Need help with settings (as a solution to snoring)

[palerider]

One way to possibly put a toe in the water would be to set the machine to some
nominal values and then put it beside your reading chair and use it while
you are awake. You will gain some insights. There are physical and
psychological aspects to the regimen. You might even fall asleep.

This wouldn't do anything at all as far as 'gaining insights',

It can help some people get used to wearing the mask, but it won't help at all in finding out what to set the machine to.

That said, set the machine to autoset mode, min pressure 6, max 20, and *go to sleep*.

[scorpius777]

Hello and wlecome. Snoring, even in the absence of sleep apnea, is not without potential health consequences. And kudos to you for being a considerate spouse! I have a feeling both you and they are going to experience better sleep. Good luck with things. At least you can go through the adjustment phase without the pressure of quick success being a dire immediate need. As time passes tissue laxity can cause snoring to progress to OSA. Maybe you're being preventative. One advantage is you'll be breathing filtered air. Let us know how your efforts turn out.

Thanks for your vote of confidence, Prevention is definitely on my mind. Some of the features of the cpap machines actually sound rather luxurious, filtered warm humidified air...shouldn't be too bad

Please update your equipment listing in your profile appropriately, you can find the right thing to put for the machine in this table; wiki/index.php/CPAP_models

Thanks, I just did.

You'll probably be more likely to get into deep sleep, since you're not fighting for air. No, there's no signals or anything related to sleep stages... Also, REM and deep sleep are two *very* different sleep stages. To really know what stage you're in, you'd need something like a Zeo... though many of these fitness trackers claim to make good guesses...

I see, that's my current hypothesis and hope as well that the cpap will actually improve my sleep although I don't want to discount the fact that the noise of the machine, extra air pressure, and being tethered will need some getting used to. I'll take a look to see if there a device similar to Zeo exists but I suppose it's not a priority to have it. For now since the goal is to beat snoring while still being able to get reasonable rest. I'll continue recording myself every night to see how my snore patterns change and hopefully fade away through pressure increase.

In support of kteague's and palerider's points, it is noteworthy that it is still considered a scientific unknown whether snoring alone should universally be considered a health issue worthy of immediate treatment for cardiovascular reasons. Some researchers consider that present circumstance to be proof enough that snoring without OSA should be aggressively treated until more information is known on the matter to prove otherwise. Future research would have to prove that to insurance/payers before anyone would cover it as a standard treatment, of course, but there is considerable evidence mounting, in my opinion.

"According to some studies, snoring itself can lead to cardiovascular diseases through decreased baroreceptor sensitivity/reactivity and mechanical injury to the carotid artery endothelium. These findings suggest that snoring has its own vascular risk. Recently, heavy snoring is shown to be associated with carotid atherosclerosis independent of apnea severity and other risk factors. However, several conflicting studies reported no association between snoring history and degree of carotid stenosis. Thus, whether or not snoring can lead to cardiovascular consequence remains to be clarified."-- Furukawa T, Nakano H, Yoshihara K, Sudo N. The relationship between snoring sound intensity and morning blood pressure in workers. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(12):1601–1606. -- http://jcsm.aasm.org/ViewAbstract.aspx? ... 1545766762

Thanks, yes it stands to reason that considering how many hours we are asleep each day, optimizing the body to take more oxygen during this time would have beneficial outcomes over the period of decades. Knowing the complexities of our bodies, I don't want to just assume it's all a simple positive effect though. Nevertheless I'm willing to experiment and take any possible risks that could arise from going on Cpap earlier in life and observe its long term use in myself.

Sleep-disordered breathing is a progressive (worsens with age) condition. A repeat sleep study might show sleep apnea.

Good point, maybe I should have tried again, at least that way I may have been able to get things covered by insurance. The last time the whole sleep clinic and the way they did their work seemed like a big scam to me and it took such a long time to book a session, wait for results, go to doctor,... I wouldn't be surprised though that the snoring would worsen and over time develop into apnea. Even now, infrequently I wake myself up from snoring and possibly low intake of oxygen so who knows how many times it's happening without me waking up.

One way to possibly put a toe in the water would be to set the machine to some
nominal values and then put it beside your reading chair and use it while
you are awake. You will gain some insights. There are physical and
psychological aspects to the regimen. You might even fall asleep.

This wouldn't do anything at all as far as 'gaining insights',

It can help some people get used to wearing the mask, but it won't help at all in finding out what to set the machine to.

That said, set the machine to autoset mode, min pressure 6, max 20, and *go to sleep*.

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't wait to try it. Should I prepare/setup the machine in any special way? I want to ensure I record all data properly from the first night. Also what do I try for the humidifier? Does it have its own settings?

[palerider]

That said, set the machine to autoset mode, min pressure 6, max 20, and *go to sleep*.

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't wait to try it. Should I prepare/setup the machine in any special way? I want to ensure I record all data properly from the first night. Also what do I try for the humidifier? Does it have its own settings?

You can't *not* collect the data, as long as you've got an SD card in the machine while you're using it.

Humidifier... yes, it, and the heated hose (if you have one) have their own settings, but I can't really advise on that, since people preferences on humidity isn't something that works well with 'general advice'.

I'd set it somewhere midway, and just see how it feels, then experiment, you may decide you want no humidification, or a little, or a lot. I usually don't put any water in my humidifier (be sure to turn it off if you do that), and only add water when I've got some kinda of cold and congestion... other people are only happy with swamp levels of humidity. If you get 'rainout', ie, water condensing in the hose, turn the temp *up*... warmer hose, less condensation.

