Just started on Resmed Aircurve 10 - Lots of CA events

Hi all, thank you for taking the time to read this.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a couple months ago, after an on-site sleep study showed me having around 27 events per hour. I finally received my Resmed Aircurve 10 4 days ago, and have been sleeping with it ever since.

I haven't had any real discomfort issues in terms of falling asleep - I find the mask and pressure relaxing tbh (18Ipap 14 epap) - but I do notice that while my events have gone down from 27, they are generally in that ~15 range which still seems kind of high to me.

I'm aware that as I get adjusted to this I could be possibly experiencing events related to discomfort with the mask, etc., but I have also read that high pressures (of which I have) can also contribute to CA. One night I set it on AUTO with the higher end being the 18/14 settings thinking that maybe the pressure was too high, but of course that just resulted in a night with 25 events (I've since returned it to the spontaneous 18/14 settings to remain consistent).

Anyway, I am just looking for some insight as to what next steps I should possibly take. I have attached some of my OSCAR data so hopefully it can provide more insight, as I'm very new to all of this. Thank you so much for any help you may be able to offer, and if you need any more information, please let me know!

Edit: Here is my IMGUR link to the attachments, including my original sleep study https://imgur.com/a/WTcmhjX

Welcome! Unfortunately the forum web site is maxed out on attachments. Could you use an image-hosting service like Imgur to share the image of your Oscar chart?

It would also be helpful to know the breakdown of your AHI when you had your sleep study. What were the indexes for obstructive apneas, central apneas, and hypopneas?

Finally, do you live at a high altitude or use drugs with narcotic properties?

Thanks so much for the response and I apologize about the attachments!

Here is the information from my sleep study initially (attached), along with all the data so far from OSCAR from my first 4 nights.

If there is anything else you need please let me know and thank you again so much!

https://imgur.com/a/WTcmhjX

Edit: As for high altitude and drugs - I do live at 7000 feet elevation, and I also do use cannabis. For the record, however, I had my sleep study in a lab in the same town I live and I did my same routine beforehand that I do at home (eating a cannabis gummy for ex.)

Just wanted to post my own update!

Yesterday I went back to my med supplier and asked for a different mask, I got the Philips Respironics Dreamwear, large size

This morning I woke up at 430am feeling super refreshed and have only had 7 events an hour overnight, so things are trending in the right direction!

That's great news, Thao! Many thanks for posting the sleep study.

Oddly enough, the prescribed settings seem to be internally inconsistent, with IPAP set at 18 and EPAP set at 14, but EPR to be set at 2. The IPAP and EPAP settings yield pressure support (basically EPR) of 4, not 2.

But the main thing about the sleep study is that it confirms you didn't show any signs of central apnea that night. Although you live at a high altitude, which can induce central apnea, both the sleep study and last night's results suggest that high altitude is not an issue for you. So that's good.

I'm not sure why you're in S mode. One drawback to S mode is that flow limitations aren't recorded. You are thus missing some information that might be helpful to getting you the best night's sleep possible. You could get the same treatment via the regular VPAPauto mode by setting your min EPAP at 14, pressure support at 4, and max IPAP at 18. With VPAPauto, you'll see your flow limitation data. You might bring this up with your sleep technician or whomever you work with. At some point you may feel comfortable changing your settings yourself.

So what were all those centrals about? Hard to say. They may just have reflected a lot of arousals during the night, which would not be uncommon at the start of using PAP. You may see some more nights like that going forward, but as long as your overall trend is toward, say, no more than an AHI of 2, you'll be doing fine, I think.