New guy here with doubts and a question

[christopherdiehl]

I've been on a cpap machine and diagnosed with sleep apnea now for about 6 or so months. I've only recently started using my machine seriously do to dot compliance issues. To make a long story short could I have been misdiagnosed with sleep apnea? My events per hour on my sleep report (resmed airsense 10) show either 0.2 events per hour or 0.1 events per hour but last night it showed 0.0 events per hour. I usually use it 5 hours a night.
My sleep study went horrible and I was thinking that with everything I went through that night no human could of possibly slept well. So could I have been missed diagnosed? I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of important factors out of my story so feel free to ask any questions. Thank you in advance for the help.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Pugsy]

My events per hour on my sleep report (resmed airsense 10) show either 0.2 events per hour or 0.1 events per hour but last night it showed 0.0 events per hour. I usually use it 5 hours a night.

The events reported after you use the machine are the apnea events that the machine does NOT prevent. There is no way to know how many it is preventing.
Highly unlikely that you were misdiagnosed.
During a sleep study they can tell if the airway closes and they can tell if you are sleep or not. So not much chance of false positives when it comes to sleep studies.

The low AHI shown on the machine just means the machine is doing its job. Preventing the airway from collapsing nearly as often as it would be doing if you weren't using the machine.

[Julie]

Do you know your test 'score' of total events and/or events/hr?

Are you purposely limiting yourself to 5 hrs or is it natural sleep with a natural awakening? You may not need a lot more if treated properly now, but don't purposely limit things for any reason. And use the machine even for naps or they could end up counterproductive.

[LSAT]

I've been on a cpap machine and diagnosed with sleep apnea now for about 6 or so months. I've only recently started using my machine seriously do to dot compliance issues. To make a long story short could I have been misdiagnosed with sleep apnea? My events per hour on my sleep report (resmed airsense 10) show either 0.2 events per hour or 0.1 events per hour but last night it showed 0.0 events per hour. I usually use it 5 hours a night.
My sleep study went horrible and I was thinking that with everything I went through that night no human could of possibly slept well. So could I have been missed diagnosed? I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of important factors out of my story so feel free to ask any questions. Thank you in advance for the help.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

The AHI numbers you are seeing are "treated" events. Without the CPAP your apnea events would be much higher. Think of it like glasses. You are diagnosed with weak eyesight so you put on glasses and your eyesight is better. That doesn't mean your eyesight is cured or was mis diagnosed. Without the glasses your eyesight would be weak.

[chunkyfrog]

If you are not willing to use your cpap EVERY time you sleep, and for the ENTIRE time you sleep.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do not drive.
Many of us have loved ones who have to use the road.
We pray for their survival.

[D.H.]

To the OP. First of all, your very good AHI shows that the machine is working, not that it is unneeded.

Also, why are you only using it for five hours? Is that all you can stand? I sort of doubt that as if you can stand it for five hours, you can stand it for seven or eight.

Lastly, how do you feel? Think very hard about how you feel now and how you felt before. The improvement may have been gradual, so you'll really need to think hard.

[Pugsy]

Also, why are you only using it for five hours? Is that all you can stand?

He's a truck driver. I don't know about him but I have a husband who is a truck driver. Their sleep schedules just plain suck.
For my husband 5 hours is a good night. They don't have the "schedules" that we have the luxury of having with sleep times.

Now the OP here...he was having compliance issues probably from the sound of things...

I've only recently started using my machine seriously do to dot compliance issues.

Sounds like he got his hands slapped for lack of use and I won't give him a pass on that issue but I do understand that he might not be able to get more than 5 hours or so at a time. Note I said "might"...I don't know why he is only getting 5 hours...he might be blowing off some other hours for all I know but just wanted those of you out there assuming that all truck drivers can easily get 7 or 8 hours of sleep to know that it often simply doesn't happen.
Got a 4 AM delivery time and you pull into the truck stop or even place of business, and sleep there, at midnight....you do the math.
Happens all the time for a whole bunch of reasons.