[ChicagoGranny]

Even now, infrequently I wake myself up from snoring and possibly low intake of oxygen so who knows how many times it's happening without me waking up.

With sleep-disordered breathing, it's very common to be aroused from sleep, fall back to sleep quickly and not have any memory of the arousal.

[palerider]

Even now, infrequently I wake myself up from snoring and possibly low intake of oxygen

Oxygen has little to do with affects... hypoxia affects different people in many different ways, most of them experience no feeling of 'needing air' at all, right up to the point that they die.

This is why oxygen monitors are mandatory safety equipment when working in enclosed spaces.

[ChicagoGranny]

Personally I think that there should be less focus on OSA, and more on SDB in and of itself. Snoring is bad, flow limitations are bad, they disrupt sleep too.

Snoring causes a lot of problems. One that is often overlooked is snoring vibrations causing sensory dysfunction and lesions on the motor neurons that send signals to hold the airway open. ---> https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10 ... 2.2105010c

So, treat snoring now and you may avoid sleep apnea down the road.

[scorpius777]

Seems like my machine will arrive on Tuesday. Will I be needing to purchase a SD card to report the data here?

[palerider]

Seems like my machine will arrive on Tuesday. Will I be needing to purchase a SD card to report the data here?

You will *need* an SD card, whether it comes with the machine or you have to use one out of a drawer, or a store... that, nobody here can tell you.

[Dan_McD]

Seems like my machine will arrive on Tuesday. Will I be needing to purchase a SD card to report the data here?

I'm only in my 7th week on apap, but I can add a couple of things for what it is worth. I was a loud snorer and bothered my wife for years......she did get used to it, but still would hear it. She says now, she does not hear me snoring. The sleepyhead charts still show some snoring, maybe 3 to 10 events per night, but she says no. I thing the dream machine may interpret some other sounds or something as snoring. Like last night, she said I was laughing in my sleep. My chart showed snoring, but no change in flowrate, or pressure.

My DreamStation came with an SD Card.

Most of the information you need should be in your manuals and having an auto cpap is a big plus to not worry too much about hitting the pressure dead on to begin with. I am not familiar with the settings on the ResMed, but the DreamStation has a humidifier setting that can be set at "F" fixed or "A" adaptive. It is said that set at A, it will help prevent rainout in your tube. The A or adaptive adjusts the machine to the ambient air in your room to help to prevent the rainout. So they say. I think you are doing the right thing.

This might help with the SD Card. viewtopic/t114765/No-SD-Card-in-AirSense-10.html

[scorpius777]

Finally got a chance to set it up and use it last night. I think longer term usage is more relevant and more statistically accurate but I'm happy to report first night recording of my own snoring was very promising, no spikes, a constant and regular breathing noise was recorded last night as opposed to the previous 14 days without Cpap where almost every night had several spikes of snoring.

I did not have nose sensitivity to the p10 mask, no chest pain, no sore throat or bloated stomach, I'll keep on tracking the progress over longer periods.

I have left everything on Auto right now but honestly I didn't even see any settings anywhere on the interface about changing minimum and maximum pressure. Saw settings for ramp time, temperature and humidity level when I change it to manual from auto but no pressure settings anywhere as far as I saw.

[scorpius777]

You will *need* an SD card, whether it comes with the machine or you have to use one out of a drawer, or a store... that, nobody here can tell you.

Thanks, yes mostly wanted to know if it's supposed to come with one or not.

I'm only in my 7th week on apap, but I can add a couple of things for what it is worth. I was a loud snorer and bothered my wife for years......she did get used to it, but still would hear it. She says now, she does not hear me snoring. The sleepyhead charts still show some snoring, maybe 3 to 10 events per night, but she says no. I thing the dream machine may interpret some other sounds or something as snoring. Like last night, she said I was laughing in my sleep. My chart showed snoring, but no change in flowrate, or pressure.

My DreamStation came with an SD Card.

Most of the information you need should be in your manuals and having an auto cpap is a big plus to not worry too much about hitting the pressure dead on to begin with. I am not familiar with the settings on the ResMed, but the DreamStation has a humidifier setting that can be set at "F" fixed or "A" adaptive. It is said that set at A, it will help prevent rainout in your tube. The A or adaptive adjusts the machine to the ambient air in your room to help to prevent the rainout. So they say. I think you are doing the right thing.

This might help with the SD Card. viewtopic/t114765/No-SD-Card-in-AirSense-10.html

Thanks, yes mine came with it so problem solved. I'm impressed with the packaging of the resmed machine and the bag it came in, seems like some thought has gone into its design.

[ChicagoGranny]

I didn't even see any settings anywhere on the interface about changing minimum and maximum pressure.

They're in the clinical menu. See page 14 in the clinical manual - https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

[skinnysnorer]

Doesn't snoring come out of the mouth? Are you closing your mouth now with the nasal pillows?

[serabeth]

As far as needing a diagnosis of OSA goes, my sleep doc and the related lab are basically a bunch of idiots and have not managed to communicate anything to me, including my diagnosis. I finally asked for a copy of my chart notes, and it turns out my diagnosis is sleep disordered breathing and not OSA. And yet with cpap I have experienced having an easier time falling asleep, waking up less during the night, feeling more rested when I wake up, and I am not falling asleep all day long like I had been. I snored pretty badly previously and my boyfriend had occasionally witnessed an apnea, but I’m guessing the number I had each night wasn’t enough to put me over the threshold for an actual diagnosis. So I think it’s a great idea to experiment with it. The side effects are pretty minimal and easily managed, if they occur at all.

[palerider]

Doesn't snoring come out of the mouth?

Not necessarily, no, you can snore very loudly with your mouth closed.