Sleepyhead, CPAP, APAP, and BIPAP

[CzechCzar]

I got my standard CPAP machine in December, and noticed an immediate improvement. However, I am curious if I would see further improvement with BIPAP/APAP.

I need to know where I am to know where I need to be. I downloaded sleepyhead, but in all honesty have no idea what anything means. Would someone be able to walk me through evaluating my results? Would someone be able to discuss their experience switching to BIPAP/APAP?

[kaiasgram]

A lot of us are happy to help. Have you imported data from your cpap machine into SleepyHead yet, and can you post screenshots of some typical nights? Do you need help with the steps of how to do this?

[CzechCzar]

Nope! I got the sleepyhead all set up and importing correctly, I just have no idea what it means. I'll post it after my daughter goes to sleep tonight!

[CzechCzar]

This is my SleepyHead breakdown... any help is much appreciated!!

https://imgur.com/a/cmcQh

[kaiasgram]

This is my SleepyHead breakdown... any help is much appreciated!!

Pugsy's pointers on the SleepyHead reports is here: viewtopic/t88983/Pugsys-PointersSleepyH ... nding.html
I noticed some software reporting bugs in the screenshots you posted. In the first screenshot the AHI and Flow Limit graphs have some funky numbers on the vertical axis. For example, your AHI (hourly index of apneas and hypopneas) -- I doubt you have thousands of apneas every hour! Flow Limit range numbers are off too.

In the next screenshot there are weird numbers in the "Last 6 month" and "Last year" columns. Normally if you've been using your machine for just five months, the numbers in those last two columns should be identical to the "Last 30 days" column numbers. I don't know enough to hazard a guess about that glitch.

If the AHI numbers for the last 30 days look correct to you (AHI between 1 and 2), then your apnea would be considered well managed as long as your leak numbers are acceptable. I'll let someone else comment on your leak data because your machine reports leaks differently than mine does.

It might help if you could post a screenshot of what you'd consider a typical night. Example below -- include the pie chart on the left with the Statistics and the same graphs you see on the right. (I'm not sure if you'll have a Pressure graph since you're on a single fixed pressure.) Right now we don't need to see all the graphs, just the key ones you see in this example. Events, Flow Rate, Leak, and Snore. I think people will be able to give you more feedback if they can see a typical night in addition to the overview screenshots you posted.

What are your specific SleepyHead questions?

[archangle]

BiPAP and VPAP are trademarks for "bilevel" therapy.

Bilevel isn't necessarily better than manual CPAP.

Auto CPAP (APAP) isn't necessarily any better than manual CPAP.

Are you having any specific problems?

[CzechCzar]

Hi Guys,

I spent about an hour last night on youtube trying to figure it out. It seems that I want to pay attention to individual days rather than months. I will update soon!!

Earlier this week, I had 3 or 4 OAs in a night...

[CzechCzar]

[CzechCzar]

[CzechCzar]

[CzechCzar]

These are from last night... thoughts?

[kaiasgram]

These are from last night... thoughts?

Can you help us out by letting us know what your concerns are -- how are you feeling? Do you have specific questions about your therapy and/or about SleepyHead?

Also can you take a look back at the image I posted and post yours with the Statistics section for the night -- that includes the pie chart and the Statistics below on the left side. Then we can see your AHI, pressure and leak numbers for a whole night.

[CzechCzar]

Just saw this...

I am feeling much better than I did when I was not doing CPAP therapy at all... then I could barely function. Now, however, that I know how good it feels to be well-rested in the morning, I can definitely tell that some mornings I do not feel well. When I get home tonight I will post my image that you referenced below, for the same night.

My concerns, generally, are that my pressure isn't high enough to stop all apneas. Whether a higher pressure setting, or an APAP/BIPAP would fix this, I do not know.

These are from last night... thoughts?

Can you help us out by letting us know what your concerns are -- how are you feeling? Do you have specific questions about your therapy and/or about SleepyHead?

Also can you take a look back at the image I posted and post yours with the Statistics section for the night -- that includes the pie chart and the Statistics below on the left side. Then we can see your AHI, pressure and leak numbers for a whole night.

[Pugsy]

To expect the machine to never record any apnea events is generally considered an unrealistic expectation.
While AHI of 0.0 does happen to some people on occasion and some more often than others...it really isn't the primary goal. Primary goal is good sleep and elimination or greatly reduce any sleep apnea symptoms..not a perfect math score.

I saw one overall graph showing AHI of 1.something. That's usually considered an excellent number.
It usually accepted that AHI of less than 5.0 is considered acceptable therapy when on the cpap machine when people report they are sleep well and feeling decent.

Your pressure is only 6 cm ...is that correct? You could try a little 0.5 increase just to see if the OAs or hyponeas reduce a little but there is no real urgent need to do so and it might not make any difference anyway.

[CzechCzar]

The requested images from that night...