New, Severe, Really Concerned

[NewToSleepApnea]

So at what time would you ever lower the pressure? If you have AHI is it a general rule that you keep rising until you no longer have AHI?

I am trying to understand the WHY not just what to do.

[Julie]

Min. pressure is usually only ever lowered if someone can't find other answers for aerophagia, or if a new sleep study (or Oscar) shows the higher setting is unnecessary. The max setting may be lowered on occasion for other reasons depending on the situation, patient and doctors, but those usually are few and far between.

[zonker]

If you have AHI is it a general rule that you keep rising until you no longer have AHI?

I am trying to understand the WHY not just what to do.

pretty much, though there are exceptions. what we want to try to accomplish with a higher minimum pressure so that the machine has a better chance at getting hypopneas and obstructives before they get too bad. better yet, so your airway is held open fully throughout the night.

[DreamDiver]

The below graph is for someone with one of the popular brand Auto-style machines.

We titrate Min and Max to find the sweet spot - the Minimum pressure required to keep the airway open. For most people we leave Max open to 20 and bring the Min pressure up to keep the airway open all night. However some people have trouble with aerophagia. Others begin to get clusters of centrals when pressure goes too high. For both of these examples, sometimes it helps to bring the Max down to a reasonable level. Not everyone is challenged by aerophagia, and everyone's pressure regime is unique, so the graph is different for all of us. We each have to find our own pressure "sweet spot."

The green arrows point to an area in the green gradient that is the general sweet spot for this individual, compensating for positional and flow limitation pressure needs within set Min and Max pressure limits.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[zonker]

The below graph is for someone with one of the popular brand Auto-style machines.

what is the source of this graph? i want to have it on hand!

[DreamDiver]

The below graph is for someone with one of the popular brand Auto-style machines.

what is the source of this graph? i want to have it on hand!

I created it.

https://i.imgur.com/oPsbvEw.jpg

C

[NewToSleepApnea]

Last night was good. I did raise the min. pressure to 10 but I find it interesting that my pressure never really went up. Basically stayed around the minimum the whole time.

5-20-20.png (122.72 KiB) Viewed 3609 times

[zonker]

The below graph is for someone with one of the popular brand Auto-style machines.

what is the source of this graph? i want to have it on hand!

I created it.

https://i.imgur.com/oPsbvEw.jpg

C

<sigh> you and dog slobber are much more creative than i.

thanks!

[DreamDiver]

Last night was good. I did raise the min. pressure to 10 but I find it interesting that my pressure never really went up. Basically stayed around the minimum the whole time.

5-20-20.png

Congratulations NewToSleepApnea!

I think I remember LSAT saying something about how when you're at the right Min pressure, your pressure curve tends to be more even and regular. That's what's happening here, eh?

Why not leave it there for a few days to see how it averages out? You could tweak further, sure, but you're under 1.0 AHI. This is a good time to make small changes only infrequently.

Well done!

Chris

[NewToSleepApnea]

Update. 2 Nights ago my AHI was low but I felt terrible when I got up. Turns out I kept waking up in the middle of the night and falling asleep without the mask on. My O2 dropped 40 times that night but it seems as if they were all with the mask off. Which worries me because without the mask I'm apparently more of a mess than ever.

5-21-20.png (118.67 KiB) Viewed 3581 times

So I was determined last night to keep that mask on. I did, but again, couldn't get to good sleep until 430am. I had a few good days but I'm back to feeling like there is a bag over my head. I know it says AHI has been good, but I just feel sleep deprived.

[NewToSleepApnea]

How Normal / acceptable is it for my O2 to drop to 86 with sleeping with the cpap. It happens every night, but really only in the first half when I’m trying to get to sleep.

I have a recorder. Here is what it looked like for 3 hours tonight (first hour away - all major activity during attempts to sleep).

45A21890-2A07-4781-A2B7-69396C92C88C.png (288.45 KiB) Viewed 3562 times

[palerider]

The below graph is for someone with one of the popular brand Auto-style machines.

what is the source of this graph? i want to have it on hand!

It's actually not worth keeping, it makes too many unfounded assumptions.

[NewToSleepApnea]

Also, so every sleep doctor I’ve talked to says “you must have had this without knowing it” yet, before this started last month - I only needed 5/6 hours of sleep and felt good. Now, with the CPAP, I need to be in bed for 10/11 hours to feel okay.

How is this possible too? Is this common for anyone?

[Julie]

Nope, it's backwards.

[Bobrod73]

I am having the same issue. It was a sudden onset for me. I have 1000 questions for @ newtosleepapnea and anyone else who is experiencing this. I am absolutely restless and nobody knows what's going on. It's the same.... sleep apnea, and this cannot be sleep apnea based on what I am experiencing. Your story is my story to the T. I would like to connect with you if possible?