Are these numbers low?

[speshe]

Hey all,

I've been reading through the posts for about a week. Last night I went home and got into the clinicians menu to see what I could see. The results were the most interesting to me. I've been on the Resmed spirit for 6 nights. There were no daily readings, but for the week it said:

Pressure 12.2
Leak rate .10L/s
AHI 5.4
AI .3
HI 5.1

Now, I have a general idea what all this means... but I guess I'd just like to confirm my thought that my numbers are low. I should add, I don't have OSA, but have UARS. I can't keep the mask on more than a couple hours because I keep swallowing too much air.

[rested gal]

Hey all,

I've been reading through the posts for about a week. Last night I went home and got into the clinicians menu to see what I could see. The results were the most interesting to me. I've been on the Resmed spirit for 6 nights. There were no daily readings, but for the week it said:

Pressure 12.2
Leak rate .10L/s
AHI 5.4
AI .3
HI 5.1

Now, I have a general idea what all this means... but I guess I'd just like to confirm my thought that my numbers are low. I should add, I don't have OSA, but have UARS.

Yes, those are very nice low numbers with a ResMed machine.

By the way, you can look at your numbers without actually going into the clinical menu ... press the right and left arrow buttons together to enter the "Patient" menu where you can look at "Efficacy" data. But you have to do that before noon. It resets itself at noon to be ready to provide the next round of "nightly" data when you go to bed again.

The Efficacy data in the Patient menu is accessible only if that feature has already been turned "on" in the Clinical menu, of course.

I can't keep the mask on more than a couple hours because I keep swallowing too much air.

Awwww. Well, that's a bummer, because using the machine and mask for every sleeping moment -- even for naps -- is necessary so you can actually "breathe" during sleep. But you already know that, and you're definitely trying.

Aerophagia ("swallowing" air, or air getting pushed down the wrong way when a weak LES allows air to enter the stomach) can be a real treatment wrecker. Bloating from stomach and abdomen getting full of air can be extremely painful in some cases. Only a person who has actually felt that kind of pain understands how it would make someone who experiences it have to take the mask off, no matter how much the person realizes, "I need cpap." The pain can be that severe.

You might want to have an ENT scope you to take a look at the LES (lower esophageal sphincter muscle...the closure to the stomach.) If very damaged, there's a repair procedure called "Nissen fundoplication" that might be advisable. Undiagnosed, untreated, or undertreated acid reflux disease is usually what weakens the LES, I believe. Even if a person has had no obvious symptoms of "heartburn", there's such a thing as "Silent GERD" which could have been doing a lot of damage to the esophagus over the years.

In the meantime, turning down the cpap pressure might help. I'm not a doctor or anything in the health care field, but if painful aerophagia were preventing me from being able to "do cpap" all night, I'd be inclined to go with less pressure. I think "some" pressure all night would be better treatment for most people than "enough" pressure for only a couple of hours and no treatment at all for the remainder of the night.

Another thing that might help would be to sleep in a more upright position if you can. Perhaps with a pillow wedge to keep upper torso a little more elevated, or chocks under the legs of head of bed.

Good luck, speshe!

[speshe]

The Efficacy data in the Patient menu is accessible only if that feature has already been turned "on" in the Clinical menu, of course.

Yeah, for some reason, the nurse who loaned the machine to me has all that turned off. The only thing I can view in the patient menu is days and hours of use.

Thanks SO much for the info, I will definitely check into this!

Shelley

[SleepyDragon]

... I can't keep the mask on more than a couple hours because I keep swallowing too much air.

I have the same problem. My sleep Doc switched me to BiPAP to reduce it, but I couldn't tolerate that mode and wound up back on CPAP. Since then I found that sleeping on my back helped some. One problem with this is it causes your AI and HI's to go up. The other is it takes considerable getting used to before you get any decent rest.

If you are on CPAP you might have your doctor try you on BiPAP or some version of variable PAP.

[mindy]

Aerophagia ("swallowing" air, or air getting pushed down the wrong way when a weak LES allows air to enter the stomach) can be a real treatment wrecker. Bloating from stomach and abdomen getting full of air can be extremely painful in some cases. Only a person who has actually felt that kind of pain understands how it would make someone who experiences it have to take the mask off, no matter how much the person realizes, "I need cpap." The pain can be that severe.

You might want to have an ENT scope you to take a look at the LES (lower esophageal sphincter muscle...the closure to the stomach.) If very damaged, there's a repair procedure called "Nissen fundoplication" that might be advisable. Undiagnosed, untreated, or undertreated acid reflux disease is usually what weakens the LES, I believe. Even if a person has had no obvious symptoms of "heartburn", there's such a thing as "Silent GERD" which could have been doing a lot of damage to the esophagus over the years.

Fyi, if I remember correctly, I believe the Nissen fundoplication is "major" surgery. There is a newer technique called "gastric plication" which uses an endoscope with a tiny "sewing machine" at the end of it to put a few stitches in the LES to tighten it up. I think it has a faster recovery time. Last time I was aware of it this technique was "under development" so I don't know if it's yet available outside of studies.

Mindy

[jhatking]

I have had the same problem since starting cpap therapy for over 2.5 years. The best solution I've found is to wear a cervical collar (soft neck brace) when I sleep. This reduces the amount of air that goes into my stomach, and seems to be relatively effective. I still have problems, but only about one or twice a month does it really get to the point of being painful.

[SleepingBeauty3]

I am still only 2 months into using CPAP therapy, the doc said that I went right to sleep when the machine was set at 40. But, he sent me home with my machine set at 10. What do these numbers mean?

The only time that I can tell that my CPAP is pumping air is when I open my mouth(I am not an open mouth sleeper). When my mouth is shut I cannot feel any air pushing through at all. What does this mean?

SleepingBeauty3

p.s. the Doc also said that my oxygen dropped down to 80, before the machine was turned up to 40. Is 80 a really low oxygen level?

[mindy]

I am still only 2 months into using CPAP therapy, the doc said that I went right to sleep when the machine was set at 40. But, he sent me home with my machine set at 10. What do these numbers mean?

The only time that I can tell that my CPAP is pumping air is when I open my mouth(I am not an open mouth sleeper). When my mouth is shut I cannot feel any air pushing through at all. What does this mean?

SleepingBeauty3

p.s. the Doc also said that my oxygen dropped down to 80, before the machine was turned up to 40. Is 80 a really low oxygen level?

I'm not familiar with your machine so don't understand the "40" setting. Machines I'm familiar with typically have a range from 4-20 so I can't comment on that. A setting of 10 is fairly common.

I've had the same sensation of not feeling the air pushing through unless I open my mouth. I think that's not unusual and wouldn't worry about it.

Oxygen saturation levels below 89 are not considered good. Some people drop into the 70s (and I've also heard below that). Even 80's can cause long-term problems. So being on xPAP is important to keep those oxygen levels up.

Mindy