Snores

Ignore the Snore. The real value in snoring is that during the titration, it would usually mean that the inspiratory flow curve is not rounded, so keep increasing pressure to see if it will round. There are exceptions in that there really are cases of primary snoring, but in my opinion they are much less frequent than commonly advertised.

Can someone explain this statement I found in Our Collective Wisdom. Does this mean that the titration pressure might have been higher to eliminate snores but could be set lower if snores are ignored? Thanks.

DoriC wrote:

Ignore the Snore. The real value in snoring is that during the titration, it would usually mean that the inspiratory flow curve is not rounded, so keep increasing pressure to see if it will round. There are exceptions in that there really are cases of primary snoring, but in my opinion they are much less frequent than commonly advertised.

Can someone explain this statement I found in Our Collective Wisdom. Does this mean that the titration pressure might have been higher to eliminate snores but could be set lower if snores are ignored? Thanks.

That quote would be from this post (item #7):

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26622&p=230530#p230530

In this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26622

You have to take into consideration that the person who wrote that has a sleep lab in New Mexico.....was here to sell books and get publicity. (Personally, I had a hard time following what he WAS saying, most of the time)
However, I agree with your summary.
It is generally thought that snoring precedes apnea events, so that is why most of the machines aggressively try to raise pressures if snores are detected. I also believe the sleep labs also use the criteria of eliminating snores as a determination of the pressure settings.

In my own case, my snoring and apnea/hypopnea events are pretty much independent of each other.....and that's probably why they came up with a much higher prescribed pressure than I've actually needed. For me, snoring was "sound effects".


Den

Oh Boy, I see what you mean, thanks Den for such an "understandable" answer to what I think was a pretty "simple" question. I'm beginning to see that hubby's snores and events are unrelated as you just pointed out and mostly "sound effects". Seems like you both have somewhat the same breathing patterns.

Hi Dori,

I'm under the impression that "snores" are a fairly imprecise measure since various sounds we might make can be interpreted by the machine as "snores". I've seen that when I sometimes make an inadvertent sound when still awake at bedtime or when I awake in the am - and it will show up on the report!

Mindy

I think I might be a good example here: with APAP settings 9 - 13 cm, the pressure topped to 13 cm and my AHI was 3.9 (a week's median).
When the settings were changed to 9 - 16, the pressure went upto 16 and the AHI got to 7.1.
When I asked about what happened (here on this site), I got an explanation: the machine started hunting the snores.

Interesting ... I had heard of the Respironics chasing apneas .... but snores? Learn something new everyday!

Mindy

What I'm trying to pin down is leaks vs snores or which comes first and are they related and how does lower/higher pressure settings affect them. Den(wulfman) has patiently answered those questions for me in a hundred different ways but I just can't seem to get it. Thanks, Dori

DoriC wrote:What I'm trying to pin down is leaks vs snores or which comes first and are they related and how does lower/higher pressure settings affect them. Den(wulfman) has patiently answered those questions for me in a hundred different ways but I just can't seem to get it. Thanks, Dori

Hi Dori,

Hmmm - I'm not sure how clearly or accurately I can answer your total question so I'll take a stab at a couple of pieces:

1. leaks: a certain level of leak is normal - you wouldn't survive very long if there weren't at least some "leak" level .... to get rid of the CO2. Each mask has it's own "normal" leak level at each pressure. The higher the pressure, the higher the leak rate will be - which makes sense because the higher pressure stresses the mask more. If you're leak rate is higher than that average, you may or may not be ok - the machine will compensate to some degree. If the leak level gets to the point of being a "major" leak, some (all?) machines (definitely the Respironics) cease recording apneas and hypopneas but it is smart enough to realize that it's hopeless.

2. snores: it's my impression that snores are due primarily due to anatomy - for example, people with a deviated septum tend to snore more. So I would guess that a snore is a symptom. So by recording "snores", the machine is giving us information that is probably unique to each of us. I didn't snore much (so I've been told) and don't get much in the way of snore activity on the report. Some people (particularly with deviated septum) may snore despite cpap and I don't know whether that is ok or not. I also noticed that some "snores" can be misinterpreted and can actually be other extraneous noises we make. My theory is that the info is useful in the context of what you used to do and your other data.

I don't know if that clarifies anything or just muddies the waters more. I also can't vouch for the accuracy and invite anyone with more knowledge to jump in and tell me where I went off the rails

Mindy

Thanks Mindy, that's helpful in putting some of the pieces of this puzzle together. Happy Holiday, Dori

encore pro includes vibrations of the hose against a piece of wood (headboard) as snores - who knows what else it might include like heavy rain out in the hose