Central Sleep Apneas are freaking me out

[nedi]

I finally received my ResMed AutoSet and last night I showed 30 CSA's. Many over 20 seconds, and some over 30 seconds. I'm pretty concerned bout this. Anyone here suffer from CSA's? Is this common? What's the proper treatment received by others?
Thanks

[summer]

by nedi on Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:19 pm

I finally received my ResMed AutoSet and last night I showed 30 CSA's. Many over 20 seconds, and some over 30 seconds. I'm pretty concerned bout this. Anyone here suffer from CSA's? Is this common? What's the proper treatment received by others?
Thanks

Hi, Yes I 'm in the same boat as you, I have an S9 also, are they in clusters?, are there OSA and hyps mixed in with them?, what time are they happening (if in clusters)?, do you have most of you events within REM?, are you aware of waking up during the night, as these centrals may be transitional and like me you may be easily aroused.

Can you post last nights stats?

[robysue]

Another two questions for both of you:

Did your diagnostic test mention anything about central apneas?

Did your titration test mention anything about central apneas?

[JohnBFisher]

Nedi, Summer makes a good point. If you transition to or from sleep, it is not at all unusual to have apneas that appear to be central. However, those are "tossed out" during a sleep study, since they are both expected and normal. However, if the clear airway apneas occur throughout the night and/or show more prevalence during REM sleep, then you will need to work with your sleep doctor to address it.

So, if the data shows that it is distributed throughout the night and/or if the AHI remains over 5 and the clear airway apneas are a large percentage of that number and you do not feel well, then you should work with your sleep doctor to address them.

It might mean that you will need to have another sleep study. And/or a new machine. But don't let it worry you.

Of course, this does beg the question ... How do you feel after using your unit? That's a big question. If you feel fine then it might not have much impact on your sleep and might not be a big deal.

Just some thoughts to consider.

[cpaptex]

A few weeks ago I spoke to my Pulmonologist, who is also my Sleep Dr. about this very issue. He has scheduled another Sleep Study for me next month, he warned me that it may take two or three studies since the Clusters tend to be transient in nature. But if they see them, they can figure out what to do.

I callled him because I was sick with Pulmonary issues and my AHI jumped into the 9+ range. It would have been even higher if the CA wannabees counted. Anyway, most of the Apneas were CAs and they combined to represent Periodic Breathing. The events were clustered and ran 20-30 minutes at a time. I felt awful. I'm on prednisone right now and my numbers dropped dramatically. I'm between a 0.35 and a 1.5. I'll be off of Prednisone starting Friday night. So, we'll see what happens then. I do not want to be on Prednisone! I took it for more than 3 years.

I wouldn't just ignore what's happening. You need to know what's the cause and what might be the solution. Since I'm a known quantity with my Dr., he suggested Prednisone. It's a band-aid for me. It doesn't represent the solution. It was a temporary fix and he thought that the Prednisone might work for me. I had a dry cough that wouldn't go away. That was a clue that made him sugggest the Prednisone. If it didn't work, I needed to come and see him. As I said, I'm a known quantity to him and I see him regularly.

I am new to the CPAP world, and I'm sleeping better because of the machine and my Excessive Daytime Sleepiness is manageable. Maybe the CA clusters represent for me a warning sign about my Lungs, much more than it represents issues with Apneas. I don't know for sure, well soon figure it out.

[Grand-PAP]

Hi nedi,

I sent you a PM.

[archangle]

First, realize that a central apnea doesn't necessarily do more (or less) harm than an obstructive apnea, they're just harder to eliminate.

Was it 30 per night? What's your AHI?

Look at the waveform. Do you completely stop breathing for the whole xx seconds?

Are the centrals happening at certain pressure levels, certain times, etc.?

[idamtnboy]

I finally received my ResMed AutoSet and last night I showed 30 CSA's. Many over 20 seconds, and some over 30 seconds. I'm pretty concerned bout this. Anyone here suffer from CSA's? Is this common? What's the proper treatment received by others?
Thanks

One night does not a trend make.

You really need to go at least 1 to 2 weeks before making any changes. Two reasons, first your body has to become accustomed to the CPAP, and second, things change on a day to day basis. You can easily have high AHI one night, low AHI the next, high CA and low OA one night, and low CA and high OA the next. So watch the data for a couple of weeks and then look to making changes.

Yes, your numbers don't sound great but they could easily change during the next few nights.

[rocklin]

Hi nedi

Can you record your sleep in ResScan and put a couple of night's files up on a virtual server like DropBox?

Thanks,

roc

[nedi]

Yeah, I'll post some data this weekend. Been out of pocket due to exam week. I did note that many of my apneas were around the first and last 2 hours of sleep. Got some ambien today to see if the first bouts are simply stress due to the whole process. Thanks for the interest everyone, I'll post the data this weekend.