Sorry to say

SleepyToo2 wrote:Regardless of whether "everybody" feels suffocated at 4, enough people do to be able to say that it is worth adjusting if a patient is saying they have difficulty breathing at that setting. I would also suggest they investigate raising the pressure if they or their bed partner say that they are still snoring. I would also wonder about upper pressures/any pressure if a patient says they don't feel well after a night sleeping on cpap. It is, of course, possible for there to be many causes, but it is worth looking at leaks, and whether the machine is reporting clear airway/central apneas. We have to start somewhere, and everyone who is having difficulty with sleeping with cpap needs a systematic approach to dealing with the common challenges that a lot of people face.

The other saying that gets me upset is those who say "everybody with sleep apnea should lose weight" because not everyone (including me) needs to lose weight (or not a significant amount, anyway). My weight fluctuates on a daily basis, but so does my AHI. Seems my AHI is more dependent on stress and time the lights went out rather than anything else.

blanket statements about "everybody" are really out of place, yes.

And inability to appreciate colloquial speech is a sign of a rigid personality.

As someone who feels just fine at 4cm and who feels overwhelmed by the air pressure if I start at 8 cm, I think that it is important to not make blanket statements like "nobody is comfortable breathing at 4cm". I do think it is accurate to say "Most people are not comfortable breathing at 4cm" or "Many people are not comfortable at 4cm."

As for the OP's original problem with SensaWake. The fact that the pressure is dropping to 4cm may very well be the problem: There's good reason to believe the OP is indeed uncomfortable breathing when the pressure is that low. But the OP has already turned SensaWake off, and so that should no longer be an issue.

And to the OP:

Larry,

You write

Was set at a starting pressure of 6 and that is almost suffocating. Raised to 6.5. Turned send awake off as it woke me with the changing pressure going from set point to 4.

What are the settings you are now using?

Fixed CPAP or APAP mode?

If fixed CPAP, what's the pressure set at and do you use a ramp?

If APAP, what are the minimum and maximum pressures?

If you are running in APAP, it's possible that the changing pressures are still enough to wake you up, even though the change in pressure is no longer a drop to levels that you find unbearable.

Recent upgrade to full face is more comfortable but still wake with leaks at times. Use humidifier and have been experimenting with settings.

How bad are the leaks and where are the leaks?

Both studies show no stage 3 sleep is that possible?

Yes it's possible. While I had some stage 3 sleep on my diagnostic sleep study, I had none on my first CPAP titration and non on my first BiPAP titration. It was written off as "lab effect" at the time, although I think that starting PAP was so disrupting to my sleep patterns that I think for a long time I was indeed getting very little Stage 3 sleep. By my second BiPAP titration study (4 1/2 months into PAPing), things had turned around enough where I got a lot of Stage 3 sleep.

This directly parallels some of the practices encouraged in successful negotiation.
--to avoid the terms "never" and "always"; and to say something positive before a negative.
--and to sometimes be nice for no reason at all, because it greases the machinery.

Can the minimum pressure affect Centrals?

I raised mine from 4 to 5.2 and got twice the centrals. It was only two nights.....


sorry to hijack your thread Larry