Need some support (may be a bit off topic)

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
bjl
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 2:38 pm

Re: Need some support (may be a bit off topic)

Post by bjl » Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:56 am

Hi Pugsy,

Yes, I think I was awake for the entire first sleep session. There may have been one point where I almost nodded off for a second, but I can't be sure.

By "bad night" I mean numerous waking/anxiety events where the anxiety was particularly high to the point of almost being painful. Sleep onset problems don't bother me very much as compared to that. For all I know, the sleep onset problems were because I was worrying about being able to figure out at what times the events happen so that I could create a good report... The feeling I get when I'm woken up like this is hard to describe. I don't feel particularly breathless (I've never woken up gasping for air for example), but the panic is really hard to take. And I've never been subject to any sort of anxiety/panic attacks during the day.

Right, I wasn't particularly worried about the pressure graph. And the leak graph reported a very low leak rate which is why I didn't include it. I guess I thought the remarkable points on the respiration rate graph were the significant drops at around 3 AM and 4 AM which is when I think I had two of my events. For example, the 4AM drop starts around 3:50AM around 20 and drops to about 9 by 4AM. I woke up somewhere in that 10 minute period.

Here's a zoomed in shot showing the drops at around 3AM and 4AM (I've also included the details tab and leak graph). But in your opinion, those are not significant? Maybe I'm just hyper-sensitive for some reason and I react to events that others might sleep through.

Image

Thanks again for your help.

-b

_________________
Machine: PR System One REMStar 60 Series Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Swift™ FX Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Sometimes use Quattro Air FFM, but pretty much sticking with the Swift FX at this point

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Pugsy
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Location: Missouri, USA

Re: Need some support (may be a bit off topic)

Post by Pugsy » Sun Oct 12, 2014 12:26 pm

You are correct...your leak graph is boring. I suspected it would be though.

I don't know how much we can infer from the drops in respiration...or even if we can infer anything..the range you are seeing is within normal limits.

You might start keeping a detailed log if you can.
When you wake up with one of those panic times...if you have the presence of mind go ahead and turn the machine off and right back on that way you will have a definite marker to look at for what might have happened right before you woke up.
Just a quick turn off and back on again will show up as a small break in the therapy line and help you isolate the time frame involved without having to look at the clock and remember the time it happened.

Respiration and pulse rate both have wide ranges of normal so it's difficult to infer much from those normal variations.
You might with time and experience and using the on/off button to delineate the exact time you wake up so you can for sure look at what was going on proceeding the wake up might show some sort of pattern...but what to do about it IF you even can spot something is going to be limited because we have no way to know the why.
Since the machine can't give us even certain sleep times...it can't give us sleep stages and maybe what you are experiencing is relate to maybe REM stage sleep. We can infer general time frames where REM is most likely to occur but can't know we exact certainty like they do in a sleep lab setting.

I was kinda hoping we would see a couple big ugly apnea clusters going on but unless you see some on other reports...I don't think that sleep apnea events are on the suspect list.

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bjl
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 2:38 pm

Re: Need some support (may be a bit off topic)

Post by bjl » Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:36 pm

Good advice Pugsy. Thanks once again. I'll get some more data and see what I can figure out.

-b

_________________
Machine: PR System One REMStar 60 Series Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Swift™ FX Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Sometimes use Quattro Air FFM, but pretty much sticking with the Swift FX at this point