New User With Concerns

[jawone]

I have Mild to Severe sleep apnea and have been one month into using the CPAP. It is a ResMed AirSense 10 Autoset and a full face mask by ResMed. Ihave a clinician from Apria Health Care who I trust and has given me courteous service from the outset. I have used the CPAP each day from 5-7 hours, including naps. The "MyAir" iphone app gives me daily summaries that state that I am doing well and making satisfactory progress. However, I have seen absolutely no improvement in the symptoms:
1) Daytime sleepiness 2)Decreased ability to focus and concentrate 3)Memory Loss 4) Moodiness
I underwent cpap treatment in 2006, and after 5 months of no results (inability to treat symptoms) I discontinued the treatment. The same thing is happening all over again 13 years later. I am a 71 year old male in otherwise decent health, with Ty2 Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes,High Blood Pressure,Hypothyroidism. All three conditions are kept under control by medication,diet and exercise. I attend the gym 5X weekly and lift weights and do cardio, and feel as though I am in better than average shape for a man my age. I am 5'11" and weigh 180 lbs.
I have an appointment with my physician next week to discuss with him why this may be happening. I would appreciate input from forum users who may have insight into this. I am sure that I have omitted pertinent facts about myself.
I look forward to hearing from the forum. Thank you...Jawone

[Miss Emerita]

I’m glad you’ve come to this forum. The very best way to help the experts help you is to use Oscar software to generate reports from the data on the SD card in your machine. If there isn’t a card in the slot, pick one up that’s the right size. If your laptop or desktop doesn’t have a card reader, you can get a cheap one to plug in.

Here is where to find Oscar: https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/ Read the installation and data migration guide first. I didn’t, and I wish I had!

Once you have Oscar up and running, take a screenshot of a daily chart, after turning off the pie chart and the calendar. The essential graphs are events, flow rate, pressure, leaks, flow limitations, and snores.

But in the meantime, could you tell us what MyAir says your AHI is? And do you sleep longer at night than the 5-7 hours you use the machine? Finally, what are your pressure settings?

I truly do think people here will be able to get you on the path to feeling better if you can provide more information. But I also want to counsel patience, because most people find that feeling better is something that happens gradually over time.

[kteague]

I think it would helpful for you to compartmentalize things. Helping your daytime symptoms is a separate issue from helping your sleep disordered breathing. Don't stop effective treatment of sleep disordered breathing because of other issues that may or may not be related. First task is to affirm your CPAP treatment is therapeutic by looking at your machine data. Folks here can help you with that. I'm guessing your treatment needs a bit of fine tuning, and that once that happens, you will see some impact on your daytime symptoms. I endured 5 months of subpar treatment before finding my way here and getting things on a better path. Good luck with getting to a place of feeling better.

[Julie]

What are your pressure settings - on which machine? They may need adjusting, but I also wonder about other issues at your age regardless of your workouts, plus medication could be affecting Cpap as well.

[jawone]

Thanks to all of you who responded. Let me try to answer some of your questions....
Where do I find the AHI? Is it somewhere on the MyAir App?
My machine is programmed for 5-15 cm and self-adjusts according to need. It is a ResMed Autosense 10 Auto Set.
I always sleep with the cpap attached. If I doze off during the day while reading or watching tv, it is intermittent, and I strive not to nap from that position.
And, in response to Miss Emerita:
I installed the Oscar app and created a profile. Can you tell me where I find the section you suggested that I read? I was unable to find it contained in the app. Also, my machine did not come provided with an SD card. Is there a certain type that I should buy? Once it is inserted in the machine, will it automatically receive the daily stats or do I have to program it? I will probably need more advice on use of the Oscar once I have it in place.
As I mentioned, I am meeting with my physician this week and will discuss with him the medications I take and other related health concerns.
Again, thanks to all of you! Jeff

[Jas_williams]

Jeff,


Any full size SD card will work in the Resmed I recommend getting the cheapest you can find in your local store any size larger than 2GB will work. You will not get full data unless the card is in the machine whilst sleeping. There is nothing special needed just insert it into your machine. If you have one lying arround at home that has been used in a camera of something else then I suggest you delet any files on it before use.

[jawone]

Thank you, Jas.

