I take my mask off 1-2 hours in consistently, here's oscar

[zonker]

You are going to find that with the forum members here you are very likely to get a varying opinion of just about everything...

i disagree!

[kdt15]

any info to glean from this night?

i forgot why i took it off. initially i had to tighten my mask more because 6cm pressure was stronger than i usually have and it shoots air into my eyes sometimes.

this was the first night i ever drooled into my mask though.

[Pugsy]

Looks great on paper anyway. Give yourself a few nights at this new minimum pressure to get yourself adjusted to it and see how things go.

I see no reason for more minimum at this time. Looks like with the higher minimum the machine doesn't seem to want to go quite so high....at least last night anyway.

[kdt15]

will do!

what exactly is a CA? looked it up and still dont get whats going on. why would airflow be signficantly obstructed if everything is clear?

An apnea is detected when there is an 80% reduction in airflow from a baseline for at least 10 seconds if there is no airflow detected for 10 seconds. During the apnea, one or more pressure test pulses are delivered by the device. The device evaluates the response of the patient to the test pulse(s) and assesses whether the apnea has occurred while the patient has a clear airway or an obstructed airway. The airway is determined to be clear if the pressure test pulse generates a significant amount of flow; otherwise the airway is determined to be obstructed. When the airway is clear then a Clear Airway Apnea event is recorded.

[Pugsy]

CA clear airway apnea or central apnea. Respironics uses the term clear airway apnea and other brands use the term central apnea.
There is no air flow because there is no effort to breathe. Effort or lack of effort is critical.

With obstructive apneas there is an effort to breathe but the air flow either is totally or partially blocked by obstructions in the airway from saggy tissues.

2 kinds of apneas with 2 very different causes and 2 different methods of dealing with them.
So very important to know what kind we are dealing with.
Both get included in the overall AHI numbers.

[kdt15]

ah so clear airway is me forgetting to breathe potentially?

thanks to the help on this board, i was able to finally get a long session in! 6.5 hrs almost compared to my typical 40m-1hr (previous best was 2hr). All i had to do was change from large to medium mask, which lessened the need to tighten my straps to prevent leaks, which reduced my headaches to basically 0. otherwise it was 1 hr then vigorous chucking of the mask due to headache.



i did notice i woke up quite often (~5 instances almost?). was surprised to get up and realize only 6.5 hrs had passed. I did not feel refreshed waking up, compared to the 1hr mask then 5 hrs off sessions, but it wasnt terrible either. hopefully itll improve with time. are the flowrate segments with multiple spikes/dots likley when i woke up?

there seems to be much more activity on the graphs, though im unaware if any are significant to interpret. any ideas?

[Pugsy]

The bulk of your AHI is central in nature (CAs equal central apneas).
More pressure isn't the fix for centrals.
You might want to learn how to distinguish awake/arousal related flagged events from asleep events.
I am betting a good chuck of your CAs are arousal/awake related.
If you aren't asleep they don't count other than pointing to not optimal sleep quality with the arousal breathing.
Watch all the videos here.
http://freecpapadvice.com/sleepyhead-free-software

You could maybe try reducing or turning off EPR to see if the centrals reduce or you sleep better or not or you feel more rested or not.
Sometimes using EPR exhale relief causes centrals....I seriously doubt it in your case but it's worth investigating and a quick easy experiment to try just to see what happens.

6 hours isn't enough sleep to expect to feel very much better more most people.
Maybe you simply need more sleep overall......I know I feel like crap if I get less than 7 1/2 hours.

[kdt15]

thanks, i wont change anything for now and see what the next few days look like

[chunkyfrog]

When we cough, roll over, or move around in bed, we may hold our breath for a bit.
This also can be registered as a CA, though it isn't really.
Some here call it SWJ, or sleep/wake/junk.