Tyrone747's therapy

[tyrone747]

I've only been on CPAP for a month but usually when I have a bad night of rest I can see why on paper, it's due to high AHI from leaks or something else. But sometimes my AHI will be 0.5, no leaks, and I'll feel like crap all day. It is making question if apnea is even my issue, though I feel I have had significant benefit from CPAP therapy on most days. Is it because I'm still new to CPAP. How can it swing so widely from day to day?

[Steve of Cornubia]

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you describe exactly my long-standing experience, where it seems the better my AHI, the worse I feel the following day.

Eggspurts on here and another forum have suggested I post a report, which I should try to get around to, because there is much of import buried in there, that I can't interpret.

You should do the same, if you can.

[zonker]

I've only been on CPAP for a month but usually when I have a bad night of rest I can see why on paper, it's due to high AHI from leaks or something else. But sometimes my AHI will be 0.5, no leaks, and I'll feel like crap all day. It is making question if apnea is even my issue, though I feel I have had significant benefit from CPAP therapy on most days. Is it because I'm still new to CPAP. How can it swing so widely from day to day?

yup to both. we sleep differently from night to night. particularly at the beginning when we are trying to get used to this.

it DOES get better as time goes on. just think of all the time you've spent with untreated apnea. it's not like a light switch for most people, where suddenly it's all good. it's gradual.

but, i don't know what events make up your ahi. if you were to use the sleepyhead software and post some data for all to see, you may just get some specific suggestions as to what you may try to help improve that sleep a little bit more quickly.

see the links in my sig below. kindly put up some charts and we'll see what happens.

good luck!

[palerider]

I've only been on CPAP for a month but usually when I have a bad night of rest I can see why on paper, it's due to high AHI from leaks or something else. But sometimes my AHI will be 0.5, no leaks, and I'll feel like crap all day. It is making question if apnea is even my issue, though I feel I have had significant benefit from CPAP therapy on most days. Is it because I'm still new to CPAP. How can it swing so widely from day to day?

There's more to bad sleep than just sleep apnea, and there's more to sleep disordered breathing than just apneas and hypopneas (the only things that count in AHI.

[Pugsy]

How many hours of sleep did you get?
Were those hours of sleep fragmented with very many wake ups during the night?
Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?
Any other health issues going on that might impact sleep quality or how you feel during the day?

[tyrone747]

Thanks for your assistance. Here is my SleepyHead report. I hope all the correct information is shown.

[tyrone747]

Now here is a night that I felt great all day.

[tyrone747]

You'll note I changed pressure from 5 to 7-10. This was due to completing a titration sleep study and having that set by the sleep clinic.

[Julie]

Change the 10 (max) to 20 (it's normally there for most) and the min. to 8 and see how you do. The min. is the one that 'counts', the max can stay high because lowering it as much as you did kept the machine from going higher when necessary.

[zoocrewphoto]

It may be that the changes in pressure are disturbing your sleep, even if you don't remember it.

A couple options to fix this. Go back to a straight pressure, even if it means a bit higher than the 5 you had before. Or try a more narrow range by moving the moving minimum up a bit. Then you won't have such wild swings in pressure.

[Sheriff Buford]

I agree with Julie. Max out the upper number to 20, and bump up the lower number. I also agree with Zoocrew about the pressure swings, tho' I'd hold off in going to straight cpap mode. Man... your machine sure does swing a lot. Hopefully the bump up of lower setting to 8 will help the machine out. You'll figure out what's going on … with probably more help from Pugs... keep us updated on this.

Sheriff

[Jay Aitchsee]

I think you need to pay attention to Sleep Hygiene. Strive for consistent bed and rise times. Go to bed at a time that will give you the appropriate number of hours before rising.

In your first example, you went to bed around 8 PM, woke up for a couple of hours about 1:30 (5.5hrs), went back to sleep around 3AM and slept until around 7AM (4hrs) essentially two sleep periods totaling around 10 hrs. Neither period sufficient for restorative sleep and together totaling too much time asleep and in bed. I suspect this is what caused your lousy feeling the next day.

Your second example depicts a more desirable pattern, going to sleep around 11:30 and waking around 6AM for about 6.5 hours sleep. Probably, you could use a little more sleep, but 6.5 hours, IMO, are better than 10 and more likely to leave you feeling less groggy and more rested the following day (which it apparently did).

Also have a look at the stages of sleep and why it is important to complete all and wake from the appropriate one.

[tyrone747]

Here is last night. I feel better today but still a bit out of it. I suspect oversleeping is the cause today but I'm not sure. What I didn't mention above is we have a newborn baby at home so I am sometimes up and down during the night to help out with the baby. I adjusted the pressure to 6-10 last night because that is what I was titrated to and I hadn't read the above comments yet. Please let me know you still feel I should raise the max number to 20 and if 8 would be an appropriate minimum for me. I will work on my sleep hygiene as you have a very good point. I'm going to set an alarm to wake up the same time everyday. I tightened the mask down which helped with leaks I see except for the two times I took the mask off at 2:20am and 6:05am. Thanks all for your kind help.

[jwoceanside]

I'm with you Tyrone. It's possible. I've been on CPAP for 97 days. My numbers are great. My AHI runs between 0 and 2

Is it possible CPAP just doesn't work with all. Most rely on this post, but a certain number of posters tells us it's not working for them. I appreciate the believers attempt to help the non-believers. But!

I can appreciate pro and con numbers, but it doesn't matter if I feel crappy all day. I've seen many different medical specialists and it always returns to Sleep Apnea. Like with politics and sports numbers can be misleading

I no longer need to hear "it takes time". I've been faithful for 97 days. I've tried to follow the experience of vets on this board. I no longer need to post my numbers. I know how I feel. That's what counts.

[katestyles]

Here is last night. I feel better today but still a bit out of it. I suspect oversleeping is the cause today but I'm not sure. What I didn't mention above is we have a newborn baby at home so I am sometimes up and down during the night to help out with the baby. I adjusted the pressure to 6-10 last night because that is what I was titrated to and I hadn't read the above comments yet. Please let me know you still feel I should raise the max number to 20 and if 8 would be an appropriate minimum for me. I will work on my sleep hygiene as you have a very good point. I'm going to set an alarm to wake up the same time everyday. I tightened the mask down which helped with leaks I see except for the two times I took the mask off at 2:20am and 6:05am. Thanks all for your kind help.

If you look at the graph for pressure you can see the line hit the top of your graph and go flat. That is why you need to make your max pressure higher. When the line hits the top like that, it would like to go higher. Your maximum number won't let it go higher. It's like a helium balloon stuck on the ceiling.

If you don't want to put your max at 20, put it up 1 at a time. set it to 11, and see if it still maxes out.