Central apneas not improving

Hello all,

I've been lurking on this forum for the last week since I got my autopap and am amazed at the knowledge many of you have. I thought I'd pick your brains a bit.

Briefly, I'm an athletic male in my 30's and have a family history of central sleep apnea. I have daytime fatigue and a history of waking up choking with confusion (not knowing where I am, who I am, etc) shortly after falling asleep. My insurance covered a home sleep study which showed an AHI of 11. Insurance then didn't want to cover an in-lab sleep study/CPAP titration and recommended I just get an autopap. So here I am with my new autopap for the last week and I keep getting AHI's in the 10-20's which surprised me. I went ahead and downloaded the SH software and it shows the majority of my events are central apneas.

I'm trying to read the data and I see I have a bad habit of ripping my mask off around midnight, which doesn't really seem to be associated with much on the graphs (hopefully just getting used to wearing it). It also seems that the central events occur regardless of the pressure. Does this seem right? Is there something I could be doing differently to prevent these?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome! Would you format a daily chart per instructions at the top of the page and post it? That way the experts can give you good advice.

But to answer one of your questions, the machine you have won’t treat centrals. All the more reason to post a chart so we can see exactly what’s going on.

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 10, 2020 8:41 pm

Welcome! Would you format a daily chart per instructions at the top of the page and post it? That way the experts can give you good advice.

But to answer one of your questions, the machine you have won’t treat centrals. All the more reason to post a chart so we can see exactly what’s going on.

Sorry, I linked it incorrectly. It should be in original post now. Thanks!

Here is last night's data. I woke up choking around 11ish but otherwise slept well. I increased minimum pressure to 6.5 because 5 felt like it was suffocating me. This seems to have helped with mask compliance.

Try turning flex off.

Expiration relief can contribute to more centrals for some.

Looks like a good portion of your CAs were from 10:00-10:30 when you were trying to fall asleep..Restless and irregular breathing will cause CAs.(Clear Airway Apneas). Ignore them and work on eliminating the OA and H events. Raise the minimum slightly more...7.5 or 8.