Anyone wanna analyse my encore report?

itsme · Post by **itsme** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:10 pm

First of all, thanks to everyone on here... without you guys I'd probably be stuck with an inferior machine and mask. Anyway, I'm finally on the Remstart Auto, and actually learning to fall asleep with it (you'll see that nightly success is still quite variable). My initial sleep study wasn't very successful due to me not being able to sleep at all (very light sleeper). So now that I have access to reports, I'm wondering what the pro's think (you guys). I'm not really to the point of understanding the more specific reports, so I'm trying to gauge whether I truly have sleep apnea and whether the treatment is helping me. I'll take all this info to my sleep doctor, but I really do feel like you folks know this stuff better then the docs who have never really had sleep apnea.

Anyway, here is a link to the report:
http://70.121.157.126/sleep.pdf

Should be up until my IP changes.

Thanks!

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:36 pm

The main thing I see is you aren't getting enough time on the machine (under 50%) of 4 hours. You really need 7 or more hours use per night. the numbers don't look too bad, just aren't getting enough hours on it. I might raise the low number up one but the range looks pretty good.

The least hours I've had is five and that's because I had to take dad to the hospital. (And I was Wrecked the next day). It took me 3 or 4 months to get sleeping sounder and feeling a difference. If you keep at it will gety better. Jim

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:50 pm

Congratulations, itsme, on your successful conversion to APAP. Your charts are about as wacky as mine (and very similar, too). I notice that one night you had almost no pressure increases.

About all I look at any more is how much the pressure is going up and down through the night. If pressure is mostly up then the machine was working to prevent apneas. If pressure is down most of the night then the machine was mostly loafing and didn't have much work to do.

I have the advantage of having recorded quite a few nights at 4 cm pressure and was able to capture my apnea pattern before I switched to APAP. I was able to see that my apneas are clustered, and often near the end of my sleep period. Because of this I know that my pressure increases display the same pattern as my apneas did. I'd guess from your charts that the same is true for you.

I'll let others comment on fine tuning your pressure, and instead I'll ask; Have you ever noticed any TMJ issues? That seems to be the determining factor in my case to account for why some nights I'm prone to few apneas. For me, how I position my head and jaw position is very important. Like I said, some nights my pressure stays low all night. This seems to correlate with head and jaw position for me and as I've gotten more careful in sleep position, my nights at minimum pressure have increased considerably.

Just some random thoughts for you.

Regards,
Bill

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:07 pm

Itsme, how did your battle over paying off the F&P cpap machine go? (or should I even ask?)

Regards,
Bill

itsme · Post by **itsme** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:05 pm

Hmm TMJ... I have suspected it for a while, but I don't really have any proof and I don't get headaches or jaw clicking. But, I do have clenching issues, and I do have some daytime dizziness or lightheadedness (this is why I started CPAP btw). Maybe I'll have to look more at this.

So, I guess my biggest question is, can you guys tell from the reports how bad my sleep apnea is? Like compared to an average. Do you think it would be causing my daytime problems? And do you think cpap is helping me? I'm tempted to set the machine to a low pressure all night just to see how bad my apnea would be without cpap... but I'm guessing that wouldn't work so well.

itsme · Post by **itsme** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:07 pm

NightHawkeye, thanks for asking... actually the manager called me and said she as able to convert me back to a rental! So, I guess I lucked out. Returned the machine and bought my APAP without insurance from cpap.com (btw this was the smartest thing I did). Funny enough while I was at the DME they said they were sympathetic to my insurance problem and were willing to sell me a nice machine for $800 without insurance. I'm not sure what brand it was but it was the smallest piece of crap I have ever seen... and a regular cpap not apap.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:37 pm

itsme wrote:So, I guess my biggest question is, can you guys tell from the reports how bad my sleep apnea is?

No. The report does indicate how much pressure the machine thinks is required to correct it though.

itsme wrote:Do you think it would be causing my daytime problems?

Only you can answer that one, itsme. Just remember though that apnea, because it affects sleep efficiency and oxygen levels is a systemic disorder which can affect all systems in the body. There is a very long list of problems and disorders associated with apnea. Having said that though, I don't see how any reasonable person could look at your charts and think you didn't have significant apnea.

itsme wrote:And do you think cpap is helping me?

Only you can answer that one, itsme. I think it's fair to say that if you asked just about any of the contributors to this forum individually, they'd tell you to stay the course. Sometimes improvement is fast - it was for me. Sometimes improvement is slow - at least many have posted their experiences about that here.

itsme wrote:I'm tempted to set the machine to a low pressure all night just to see how bad my apnea would be without cpap... but I'm guessing that wouldn't work so well.

