I am having a terrible time of it with OSCAR

[shragae]

I've been on CPAP since February and was averaging between 2-4 AHIs an hour. Then about a week ago my AHIs started creeping up to 5 and higher. I raised my ramp to 8 then 9 then 10 and my base went all the way up to 10, too. Max is 20. I don't have an SD card to try to send you guys an OSCAR report and my Resmed 10 Airsense sends my reports via internet to my doctor...

So when I started hitting 6 I did some reading and it said that too much air pressure can cause CENTRAL apneas so last night I dropped the ramp and minimum pressure back to 7. Last night I put it back up to 8...

I have high blood pressure and it had gotten better with CPAP so my doctor removed one med (Amlodipine). Sadly it has crept back up and he put me back on Amlodipine and 2 weeks ago... hasn't helped the BP much so far.

One last bit of info... I began dieting with Weight Watchers one week ago and am down 5 pounds...

Any advice / help would be gratefully appreciated as I'm clueless as to what to do. Thanks so much.


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[palerider]

http://cpaptalk.com/wiki/index.php/Oscar:organize

[shragae]

[Dog Slobber]

From your other thread, you just got your SD card.

Therefore you have a lot of summary data the Overview and Statistics, but you don't have any detail data. This is the data that is used for graphs in the Daily page.

The SD Card must be in the device while in use to capture this data, so next session and beyond you should be able start posting graphs with it.

A quick stab just from the Overview page shows a high number of Centrals (the purple ones) and from the Statistics page shows you're using an EPR of 3. This *might* be responsible for the higher centrals and a consideration might be to lower EPR and see if that reduces the centrals.

No hurry though, as soon you'll be able to post more thorough graphs and we'll have a better picture.

[shragae]

Yikes, central! What should I lower the EPR to? Thanks so much!!?

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[Dog Slobber]

I wouldn't change anything just yet.

Looking at your Statistics page you have been moving your minimum around a lot and we don't have a good baseline with full data to compare things to.

Why don't we wait to see the graphs first?

This way we can get a complete picture, prioritize what needs changing and then we can change one thing at a time, and then give it some time.

[shragae]

Sounds like a plan! Thank you so much!

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[Pugsy]

I agree with DS....lets wait and see the detailed data before we go changing stuff. Need to see when those centrals are getting flagged for one thing. Heck for all we know that are bunched together at the very beginning and ending of the night and are awake flagging happening and not related to EPR at all. This is why seeing the details is important...to see when they happened as well because the machine can and will flag awake breathing irregularities by mistake. It doesn't know if we are awake or not. It just measures air flow.
Awake breathing often gets flagged because it is so irregular compared to asleep breathing.
If you aren't sleeping well and are spending much time with the mask and machine on then there is a good chance you will have a lot of false positive flagging happening to mess up your evaluation of your numbers. Awake stuff simply doesn't count except to confirm you aren't sleeping well. We can't fix awake flagged events with more pressure. Instead we have to try to fix the poor sleep that is causing them...and that's often a lot harder to do.

[palerider]

Really? did you just completely ignore the post showing what to do with Oscar?

[shragae]

Really? did you just completely ignore the post showing what to do with Oscar?

Really are you THIS rude to everyone? That was unnecessary not to mention uncaring.

[shragae]

I agree with DS....lets wait and see the detailed data before we go changing stuff. Need to see when those centrals are getting flagged for one thing. Heck for all we know that are bunched together at the very beginning and ending of the night and are awake flagging happening and not related to EPR at all...

Thanks much. I'll track for a few nights with the SD card and then report back. I do wear the mask for an hour or more before I fall asleep, so we just need much more detail before we can move forward. I'll take this time to read the OSCAR documentation and watch a few videos about it. I am relieved though, just knowing there are people like you and DS who are knowledgeable and willing to help. Thanks so much.

[palerider]

Really? did you just completely ignore the post showing what to do with Oscar?

Really are you THIS rude to everyone? That was unnecessary not to mention uncaring.

Rude is wasting everybody's time, including your own, by not taking a few minutes to go through the "how to post" and then be able to only have to spend a few seconds every day to provide what we need to help you.

THAT is what is rude.

[shragae]

Here is the report from last night.


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[Pugsy]

And how did you sleep last night? Did you spend much time awake with the machine and mask on or did you sleep soundly for the most part?
Do you remember being awake much during the night and/or do a lot of tossing and turning?

If you say you slept soundly for the post part....try turning off or at least reducing EPR and see if the central numbers reduce or not.

If you say you did a lot of tossing and turning and know you didn't sleep well then there is a good chance that a lot of those central apnea flags (the CAs) are false positive flagging...I call them SWJ sleep/wake/junk. ...Not asleep irregular breathing flags and other than pointing to poor sleep quality they don't mean much.
You have to be asleep for them to matter.
Go here and watch the videos and learn how to zoom in and spot arousal/awake breathing
http://freecpapadvice.com/sleepyhead-free-software

These machines don't know if we are asleep or awake...they only measure air flow and awake/arousal breathing is very irregular compared to asleep breathing and the machine can and will flag awake breathing with some sort of flag. It's not limited to centrals either. I get false positive OAs and hyponeas fairly often. Some nights I don't sleep so great and do a lot of tossing and turning because of back pain stuff. My AHI is almost always 75% or more SWJ stuff.

[palerider]

Here is the report from last night.


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Please don't use imgbb, it is annoying to try and get a full size pic, just upload the screenshot to the forum as suggested.