AHI still erratic, time to wingding?

[Sludge]

I suspect her really bad nights are supine sleeping as part of the issue. She will have to keep working on sleeping on her side. She admits some mornings she wakes up completely flat on her back without even a pillow.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/somnopo ... 31385?mt=8

[College3girls]

Thank you Sludge. I may be able to borrow an IPAD and try that app.

Mom's AHI is still only describable as erratic. Thursday was the 3.69 as I mentioned. Friday was under a 3, and last night over a 16. A call will be going out to the RT in the morning.

Interestingly enough, Mom is adamant she only slept on her side last night, but somehow she activated her life alert while sleeping. It "called" her at 3 am to ask if everything was all right, scaring her to death. She was on her side when the phone woke her, and she felt like she was soundly asleep when the phone woke her. She didn't hear her life alert going off, which beeps and flashes lights. She went right back to sleep after assuring the life alert operator that all was well, and woke on her side this morning. It will be interesting to see what her Resmed says she was doing around then.

The life alert is supposed to be designed so sleep position will not activate it. Leave it to my Mom to get things to go off when they shouldn't and not go off when they should.
She has fallen, thankfully without injury, and the thing doesn't go off. ( Actually, she was knocked down by a car door of a moving car- long story).

[robysue]

The life alert is supposed to be designed so sleep position will not activate it. Leave it to my Mom to get things to go off when they shouldn't and not go off when they should.

So how is the life alert designed to work during the night when your mom is in bed asleep?

What I mean is this: What kind of "trigger" mechanism is there that could have gotten activated if your mom was rolling around in bed?

[poppi2]

......
She has fallen, thankfully without injury, and the thing doesn't go off. ( Actually, she was knocked down by a car door of a moving car- long story).

Similar scenario with my 87 yo MIL, except her left foot-ankle was trapped under left front wheel. No breaks, and swelling/ tissue damage is better after 7 months. Just shouldn't get out of car with motor running & in reverse. Luckily, driver's door caught on garage door frame.

Good luck, Earl

[College3girls]

The life alert has a button that Mom can push to activate a call for help, or it is designed to recognize a fall, and alert without needing to push the button. I don't think she switched to the "night" monitor, and the day one has a button that could be accidentally triggered by rolling over on it while sleeping.

Mom was the passenger of the car that knocked her down. The driver didn't realize she hadn't put the car in park properly. The car started rolling, and down went Mom. Only some scrapes and bruises, but she couldn't get up. Apparently she didn't fall hard enough to activate the crazy alert unit, yet if you drop it holding it out at arms length, that is the test to make sure it is working. It does go off when dropped.

The RT did come to Mom's house again. I was not there for this visit, so I don't have any data to post. However, he confirmed now there are too many centrals, and the pressures, both IPAP and EPAP were lowered some more. He said Mom is blowing off too much CO2 because of the high pressure, then not breathing, hence the centrals. He feels this is going to be a process that takes time and continued tweeks. He's really the one determining what to change. He calls the Dr and gets the ok to make the changes, and so far, there hasn't been any hesitation by the Dr to do as the RT requests.

I hope to be able to actually download her SD on Saturday.

[College3girls]

I haven't posted for a bit on behalf of Mom since, fortunately there is nothing positive or new to report. The RT has had decreased her IPAP and EPAP twice, but her AHI continues to increase, not decrease. It is now consistently in the mid 20's.

She thought she had all her mask problems solved only to wake a couple of days ago literally black-and blued across her cheek. She was not able to use her mask for a couple of days, so did not use machine for those couple of days.

Still not sleep study data. Still out of control.

She has her compliance recheck appointment on 7/22, and has to mail her SD card in. I'll be bringing her another card since her spare card is defective. I want to make sure she is still getting data to download to sleepyhead. I will be at that appointment to be sure more than hours of compliance is reviewed. Also, hopefully I can finally get a copy of her titration study.

Thank you for all your help and patience to all who have been keeping track of Mom's CPAP and APAP journey.

[College3girls]

My last post should have stated, unfortunately no improvements.....

One finding, - the mask did not cause the bruise on Mom's face; she realized it was from the dog scratching her face when he greeted her that morning. Her mask is working well, but her therapy is not. Worse than ever- with a large increase in CA's and an AHI averaging in the 20's.

Sorry Robysue and Sludge, while I had time to download her data to sleepyhead, I didn't have time to post anything on my last trip. My free time is essentially non-existent due to a new job, and three sets of college doings to prepare for the fall. Paperwork, bills, and college orientations, moving a grad student- those I have in plenty.

Mom has now been asked to bring her entire machine and setup with her to her Tuesday appointment. This is unusual. She has already mailed in the SD card, so all her data should be available to the sleep Dr. I'm not sure if the RT will also be at this appointment, and also whether we will meet with the Dr or with his NP. Mom only saw the Dr. once, during her initial appointment to determine is it was likely she had apnea and needed a sleep study. Hopefully this means the plan is to view more than compliance. I will be with her and make sure this is the plan.

[College3girls]

I haven't posted anything new concerning Mom in about a month because there hasn't been any better news. But today she met with the RT again. Her mask has created actual blisters on her nose from the ridge the slips past the gel pad during the night. She can't even touch her nose at this point. Also, her AHI has increased, not decreased. Now it is in the mid-20's, and two nights ago, 36. Mom admits she wakes up feeling exhausted. I see increasing problems with memory loss.

Once again, at her last appointment mentioned in my July post, she only saw the Nurse Practitioner, who is only interested in insurance compliance. She feels Mom is getting effective therapy, even though her AHI is in the mid-teens at best, and usually higher. Mom will no longer accept an appointment that is not directly with the sleep Dr, although I'm not sure that is going to make any difference. I want to find another sleep clinic, period.

In the meantime, the RT is listening, and trying. Once again he made changes to her settings. He watched her breathing pattern while he was with her and determined she has a longer than normal exhale cycle. He said he made setting changes he's never had to do before, because of this longer exhale cycle. He's adjusted settings that break down Mom's breathing cycle into 4 components- the start of inhale, the end of inhale, and the start and end of exhale. He spent an hour with her.

Mom is to call him Friday with how things are going. He also fit her with another mask, at no charge. He actually measured her for fit with a gauge. What a concept! She's trying an FX size large, because that's how she measured, even though for most other masks, she takes a small. He had her try it with her machine sitting in a chair, and then lying on the bed, both supine and on her side. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The RT will order another mask Friday from the distributor if the fx leaks. He has another in mind it the fx proves too leaky.

We are still attempting to get the sleep study from April 2014. I'm still not giving up.