Hypopneas / Unclassified Apneas

For years my wife told me that I stop breathing when I sleep. Because of outrageous insurance deductibles and copays it was put on the back burner for years. I recently had a sleep study done and was diagnosed with complex sleep apnea with an AHI of 43, mostly obstructive with a few centrals mixed in for good measure.

In mid-July I started therapy with a ResMed AirCurve 10 S/T with a ResMed AirFit F10 full face mask. The settings are IPAP 18, EPAP 12, backup rate of 15. My AHI has dropped to under 1.0 on a daily basis. According to SleepyHead these events are 80-90% hypopneas and the rest Unclassified Apnea (10) or Unclassified Apnea (12).

I've been following this forum for a while and it has been most helpful. Thanks to all who participate here for your generous help assisting others. I'm now using a Toshiba FlashAir III and FlashPAP software to move the data from the machine to my laptop that runs SleepyHead - a suggestion that I found here!

I do have a few questions/observations and would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

Daytime fatigue is only marginally better after five weeks (I know, YMMV, lol). In my case I think it's complicated with a rather low heart rate (mid 50's at rest) which likely drops even more during sleep. I've also had a recent bout of A-Fib but other than that my heart is structurally sound and the 'plumbing' is good with no blockages. So, patience and perseverance are keys to improving this aspect.

I understand the therapy will not do much for centrals but if there are any ideas or thoughts about reducing the hypopneas I would certainly like to hear them.

I'm finding the full face mask to be comfortable enough but tend to bump the thing when sleeping on my side causing relatively minor disruptions and leaks. The temptation is to sleep on my back but I'm trying to resist that and stay on my side to keep the apneas at bay if possible. I have a CPAP pillow that helps, but I would love to go back to my old reliable feather pillow!!!

So, overall, I'm doing awfully well compared to some of the stories I see on this forum. If anyone has any comments or suggestions on how to tweak my therapy routines, I would be most appreciative.

Thanks for taking the time to read this rambling monologue .......

DaRef wrote: My AHI has dropped to under 1.0 on a daily basis.

With the AHI of 1.0 there shouldn't be very many hyponeas.
Unless this is a typo there aren't enough hyponeas to warrant concern.

With the AirCurve machine and SleepyHead those "unclassified apneas" are probably just going to be called apnea if you used ResScan. ResMed doesn't distinguish between obstructive apnea and central apnea on the AirCurve machines (or in the past similar S9 models). Kinda stupid to have a machine to treat centrals not flagging them but that's what they do.

With an AHI below 1.0 there's really no need to try to fix anything.

It's possible to find a bed pillow for Cpap side sleepers that has cut-outs for masks (if hanging it over the side of your reg. pillow doesn't work). And you may find someone who can make one for you.

DaRef wrote: . . .
I have a CPAP pillow that helps, ......

Is that the one with the cutouts?
I have sleepguy's buckwheat hull and shredded foam pillow which works better for me--and in all positions.

Yes, it is a solid block of foam with cutouts for the mask on each side and a small notch on the bottom side for your shoulder. It woks OK but I will check into this other pillow you mentioned. If it is more effective in not bumping the mask around it would be well woth it.

Thanks .......

You know I recently came to know I have unclassified apneas to With an AHI of 12 I wanted to know if it's really Lethal or not ..and how can I cure or treat myself please help me guys...

Tanishq wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:31 pm

You know I recently came to know I have unclassified apneas to With an AHI of 12 I wanted to know if it's really Lethal or not ..and how can I cure or treat myself please help me guys...

Please start a new topic so you can get the attention you deserve.
See this thread to start with
https://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t172 ... STING.html

Get OSCAR
OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

Read this as well
viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

AHI of 12 is pretty much unacceptable sub optimal therapy.
Even more troubling is why are the events not being classified. Is it large leak related or perhaps a limitation of your machine....dunno but seeing the detailed reports will point us in a direction to be able to offer ideas.