Real Centrals or to be concerned about?

Hi,

So following on from this thread where I started that I thought machine marked CA's weren't always accurate
http://cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t178674/C ... l?start=45

I found the post that I had made on another forum some time back, and it reminded me that it was in one of Jason's (LankyLefty) Youtube videos that he states that if there is a "noise/arousal" before the CA marking, that its not a true CA. Here is a link to that video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR6o5XT3O6I at 6.51 he talks about this.

And my post on his forum where Pugsy was kind enough to look at my chart and try help me.

http://www.freecpapadvice.com/forum/vie ... =10&t=4810

But did i miss the fact that even though I am being woken up before what the machine is showing as a CA it is still a central even though I am awake? This seems opposite to what Jason is saying.

So if it is in fact a true CA, are there any adjustments that could be made to my settings to get rid of these? I'll post a pic of my graph and settings below.

Is a 16 sec CA anything to be concerned about? Why does mask pressure flat line when the CA is occurring?

Machine settings...

PatOnCPAP wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:23 am

So if it is in fact a true CA, are there any adjustments that could be made to my settings to get rid of these?

No...there are no pressure adjustments that can be made to get rid of central apneas because the airway is open and tweaking the pressure only affects events caused by soft tissues blocking the airway.

An occasion central apnea that is the real deal is entirely normal and not a cause for concern and doesn't really warrant doing anything except shrugging the shoulders.

PatOnCPAP wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:28 am

Is a 16 sec CA anything to be concerned about?

No...hold your breath for 16 seconds....it's easily done and without causing a problem and that's essentially a 16 second central apnea.
The airway is open but no air is moving because you aren't trying to breathe.
Central airway events....you aren't making any effort to breathe.

The machine won't/can't respond to central airway events with more pressure. It does nothing until you are breathing again.
It's part of the auto adjusting algorithm.....central apnea events are ignored by the machine because it can't do anything about them anyway.

PatOnCPAP wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:23 am

[research I'm not going to do]
But I did i miss the fact that even though I am being woken up before what the machine is showing as a CA it is still a central even though I am awake? This seems opposite to what Jason is saying.

I don't know how to parse out what you're trying to say 'But I did I miss..."
Hold your breath for 10 seconds, right now... that is 100% a Central Apnea, however, it is not a Central Sleep Apnea, because you're awake. Does that answer your question?

PatOnCPAP wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:23 am

So if it is in fact a true CA, are there any adjustments that could be made to my settings to get rid of these? I'll post a pic of my graph and settings below.

You have an entirely insignificant amount of central apneas flagged, stop thinking about them.

PatOnCPAP wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:23 am

So if it is in fact a true CA, are there any adjustments that could be made to my settings to get rid of these? I'll post a pic of my graph and settings below.

here is an example of someone who has centrals-

viewtopic.php?p=1344830#p1344830

as you can see, the user has a LOT.

i'm not saying you shouldn't feel concerned. your feelings are genuine and you own them. but you should perhaps relax a bit more.

i remember what it's like to be new to this stuff. i remember getting oscar(sleepyhead back then) and feeling overwhelmed by the charts. i remember reading here, like you, and thinking that if i could just get those centrals gone.

and the experts were telling me what they have told you.

but it's very tough to get used to. all i could see was that if i didn't have THOSE, my ahi would be perfect. everything would be great! 0 ahi would rescue me and i'd show them!


not saying this is how YOU are reacting. just how *I* did.

but time has gone by and i have no more centrals to report. it took my body some time but i finally adapted.

i suspect you will too.

good luck!

Thanks everyone for your replies. Ok I'll be ignoring these CA's then

PatOnCPAP wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:56 pm

Thanks everyone for your replies. Ok I'll be ignoring these CA's then

That's progress!