my results and your advice

ok guys and gals I'm still in search of relief and I know some of you have really done your sleep apnea homework and I'm still trying to learn but can't seem to get on the right track. so I thought I would post my results and see if anyone had thoughts or ideas. so here goes. My epsworth score was 5/24 not sure what that means? total study time was 268 minutes total sleep time 190 minutes. sleep efficiency was poor at 70.9%. sleep onset occured rapidly at 8 min. REM sleep did not occur. patient did not achieve stage 3 nor 4 delta sleep. total of 145 arousals 114 which occured spontaneously, 19 related to respitory events and 12 arousals due to leg movement. the arousal index was high at 46.7 events per hour no snoring was noted. (my wife says I snore horrible) lowest recorded oxygen level was 82% and spent a total of 25 min under 90% baseline saturation was 98%. 22 hypopneas throughtout the study, 34 central and 1 mixed apnea. duration of hypopneas was 18 seconds with some lasting 28 seconds. duration of central apneas was 14 seconds with some lasting 24 seconds. total respitory disturbance index was 18 events per hour compared to 37 events per hour during his baseline study. no sigificant arrhythmias noted. I guess one of the things I'd like to know is 114 of 145 arousals was spontaneous? what causes this? I feel like I sleep pretty good as far as not knowing whats going on around me but I know I don't dream. So I know its alot of info but could you help me break it down? My dx is severe sleep apnea but what does all that information tell me? thanks for any help

Here's part of your answer -

THE EPWORTH SLEEPINESS SCALE
How likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times. Even if you have not done some of these things recently try to work out how they would have affected you. Use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation:

0 = no chance of dozing
1 = slight chance of dozing
2 = moderate chance of dozing
3 = high chance of dozing

CHANCE OF DOZING SITUATION
_______ Sitting and reading
_______ Watching TV
_______ Sitting inactive in a public place (e.g a theater or a meeting)
_______ As a passenger in a car for an hour without a break
_______ Lying down to rest in the afternoon when circumstances permit
_______ Sitting and talking to someone
_______ Sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol
_______ In a car, while stopped for a few minutes in traffic

To check your sleepiness score, total the points .

SCORE
1 – 6 Congratulations, you are getting enough sleep!
7 - 8 Your score is average


9 and up Seek the advice of a sleep specialist without delay

The Epworth score is only as valid as the answers you give are honest. Read what you can from this website - Check the CPAPopedia for some definitions, and read the many posts - you'll be amazed what you can learn here! Read On! Also search the internet for terms such as Central Sleep Apnea.
Jim

CHANCE OF DOZING SITUATION
_3______ Sitting and reading
__3_____ Watching TV (while fast fowarding thru commercials)
___3____ Sitting inactive in a public place (e.g a theater or a meeting)
_3______ As a passenger in a car for an hour without a break (in less than 10 min as a driver)
__3_____ Lying down to rest in the afternoon when circumstances permit
__3_____ Sitting and talking to someone
__3_____ Sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol
__3_____ In a car, while stopped for a few minutes in traffic ( thankful for long red lights)
Did I pass?


Toby

My advice? Don't Drive!!!

We are investigating something that might help you. With people who have weak "coughing muscles" (oblique abdominal muscles), there is a tendency to not breathe deeply enough often enough, resulting in a build-up of Carbon dioxide. The theory is that when this reaches a certain level some thing called "alpha wave intrusion" occurs in our brain causing us to waken enough to change position, thereby encouraging the body to breathe more deeply to release some of that CO2.

I am having a blood gasses sleep study done in a week to see whether this can be verified in the lab. This might be one cause for your "spontaneous arousals".

- JB

Now that I have been on the cpap for almost 2 months, I am not falling asleep any more. But that is what scared me into seeing a doctor.


Toby

[quote="ahujudybear"]

My advice? Don't Drive!!!

but on a serious note the driving is the one thing that bothers me, of course the dr. says go ahead we'll get you fixed up!!! if I could get rid of the constant dizzy drugged feeling I'd be ok with it... let me know what you find out on this blood gases study your doing. I guess my initial impression of my sleep study it was more of a obstructive apnea issue but now that I looked it over again this spontaneous apnea looks to be more of an issue. will a cpap take care of this also? and is spontaneous the same as central apneas?
and twisted I have the same problem if I don't take ambien forget it I'm not sleeping!!! but they tell me ambien gives a false sense of sleep? so you don't toss and turn as much but still don't get deep sleep that is needed.

Hey! I LOVE that old JD! We used to have an even older AC - an old put-put!

Well, to begin with, I have so far resisted taking the medications to "help" me sleep or to "help" me stay awake. Doctors and pharmacists know very little about how these drugs affect polio survivors. I had one friend become suicidal when his doctor told him to stop taking Provigil. I know of three polio survivors who died "peacefully in their sleep" of unknown causes and strongly suspect it was because they had been using some sleep aids and didn't wake up when they should have. From what I have been learning, nearly all of these tests and machines are aimed at the treatment of sleep apneas and do not address the problems of underventilation. One of the classic problems polio survivors have is weakened abdominal muscles. This prevents us from breathing deeply enough to get rid of CO2, especially at night. The main treatment for hypopneas, as I understand it, is to increase both the pressures of the Bi-pap, but that stops us from exhaling (I found myself breathing out through my mouth during the sleep study and I woke up with a CO2 headache.)

Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Right now I am not sure how they are going to run this test - or even where (what sort of monitoring they'll be doing, whether I'll be using a Bi-pap for part of the study, etc.) I don't think they know either. It hasn't been done here before. The info they are looking for is the cause of the AW intrusions and what Bi-pap settings, if any, will address or exacerbate that.

- JB