[christopherdiehl]

Thanks everyone. Julie, I don't know my test score. Should i call the clinic and get it? I'm not limiting myself to 5 hours purposely it just seems that around the 5 hour mark I rip my mask off in my sleep.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[christopherdiehl]

Long story short.....im a truck driver but I drive a delivery truck for a large home improvement center. I don't drive over the road long haul. I start my route at 7am and usually I'm done by 4pm. I have to be dot compliant regardless. I never drive tired. I have the option of letting someone else drive if I'm too sleepy. I would never, ever risk hurting someone else. I went to get a sleep study done on my own accord. I felt horrible every morning after waking up. Weather I slept 4 hours or 10 hours I always felt the same. Like I got hit by a truck. I was unable to concentrate and had to take a 4 hour nap as soon as I got home. So I talked to my Dr and he referred me to a sleep study clinic. It was a very different experience. The guy doing the sleep study was straight from Africa and I couldn't understand anything he was saying. It took him 2 hours to hook up all the wires to me because he was more interested in watching the wrestling that was on tv. When it started he told me to lay on the bed. As soon as I did the whole bed collapsed and I hit the floor. He told me that I'm gonna have to make it work because there wasn't another bed. I couldn't watch tv or use my phone. I had to just lay there in a strange place until I fell asleep. It was horrible. I was thinking maybe I was misdiagnosed because of all of this. I wear my mask every night and for as long as I can. I wake up in the morning with the mask on the floor and the machine says I slept 4 and a half hours or 5 or 6. But it's always around there somewhere and I have no recollection of taking my mask off. Ugh it's frustrating

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Pugsy]

Taking the mask off in the middle of the night and not remembering it is a fairly common complaint.
We usually suggest that they make it difficult to remove in some fashion without waking up so that hopefully if awake they put the mask back on or stop the removing.

Somestimes just a little taping of the straps to the face is enough. Hopefully the minor discomfort from the tape pulling on the skin will cause a person to wake up and stop the unwanted behavior.

I think a lot of us have done it on occasion. I know I have plus I have looked at the reports and there's a big gap for a couple of hours so I must have put it back on and not ever remembered any of it.
Occasionally isn't that big of a deal but doing it every night is a bad habit to let the brain learn and you know that bad habits are notoriously hard to break.

Eventually if we keep putting the mask back on the brain comes to accept the mask as its new best friend instead of some alien it wants off the face.

Evaluate your machine's data using the software to see if you spot anything that might point to a reason for the mask removal.
Don't know about the software?
https://sleep.tnet.com/equipment

[christopherdiehl]

Thank you pugsy

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[palerider]

I was thinking maybe I was misdiagnosed because of all of this.

You might very well have been mis-diagnosed, however... and it's a big however, the cases of false positives in a sleep study are *exceedingly* remote. If you *were* mis-diagnosed, it's far far far more likely that the study showed LESS sleep apnea than you have, because of the crap conditions.

Think going in with a broken arm, It's very unlikely that anybody is going to say it's broken if it's fine, no pain, no bones sticking out, not hanging at a funny angle... but it's possible that if you do have a small break, nothing really bad, that it could be missed on an xray, or a doctor not pay enough attention...

It's sort of the same thing with a sleep study. If the EEG says you're asleep, and the breathing trace shows you've stopped breathing... it's apnea, especially if the chest belts say you're trying to breath.

[Holden4th]

Thanks everyone. Julie, I don't know my test score. Should i call the clinic and get it? I'm not limiting myself to 5 hours purposely it just seems that around the 5 hour mark I rip my mask off in my sleep.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

It's worth getting your results from the sleep clinic as they can be quite enlightening. If you managed to get two or three hours sleep during the test that will provide enough data to diagnose OSA. From what you're telling us about your symptoms it sounds highly likely that OSA is what you have.

Interesting that you pull off the mask at about the same time most nights. If your CPAP is data capable, download Sleepyhead software if you don't have it

https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

and show us what's happening.

[christopherdiehl]

I don't have internet access right now other than my phone so I can't download sleepy head but I should be getting it next week. Until then I'll get my results from the doc and post them up

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[OboeVet]

Christopher,
When I first started, I would rip the mask off in frustration because I either felt like I was suffocating or the pressure got so high it blew leaks around the mask. My support team (Tech or doc, can't remember) raised the minimum and lowered the maximum pressure ranges. Also, it took 5 different types of masks & nose-hoses over a 6 week period to fit my face and give me consistent and really refreshing sleep.

Become your own patient care advocate, and CPAP-APAP will give you new life. All the best
Don Dodson

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk