphs, Please

[G'night Gracie]

Got 8 hours of sleep last night,so making progress on that front. On these graphs, there's a break from 22:18 to 23:39. Could this mean that my mask fell off, so there's no data for this time period? I've been taping my mouth, and wearing a cervical collar to keep my jaw from dropping open. Any general observations?


On this event view, does this mean that I stopped breathing 13 times, from 10-24 seconds each time? And what does the "View Size" setting at 4 do?

[cosmo]

Set your minimum higher and see if it helps.

[G'night Gracie]

Set your minimum higher and see if it helps.

Thanks, Cosmo. In what way might setting a higher minimum pressure help? Sorry, still learning my ABCs here.

[avi123]

You either stopped the machine or you let those nasal pillows come out from your nostrils, or sneezed them out.

[G'night Gracie]

You either stopped the machine or you let those nasal pillows come out from your nostrils, or sneezed them out.

Thanks, Avi. I think the machine turns itself off after a time if I'm not breathing into the mask.

[Pugsy]

On this event view, does this mean that I stopped breathing 13 times, from 10-24 seconds each time? And what does the "View Size" setting at 4 do?

Yes, the number in parentheses is the duration of the event in seconds...if you were using ResScan the event duration would be shown as a number in a little box above each event on the Events chart along with a different color for each type of event.

The View size thing allows you to use the slider bar to zoom in or away from each graph.

On these graphs, there's a break from 22:18 to 23:39. Could this mean that my mask fell off, so there's no data for this time period?

Most likely the mask was removed in some way. Hard to know for sure. If there was a massive (and that's real massive) the machine might not sense any air flow and thus the break in the flow line. Sometimes we do remove the mask and not know it and then put it back on...I know I have seen similar breaks in therapy. It's possible that a power outage might have happened but that is remote possibility. If you see this happen a lot you might add a couple of little pieces of tape to the straps on your face in hopes that if you are removing the mask and not realize it that you will wake up and stop doing that.
But yes...for some reason the machine didn't sense any breathing during that time period...as to why we don't know.

Raising the minimum pressure would maybe prevent some of the obstructive events or hyponeas. It won't help the Clear Airway (centrals) at all. To be honest though....I don't see any urgent need to raise the minimum pressure based on this report except maybe that 4:00 AM cluster of obstructive apneas. This may be REM sleep cluster or supine sleeping cluster that needed a little more minimum pressure to prevent the collapse of the airway. If I saw clusters like this often..yeah a little more minimum pressure but one little cluster...not a critical issue right now but it wouldn't hurt to bump the minimum up to 7 cm if you wanted to. The idea behind a little more minimum is to give the machine a better head start in preventing the airway tissue collapse. These machines don't go from 6 cm to 10 cm in the blink of an eye so sometimes the airway tissue collapse comes and goes before the pressure can get up to where it needs to be to effectively hold the airway open.
Sometimes REM stage sleep events and/or supine sleep events just need a little more pressure than at other times.

Did the tape stay on all night? Your leak is still all over the place and if the tape stayed in place then the mask is moving around a bit. Your 95% leak number was still okay though...18 L/min so you were at or below that leak number for 95% of the night.

How was the quality of sleep in general? Leaks wake you up? Mask fit or just the presence of the mask wake you up?
Lot of tossing and turning that you remember?

[G'night Gracie]

On this event view, does this mean that I stopped breathing 13 times, from 10-24 seconds each time? And what does the "View Size" setting at 4 do?

Yes, the number in parentheses is the duration of the event in seconds...if you were using ResScan the event duration would be shown as a number in a little box above each event on the Events chart along with a different color for each type of event.

The View size thing allows you to use the slider bar to zoom in or away from each graph. Will resrve zoom questions for another time.

On these graphs, there's a break from 22:18 to 23:39. Could this mean that my mask fell off, so there's no data for this time period?

