my sleepyhead data

[Seattleboy49]

In the past my attempts to copy my sleepyhead images to this forum have been an unmitigated disaster. I know I am still not doing this 100% correctly, but I am hoping the images will show and give everyone enough information to let me know how I am doing. I feel like I have been sleeping much better of late and I feel much better physically. but I am not sure what the data is showing so any feedback would be much appreciated

[Seattleboy49]

Kind of surprised I didn't get any responses! And I was so proud of myself for getting the images to post! no one has any thoughts on my data. Just curious if any of the numbers are bad, if there is anything I should be adjusting, etc.

[Pugsy]

Congratulations on 2 things.
1...Mastery of posting of the images for direct viewing.
2...For having a nice boring report to look at.

I saw your post yesterday but lost internet for a while yesterday and then I had other stuff to do so wasn't back online to respond.

Your reports are boring...and that means I see nothing standing out that needs improvement.
Boring is good in terms of how the reports look.

[Seattleboy49]

Thanks Pugsy! Now that I have gotten to the point where I have learned how to post the images my next goal will be to learn how to read the data myself. But I am glad you have deemed my reports "boring." I figured (hoped) that might be the case since I feel so much better these days, but it's nice to receive some confirmation. I think the key for me was switching to A-Flex. I know C-Flex and A-flex are comfort settings and therefore which setting is right for a particular person just depends on the individual, but for me A-flex made all the difference in the world.

Thanks again

[Pugsy]

I also prefer AFlex to CFlex.
I found CFlex was useless but really liked AFlex. Technically I know in my head that there really isn't that big of a difference in how they work but in real life AFlex felt better....and I liked the setting of 2 better than 1 or 3...it let me pretty much feel like normal breathing and not so much the "against the winds of 10 cm" feeling.

I don't bother looking at all those other graphs in SleepyHead (those volume this or volume that or respiration rate stuff)...most of those have such a wide range of norms you are going to see a lot of normal variances and unless you have some sort of lung issue (which would normally already be known) those data points are not going to be all that remarkable.
I look at the events graph, the flow rate graph, leak and pressure graphs.
Maybe Flow limitation graph on the S9 machines if it is very active.
That's pretty much what I look at.
Usual routine which I look at the data is look at leak line first...mainly because I know that sometimes my leak is not so pretty. I look to see how bad I might have been and if not very bad and the AHI is good...that's the extent of my evaluation of things.
I long ago quit looking at each individual event under the microscope. It got boring real fast.
Sometimes if I wake up during the night and happen to turn the machine off and then back on I will look at what went on right before I woke up enough to turn off the machine just so I can learn what awake breathing looks like just for educational purposes.

Your reports look great...you are feeling good...that's the important thing.
I am glad you are feeling good...it's tough when I see reports like this and someone says they still feel like crap.
It's easier when someone feels like crap if I can spot something that needs work on the reports.
If you told me you felt like crap I wouldn't have anything to offer other than the usual speech about AHI not being everything and look for other possible causes..meds, pain, comfort, whatever speech.

[Seattleboy49]

Thanks and yes, I feel for people who are struggling to feel better. It took me what feels like a long time to get this right. I wouldn't say I am sleeping like I did when I was a teenager as I still wake up a few times during the night. But before attempting the CPAP again I felt exhausted almost every day. The only chance I had at feeling somewhat "normal" was if I could take a 20 minute nap in the afternoon, but these days my naps are no longer automatic like they were in the past. I guess that is just a product of getting older. But I finally feel like I am getting enough sleep and no longer and constantly thinking about how tired I am during the day. It's really made all the difference in the world for me.

[Pugsy]

I wouldn't say I am sleeping like I did when I was a teenager as I still wake up a few times during the night.

CPAP can't work miracles and turn back the clock. Believe me...I wish it could.
People expect it to though and they forget that there's a lot of other stuff that can mess with our sleep and how we feel in general.

What I usually say is that while I don't wake up wanting to run a marathon...at least I don't wake up feeling like I just ran that marathon. I am 62 years old now and my body has it's own issues that I would have even if I didn't have the OSA issue. We fix what we can and work on the other stuff the best we can.
I would love to feel like I did as a teenager but unfortunately that isn't going to happen as much as I wish it would.

People often have unrealistic expectations when it comes to OSA therapy and think it is failing therapy because all those expectations aren't met when that's not the case. Cold hard facts of life unfortunately.

It's rare that I sleep through the night without any wake ups but I know that my wake ups aren't related to OSA so I deal with it in other ways on an as needed basis.