[Julie]

Your machine adjusts the min. pressure up and down as you sleep to meet needs, however, if the min. pressure is too low (yours is 5) it can take too long to address problems and setting it higher, e.g. 7 or 8 may be more useful... leave the high setting as is for now (it's the min. that counts).

[Janknitz]

Once you get your data up we can help you see if you are getting optimal treatment of your sleep apnea.

But not all of those issues may be addressed by CPAP alone.

Even though my treatment of sleep apnea was optimal, I had a lot of sleepiness at first. My body really craved sleep and needed it more at first. Some people refer to this as "paying the sleep debt" but I don't think that's scientifically accurate (what I've seen in studies is there's no such thing as "paying off a sleep debt"), but it felt so good to sleep for the first time in my life that I really wanted and needed to sleep a lot. But you may have an additional issue known as Excessive Daytime Sleepiness that the CPAP machine may not be the answer for. You should discuss this with your doctor as there are medications that might help. I'd also look at your blood sugar since you mention diabetes. If you are eating the recommended "diabetes" diet full of carbs, you may find that this feeling of sleepiness is caused by blood sugar fluctuations--especially 1 -2 hours after a carb-heavy meal. Like Thanksgiving every day.

If your cognitive symptoms persist once you are certain treatment is optimized, then you may have to look elsewhere for an explanation. You have several comorbidities that could be contributing factors.

[jawone]

Forum: I tracked my daily activity on the SD Card for yesterday, and opened it in the Oscar app. The chart seems informative to me. I wanted to take a screenshot that I could print as well as save to a folder on my hard drive. However, when I select the "Screenshot" option or use F12, a blank page shows up as the result. I was able to accomplish the task using the Snipping Tool. Can anyone tell me what I am doing incorrectly in trying to take the screenshot?

[chunkyfrog]

You stopped cpap for 13 years.
That MIGHT have an effect . . .
Continue with your doctor, but stick with cpap--EVERY time you sleep (or expect to).
---and for the entire time you sleep--it gets easier when you stick to it.

[zonker]

Forum: I tracked my daily activity on the SD Card for yesterday, and opened it in the Oscar app. The chart seems informative to me. I wanted to take a screenshot that I could print as well as save to a folder on my hard drive. However, when I select the "Screenshot" option or use F12, a blank page shows up as the result. I was able to accomplish the task using the Snipping Tool. Can anyone tell me what I am doing incorrectly in trying to take the screenshot?

sorry jawone i don't have the answer.

HEY! EXPERTS!! what can you suggest to jawone?

(sorry for the shouting.)

[Pugsy]

I always use the Windows Snipping Tool for all my screen shots. I have never messed with the screen capture function in SleepyHead/OSCAR. To me the Snipping Tool has always been just easier since I have used it for years and years.

Doesn't matter how someone gets a screen shot...just post the image.

[jawone]

Just to update all of the kind people who have responded to my queries within the forum...
I had my doctor's appointment on Friday. We are still awaiting results of the recent oximetry test, to see if oxygen is an issue. My doctor suggested raising the pressure setting on my machine, and switching to a nasal pillow mask to promote the flow. He sees none of my prescriptions as being detrimental to the treatment. If no improvement is seen in symptoms after these changes, he is going to prescribe a light generic form of Ritalin to address these symptoms, especially the daytime drowsiness. We had considered previously a med such as Provigil, but it was extremely cost prohibitive, as are so many of the name brand drugs on the market. I continue to use my CPAP 100% of the time.
Also, I have found that filing my daily reports from Oscar,is indeed very simple using the "Snipping Tool" Again, thanks to all of the support from the members! Jeff

[jawone]

Happy to report that my AHI is decreasing each night. Range over the last few days is 2.35 to as low as 0.43. I am finding the nasal mask to be a huge improvement, and feel like I am sleeping better and more comfortably.
However, there is NO change in the symptoms including daytime sleepiness. I print out the Oscar report each day and am attempting to learn what each number indicates and what the various terminology means. If there are any OSCAR experts on this thread, I would like to know....
The formula for AHI is number of events divided by hours of sleep. Where on the daily report does it mention total number of events?
What does the "Clear Airway" designation mean? For instance, mine today was 1.01.

Thanks to all. Jeff