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racprops wrote:My understanding is the idea of both a chin strap and a collar is to help holds your neck in a better position for breathing IE keep it from blocking the air way??

That is true of a spinal collar but not a chin strap. Chin straps are used with the great hope that they will stop breathing through the mouth. They do not restrain the neck.

racprops wrote:
Please note I do not have any blockage...I just don't breath...Central Apnea= clear air apneas, and Hypopneas...no blockages..

Hypopneas are airway blockages. They are partial blockages. A dam blocks a river even when some water is allowed to flow through or over the spillway.

racprops wrote: And as the first poster said the collar would help stop my head from tilting down and blocking my air way I felt that I can see that my head does NOT tilt downward in my video I was right with my answer.

Even a trained, experienced observer viewing the full video would not be able to determine this with any level of accuracy. And there are no such observers anyway.

But I don't think collars are such a big deal except for people who require very high pressures.

Good luck in getting everything straightened out with your therapy.

Midnight Strangler wrote:

racprops wrote:My understanding is the idea of both a chin strap and a collar is to help holds your neck in a better position for breathing IE keep it from blocking the air way??

That is true of a spinal collar but not a chin strap. Chin straps are used with the great hope that they will stop breathing through the mouth. They do not restrain the neck.

racprops wrote:
Please note I do not have any blockage...I just don't breath...Central Apnea= clear air apneas, and Hypopneas...no blockages..

Hypopneas are airway blockages. They are partial blockages. A dam blocks a river even when some water is allowed to flow through or over the spillway.

OK That is news and an idea...

racprops wrote: And as the first poster said the collar would help stop my head from tilting down and blocking my air way I felt that I can see that my head does NOT tilt downward in my video I was right with my answer.

Even a trained, experienced observer viewing the full video would not be able to determine this with any level of accuracy. And there are no such observers anyway.

But I don't think collars are such a big deal except for people who require very high pressures.

Good luck in getting everything straightened out with your therapy.

Thanks...here is the O2 record for last night...

That looks sick. Get your doctor to order an overnight oximetry study with the DMEs equipment. Most DMEs do this free of charge.

more evidence that one shouldn't listen to a toilet.

for the hour of time you posted, that's a perfectly normal trace.

let's see the whole night, click the 'm' at the bottom and select all data, not just an hour's worth.

then zoom in on any crazy gyrations that might happen.

Darn I did not see that..it always used show all night...

Anyway here is the whole thing..

I'd have to say "meh" about that spo2 trace, not sure what's up with the two periods of moderately higher pulse rate, but it's relatively steady, as is your spo2 trace... I don't see anything of concern there.

When I check mine it stays over 95% all night except for a few very short blips. My husband said not to worry about that.

Yours looks too low, but I am only going by my own experience.

Christine L wrote:

When I check mine it stays over 95% all night except for a few very short blips. My husband said not to worry about that.

Yours looks too low, but I am only going by my own experience.

I have been told that as long as it is above 90 I am OK...

Rich

What is your pulse ox reading while awake just sitting in the chair and not asleep?

palerider wrote:I'd have to say "meh" about that spo2 trace, not sure what's up with the two periods of moderately higher pulse rate, but it's relatively steady, as is your spo2 trace... I don't see anything of concern there.

OH those were times when I woke up and got out of bed, those spikes match with when I removed the mask and got and match the time while I was up on the APAP Machine..interesting I was not aware our bodies did that...Figures.

I left the O2 monitor on during that time.

Rich

racprops wrote:

palerider wrote:I'd have to say "meh" about that spo2 trace, not sure what's up with the two periods of moderately higher pulse rate, but it's relatively steady, as is your spo2 trace... I don't see anything of concern there.

OH those were times when I woke up and got out of bed, those spikes match with when I removed the mask and got and match the time while I was up on the APAP Machine..interesting I was not aware our bodies did that...Figures.

I left the O2 monitor on during that time.

Rich

ah, well then. yeah, I'd say you're fine. many people have somewhere between 90-95% while asleep, and yes, being relatively stable, and above 88%... you're fine on the o2 front.

First, it seems that my idea of using a set breathing rate is working.

This is the second night on this setting and the readouts are very good, even the best yet I am having almost NO apneas.. last night I had a AHI reading of 1.05 the night before 0.35, both nights the clear air bar disappears, it has nothing to report.

That is a big improvement and has never happened before…

And I have almost always had much more reported Hypopneas..I seem to have just turned a corner.

Third night with the fixed rate, and again a much better night, after 7.10 hours of sleep my final AHI reading was .56, point 56, 1/2 a rating...

Plus my feeling that I can now move around in my sleep is also true as I woke up twice on my back and that up unit now has always caused high AHI reports..which made me force myself to sleep on my side all night long, causing all kinds of body pains, which cause me to wake up more and get poorer sleep even with 8 to 9 hours of bed time.

I have very high hopes that this was the break though I have needed and that things will get better.

I feel pretty good so far this morning..

I add Never give up never surrender...it has taken me a year to work out my settings and get to this point...

The fact that I have had a couple of scarey events that lead to my figuring these changes that will end up really helping.

These events also showed how much I NEED my ASV CPAP Machine...and how I need to monitor my blood pressure, as the first one led to a change of BP Meds...

Also I think my lost of 40 pounds also is a big help...I was 230 on a 5.6 body now I am 190 and still losing..and no it was not my CPAP machine nor even major surgery, it was changing my diet big time and buying a good tread mill..

Losing the pounds did leave me a little run down..but I felt it was a life saving action..specially after the death of my old friend Don, we shared the same years (66) and the same birth month (July), losing him was a big blow and I often felt like a guy in a fox hole and my buddy next to me was just taken out...

Would I be next???

Well my old saying is: "I plan on living forever or die trying..."

racprops wrote:I add Never give up never surrender

Never give an inch!

I like seeing you build your success story.

racprops wrote:Losing the pounds did leave me a little run down

Don't forget your CPAP therapy was not working well during this time. That probably had a lot to do with feeling run down. You are taking in enough nutrition of the right kind???

When you get your weight to maintenance level, consider adding some resistance exercise to your cardio work. You can join a gym, or buy a small set of dumbbells to use at home or do resistance exercises at home without equipment. Plenty of good guides on the internet. Keep it simple and stick to compound exercises.

OhHelpMe wrote:

racprops wrote:I add Never give up never surrender

Never give an inch!

I like seeing you build your success story.

racprops wrote:Losing the pounds did leave me a little run down

Don't forget your CPAP therapy was not working well during this time. That probably had a lot to do with feeling run down. You are taking in enough nutrition of the right kind???

When you get your weight to maintenance level, consider adding some resistance exercise to your cardio work. You can join a gym, or buy a small set of dumbbells to use at home or do resistance exercises at home without equipment. Plenty of good guides on the internet. Keep it simple and stick to compound exercises.

Thanks I will.

Rich