Newbie mild sleep apnea. Questions

[Ezekiel1082]

Hello. I was just diagnosed with mild abstractive and central sleep apnea. And have insomnia
AHI 8.1
RDI 8.1
CAHI 8.1
Baseline oxygen saturation 96%
Lowest oxygen desaturation 93%
EKG normal

The sleep center wants to schedule another overnight with CPAP/BIPAP titration. I am a bit confused if I really need this or not. Can anyone share any experience with mild sleep apnea? Is this necessary? Did it help? I would appreciate any input. And if you need any more info I will gladly share. Thanks

[ChicagoGranny]

And if you need any more info I will gladly share.

What caused you to seek the first study?

[Julie]

Your obstructive apnea will need a Cpap machine to cut down the apneas and the machine needs to be set at certain pressures of air to be effective - that's what the titration's about... they need to gauge which pressure settings on the machine would be most effective to address your apnea. Many tests for apnea also incorporate titration testing, but yours didn't so you have to go for another session to see which settings to input to the machine that will work for you based on your first overnight test.

[Ezekiel1082]

And if you need any more info I will gladly share.

What caused you to seek the first study?

Severe insomnia have had it my whole life. Can’t sleep take effecting my health and making life miserable.

[Ezekiel1082]

Info I forgot to add
Recorded time 417.4 min total sleep time 207.5 I know for sure I didn’t sleep that long.
Sleep efficiency 49.7%
REM was 11.3%
Deep sleep was 0%
0 apneas,0 obstructive, 0 central
28 hypopneas 0 RETAs

[ozij]

Your results mean that you are being aroused from sleep at the average rate of more than 8 time every hour.

The sleep center wants to schedule another overnight with CPAP/BIPAP titration. I am a bit confused if I really need this or not

Yes you do - it may help them recommend the type of machine and the pressure settings that will stop those obstructive events from happening.

Can anyone share any experience with mild sleep apnea? Is this necessary? Did it help?

I was originally diagnosed with mild sleep apnea.
CPAP (started 18 years ago, in my early 50's) helped tremendously.
Far less anxiety keeping me from falling asleep
No more waking up from my own snores / choking
No more headaches when I wake up.

There's more to sleep disruption that the lab defined obstructive events. For example: Do you snore? Do you get all the necessary sleep stages? (No you don't) Are there sleeping positions in which your breathing is worse? That info should appear in the study results - and I see you've added the sleep stages info as I was responding. Your sleep efficiency was abysmal, and you don't get any deep sleep at all. 89% of your time asleep (not your time in bed) was spent in the light stages -- no wonder you think you "didn't sleep that long". Whether or not you would have had more obstructive events had your brain let you get into deep sleep is a moot point. But it's absolutely possible that you'll get there when CPAP has stabilized your breathing.

I am one of those people who simply wake up the minute her breathing is even slightly disrupted - so some of those breathing disturbances and desaturations don't cross the formal threshold of lab defined events but my brain is more vigilant than what the lab identifies. The result: insomnia.

[Ezekiel1082]

Your results mean that you are being aroused from sleep at the average rate of more than 8 time every hour.

The sleep center wants to schedule another overnight with CPAP/BIPAP titration. I am a bit confused if I really need this or not

Yes you do - it may help them recommend the type of machine and the pressure settings that will stop those obstructive events from happening.

Can anyone share any experience with mild sleep apnea? Is this necessary? Did it help?

I was originally diagnosed with mild sleep apnea.
CPAP (started 18 years ago, in my early 50's) helped tremendously.
Far less anxiety keeping me from falling asleep
No more waking up from my own snores / choking
No more headaches when I wake up.

There's more to sleep disruption that the lab defined obstructive events. For example: Do you snore? Do you get all the necessary sleep stages? (No you don't) Are there sleeping positions in which your breathing is worse? That info should appear in the study results - and I see you've added the sleep stages info as I was responding. Your sleep efficiency was abysmal, and you don't get any deep sleep at all. 89% of your time asleep (not your time in bed) was spent in the light stages -- no wonder you think you "didn't sleep that long". Whether or not you would have had more obstructive events had your brain let you get into deep sleep is a moot point. But it's absolutely possible that you'll get there when CPAP has stabilized your breathing.

I am one of those people who simply wake up the minute her breathing is even slightly disrupted - so some of those breathing disturbances and desaturations don't cross the formal threshold of lab defined events but my brain is more vigilant than what the lab identifies. The result: insomnia.

I have also been suffering lately with the feeling I can’t breath in the day time. Been happening a lot lately.

[chunkyfrog]

With no deep sleep, it is impossible for your body/mind to recover from the previous day.
Deep sleep is HEALING sleep.
That needs to be fixed.

[ChicagoGranny]

total sleep time 207.5 I know for sure I didn’t sleep that long.

I would bet you are wrong and the equipment is right. It's common for people to underestimate the time they sleep. The problem is overestimating the time you are awake. When you are lying unable to sleep, time moves slowly. Meaning, it seems much longer than it actually is.

[Miss Emerita]

Please talk with your doctor about your daytime feeling that you can't inhale properly. Feeling short of breath can be an indication of a variety of health conditions, and your doctor should investigate it to figure out what's going on. Don't put this off.

[Ezekiel1082]

Please talk with your doctor about your daytime feeling that you can't inhale properly. Feeling short of breath can be an indication of a variety of health conditions, and your doctor should investigate it to figure out what's going on. Don't put this off.

I sure will. I did get my heart checked out. Had a monitor I wore and stress test with dye. That all checked out good.

[Miss Emerita]

It's good your heart is working well. Now your doctor can focus on other possible diagnoses.

[Rose3130]

I was on BiPap for 8 1/2 years. Then was told I had 'mild sleep apnea' after a poorly conducted repeat sleep study, and was taken off treatment. That was over 4 years ago. I knew I was having some issues still, like waking frequently, snoring, etc. Husband would push me over onto my side when snoring or struggling to breath. I got an Apple watch last fall and to my surprise, it showed my sats were in the 80's during sleep. I made an appointment with a new sleep doctor, finally got an appointment, had a home sleep study. Found my sats dropped as low as 77%, my AHI was only 1-5, mostly hypopnea.
The new pulmonary doc ordered me Cpap, and I've been on it 3 months. Now getting worked up for finding the cause of my low sats that still persist. My AHI is now 1 or below.

But I also recommend you follow up with the proposed study. I found out 2 years ago I developed an ascending aortic aneurysm, at the level of my coronaries. It's grown larger in the last 2 years. Is the sleep apnea the cause of it? I'm not sure, I can't prove it, but there are scientific articles out there addressing the possibilities.
Untreated sleep apnea can lead to lots of health problems. I hope you find out exactly what is happening with your sleep and get it treated.