AHI/frequent waking

[katestyles]

Another question for you. Was your sleep study done at home or in the sleep lab?

[Lee Rilea]

Sleep lab.

[katestyles]

Alright - That tells me that they chose the 8 from having "titrated" you in the sleep lab. (Titration means they checked to find the correct pressure for yout CPAP machine)
I would guess that you didn't sleep all that well in the sleep lab (its pretty common to have a bad night) and that the pressure of 8 is plenty when you are in light, disturbed sleep, but not enough for deeper sleep.

That will be why they made a change when you went back - changing it to 8-12, adding in a completely made-up range of 4 to see if it helped.

The extra range should have helped with some of the deeper sleep, but might still be completely useless for your deepest sleep.

Did you notice any difference after they made that change?

[Lee Rilea]

Not really. Been the same the whole time. In fact my AHI pattern is pretty much the same before and after the pressure changes.

[katestyles]

That is telling me that the change they made did not help the machine treat the apnea.

The machine is designed to treat the apnea. But you are currently using it set up with values from one night in a sleep lab and a random guess. That set up is not likely to be your best therapy!

You get some choices here.

-Move your appointment up, and ask the people (whose recent advice didn't help) to make another guess. (how much are you paying for this?)
-Make some wild guesses of your own and change your pressure
-Seek further information about what is actually going on and make informed choices

Whichever choice you make, I am ready to help you with the next steps.

[Lee Rilea]

Well my deductible for ins is satisfied due to a broken hand and related issues so it isn't costing me anything lol. If you want you can send a pm explaining how to make the adjustments, I'll probably call them tomorrow to see if I can bump up my appt to sometime this week. Part of me wants to make the changes, part is leary. Just from what I see from others, things aren't where they should be. Is having more dreams normal in this therapy? I don't think waking after all of them is.

[katestyles]

Well my deductible for ins is satisfied due to a broken hand and related issues so it isn't costing me anything lol. If you want you can send a pm explaining how to make the adjustments, I'll probably call them tomorrow to see if I can bump up my appt to sometime this week. Part of me wants to make the changes, part is leary. Just from what I see from others, things aren't where they should be. Is having more dreams normal in this therapy? I don't think waking after all of them is.

Waking after REM sleep is actually "normal". Most people just go right back to sleep.

Dreaming when your AHI comes down is also "normal". It takes a little time to get into dream sleep, and each time you wake up, the clock gets set back to 0. As the gaps between arousals get longer, there is more chance of getting into a dream.

I will PM you some info on changing your pressure. Like I say, it is entirely your choice at this point.

And "normal" is just a setting on the dryer!

[Lee Rilea]

I wake up but go right back to sleep. As you can see here my AHI numbers are all up and down, rarely below 7.1.

[katestyles]

Let’s aim for all under 5

[Lee Rilea]

That graph hasn't really changed from the start, all weeks the same.

[Miss Emerita]

It sounds as though you’re a bit hesitant to use Sleephead or to change your pressures yourself. That’s your choice, but especially given your heart trouble, I hope you will push for an earlier visit to your health-care professional.

Your therapy just isn’t doing what you need it to do. As Kate has said, your AHI should consistently be below 5, and ideally lower than that. Your numbers instead are in the range for a diagnosis of mild to moderate apnea.

[Lee Rilea]

Not sure what sleephead is. I found out Oscar? Is compatible with my machine. I gotta get a card reader. Yeah, doing it myself makes me nervous. I'm gonna call Monday and try to get in early.

[katestyles]

Not sure what sleephead is. I found out Oscar? Is compatible with my machine. I gotta get a card reader. Yeah, doing it myself makes me nervous. I'm gonna call Monday and try to get in early.

Finding OSCAR is great - so is bumping your appointment to sooner.

My laptop already has a card reader - it is worth looking for a slot marked "SD" on your machine,

[Miss Emerita]

Let me echo Kate here, and also say I’m sorry for confusing things by mentioning Sleepyhead. It’s a program that is being replaced with Oscar, so if you’re looking at Oscar, you’re on exactly the right track.

[Lee Rilea]

My machine has a sd card. I ordered a card reader for my computer. Will try tomorrow to get a earlier appt. once I get my new computer up I'll download Oscar.