Most likely the mask was removed in some way. Hard to know for sure. If there was a massive (and that's real massive) the machine might not sense any air flow and thus the break in the flow line. Sometimes we do remove the mask and not know it and then put it back on Yes, I remember having to put the mask back on....I know I have seen similar breaks in therapy. It's possible that a power outage might have happened but that is remote possibility. If you see this happen a lot you might add a couple of little pieces of tape I did add tape to the face straps when I put it back on. to the straps on your face in hopes that if you are removing the mask and not realize it that you will wake up and stop doing that.
But yes...for some reason the machine didn't sense any breathing during that time period...as to why we don't know.

Raising the minimum pressure would maybe prevent some of the obstructive events or hyponeas. It won't help the Clear Airway (centrals) at all. Will reserve questions on centrals for another time.To be honest though....I don't see any urgent need to raise the minimum pressure based on this report except maybe that 4:00 AM cluster of obstructive apneas. This may be REM sleep cluster or supineI nearly always sleep on my back, but have been trying for more time on my side. sleeping cluster that needed a little more minimum pressure to prevent the collapse of the airway. If I saw clusters like this often..yeah a little more minimum pressure but one little cluster...not a critical issue right now but it wouldn't hurt to bump the minimum up to 7 cm if you wanted to Think I'll hold off a bit on that change because I want to add a mouth-guard to the mix and see what happens. One change at a time, and all that.... The idea behind a little more minimum is to give the machine a better head start in preventing the airway tissue collapse. These machines don't go from 6 cm to 10 cm in the blink of an eye so sometimes the airway tissue collapse comes and goes before the pressure can get up to where it needs to be to effectively hold the airway open.
Sometimes REM stage sleep events and/or supine sleep events just need a little more pressure than at other times.

Did the tape stay on all night? Mouth tape stayed on until I needed to cough, then loosened it. Your leak is still all over the place and if the tape stayed in place then the mask is moving around a bit Last night I determined to not over stress myself about mask leaks, in lieu of simply keeping all the equipment in place for at least 8 hours. The previous two nights, I lost patience at about four hours and tossed it all into the corner. Think I need some time to acclimate to the whole setup . Your 95% leak number was still okay though...18 L/min so you were at or below that leak number for 95% of the night. I like this!

How was the quality of sleep in general? Leaks wake you up? Mask fit or just the presence of the mask wake you up?
Lot of tossing and turning that you remember?

These are harder to answer. I'm used to waking up a lot, mainly to relieve severe dry-mouth with a drink of water, but this has gotten better. Not sure about the tossing/turning other than to move from supine to side.

O m'gosh, Pugsy! You've got more questions than I do! And I thank you for that! I'll squeeze in answers above, as best as I can. And here's one more question: Is it true that the graphs will only show events that were NOT prevented? In other words, once the therapy is tweaked to keep my airway open, the graphs will not show that.

[Pugsy]

Is it true that the graphs will only show events that were NOT prevented? In other words, once the therapy is tweaked to keep my airway open, the graphs will not show that.

Tis true...you are seeing the events that slipped past the defenses. We have no way of knowing how many were prevented.

I think you are wise in not trying to start messing with the machine and all that right now. Get used to the mask and sleeping with an alien stuck on your face and master the leaks...then start looking at any changes you might want to make.
There's nothing critical showing up that warrants immediate action and there is some truth to "give it time". Especially when you are still in this adjustment phase.

Most important thing right now...the brain learning it is okay to let the alien be stuck on the face and work on getting decent sleep. Leaks...are always going to be a PITA...some nights we win and some nights they win.

Be patient...don't try to hit a home run first time at bat.
There's nothing on your reports right now that screams out "fix me".

Centrals...don't worry about them...if you are having some awakenings during the night that also means you are having multiple times where you go back to sleep and it is normal and common to have some centrals happen during sleep onset or transition. You aren't having enough of them to be a problem anyway.

The zoom feature...that comes later when you have a better understanding of the flow line graph...if you want to learn. Lots of time for that later if you want to investigate it.

[G'night Gracie]

Hugs and sweet dreams to you, Pugsy!