You might find out quickly how much of an improvement CPAP is making for you. I can't recommend it though. I did it for a while, but that was more of necessity, because raising pressure actually increased my problems. (That's a long story involving full face mask pressure on jaw.) Once I figured out what was happening, I switched to nasal masks and pressure increases resolved my apneas.

itsme wrote:Returned the machine and bought my APAP without insurance from cpap.com (btw this was the smartest thing I did).

Glad to hear things worked out well for you, itsme. I remember from your earlier posts things seemed pretty bleak.

Sure looks to me like you're on the right track. Keep us posted on progress.

Regards,
Bill

itsme · Post by **itsme** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:31 pm

Thanks for all the info.

Does anyone have any idea what average levels of NR, FL, OA, H, S are for people with Apnea? Also is there a simple description of the difference between Non Responsive Apnea, Obstructive Apneas, and Hypopnias?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:09 pm

your best sleep appears to be on or about 4/8/06 (page 3 of 11) with your avg. pressure hovering around 9cm (shows 90% 12.6cm for that night).

but the higher pressure doesn't seem to help you any. I seen everything up to 15cm on the report, your all over the place when it comes to pressures.

After seeing your report, I would set your machine to straight cpap/cflex mode at 9cm pressure setting with position 2 Cflex and see how you do for a few nights. You don't appear to be mouth breathing any nor does mask leak appear to be a problem.

But if your AHI is going to be 4.4 at 13cm pressure and 0 (zero) at 9cm, then I would use the 9cm. 9cm or even 10cm w/cflex is nothing to tolerate. Go for the comfort settings so you can get some longer sleep periods.

What do YOU think that is keeping you from sleeping longer?

You might try writing down your daily routine and compare your notes to the reports for that day. For example if you went out and had a couple glasses of wine with dinner that can increase your AHI scoring for that night. Next night it might be down again. Something is causing your pressure to be all over the board, it can vary from night to night but not usually that much.

Your snore index increases with the lower pressure of 9cm, but that is not a problem (go ahead and snore, the Remstar will give up if you do). A snore index of 8.9 is not bad, for the most part they are just inaudible snores anyway.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:19 pm

forgot to add, since your Hypoapnea score is consistently high, I would also try increasing your bottom pressure (go from 5cm to 6cm or even 7cm if you can tolerate it) if your going to stay in AFLE mode.

Increasing the bottom pressure should lower the number of Hypoapneas seen. You have the right machine (forget that local DME, they are just trying to rip you off).

Do you think that mask noise (or incoming air temp) could be things that are
keeping you from sleeping longer with the machine? When you wake up and stop therapy, what seems to be happening?

itsme · Post by **itsme** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:12 pm

Wow, thanks for all the info. Well, the only reason I take the mask off is because I have noticed that I am extremely sensitive to getting a good sleep (during the day I am just out of it, if I dont feel like I got a good sleep). "So cpap should fix that!" you say. Well, I'm a really light sleeper, I can wake up if a fan is turned off. Some nights I am finding it really hard to fall asleep (and its not the noise or the air (CFLEX helped a lot with that)). I think its mask issues, I like my Swift mask... about as much as I would like any mask probably. Its just I'm used to putting my face in the pillow. I feel the mask pressing on my face and it keeps me up. So, I give up just to feel like I'm getting a good sleep.

On the good side, after posting this, I did go a two whole nights with it all the way, one for 10 hours! (on the weekend). BUT then I started getting a cold and that ruined me for cpap. So, still struggling with it. But, I'm convinced I CAN get used to it.

I find it interesting that you guys are noting my numbers are all over the place... this probably explains why I couldnt read the report very well.

I may try the straight pressure thing, or maybe a really small range like 7 to 9 or something like that.

Thanks everyone, I love the info... keep it coming (if you want

itsme · Post by **itsme** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:23 pm

Just replaced with a newer version with more data... in case anyone is interested.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:16 pm

Look pretty good, The more time the easier it gets. If I were you I would try 3 nites at 8 CM to 12 CM range, it looks like a lot is going on at 8 and under, if you don't have a problem with those pressures. It looks like 9 and 10 are pretty good for you. If I was running CPAP I would use 10 CM.

But it's not looking bad, just more time needed. Unlike some, I do think Snores are bad on our numbers, I feel better if they stay low. Jim