Apnea

Last night my total time in apnea was: 00:07:16
AHI: 1.62 which is high for me.
Obstructive 1.5
Hypopnea: .12
Rera: .12

Min. pressure: 11.8
Maximum pressure: 13.4

The bulk of the OSA occurred as 1 cluster with respirations dropping to 0. This is about the third time this has happened in the last 6 weeks.
Should I be concerned?
It happens I have an appointment Monday with a new sleep doctor but I would like to hear the opinions of forum members too.
My brain likes oxygen [other organs too]. Should I be worried?

Tonight I am going to increase my minimum pressure a bit because the obstructives occurred while my pressure was dropping.

Thank you

Sonnyboy wrote:Last night my total time in apnea was: 00:07:16
AHI: 1.62 which is high for me.
Obstructive 1.5
Hypopnea: .12
Rera: .12

Min. pressure: 11.8
Maximum pressure: 13.4

The bulk of the OSA occurred as 1 cluster with respirations dropping to 0. This is about the third time this has happened in the last 6 weeks.
Should I be concerned?
It happens I have an appointment Monday with a new sleep doctor but I would like to hear the opinions of forum members too.
My brain likes oxygen [other organs too]. Should I be worried?

Tonight I am going to increase my minimum pressure a bit because the obstructives occurred while my pressure was dropping.

Thank you

I'm a little confused about the title to this thread.......OSA IS Apnea......Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

But, since your pressure range is not very wide, I'd just leave the max setting and work the minimum up to meet it.

At what time during the night did they occur? Beginning (onset), middle, waking up.......?

Are you using EPR?


Den

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Sonnyboy wrote: The bulk of the OSA occurred as 1 cluster with respirations dropping to 0. This is about the third time this has happened in the last 6 weeks.
Should I be concerned?

Show us a zoomed in shot of what the cluster looks like.

Since you say it happened when the pressure was decreasing be sure to show the pressure graph. It would also be useful to see the leak graph as well.

That's the only way we can intelligently speculate on what's going on and give a reasonable answer to your question of how much to worry about this.

I'm a little confused about the title to this thread.......OSA IS Apnea......Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

But, since your pressure range is not very wide, I'd just leave the max setting and work the minimum up to meet it.

At what time during the night did they occur? Beginning (onset), middle, waking up.......?

Are you using EPR?


Den

Sorry, typed the title without thinking. I got up about 7 and this happened about 5.
I just noticed my machine was off for about one minute about the same time and I do not remember this.
Is this something I created in my sleep and don't remember????

Yes, I use EPR

Sonnyboy wrote:Last night my total time in apnea was: 00:07:16
AHI: 1.62 which is high for me.
Obstructive 1.5
Hypopnea: .12
Rera: .12

Min. pressure: 11.8
Maximum pressure: 13.4

The bulk of the OSA occurred as 1 cluster with respirations dropping to 0. This is about the third time this has happened in the last 6 weeks.
Should I be concerned?
It happens I have an appointment Monday with a new sleep doctor but I would like to hear the opinions of forum members too.
My brain likes oxygen [other organs too]. Should I be worried?

Tonight I am going to increase my minimum pressure a bit because the obstructives occurred while my pressure was dropping.

Thank you

1.62 is low for me....I average 2.0
3 times in 6 weeks is insignificant..IMO

Sonnyboy wrote:I'm a little confused about the title to this thread.......OSA IS Apnea......Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

But, since your pressure range is not very wide, I'd just leave the max setting and work the minimum up to meet it.

At what time during the night did they occur? Beginning (onset), middle, waking up.......?

Are you using EPR?


Den

Sorry, typed the title without thinking. I got up about 7 and this happened about 5.
I just noticed my machine was off for about one minute about the same time and I do not remember this.
Is this something I created in my sleep and don't remember????

Yes, I use EPR

Not a clue!!!

What setting? If it's something like "3", then I'd suggest trying a lower number or even turning it off.
Some people have apneas occurring at the point of the end of the exhale cycle and as they transition to inhale.
This (supposedly) can happen more with EPR as opposed to the Flex feature of the P/R machines because EPR drops the pressure completely by the setting, whereas Flex leaves a little back-pressure to keep it from happening.


Den

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robysue wrote:

Sonnyboy wrote: The bulk of the OSA occurred as 1 cluster with respirations dropping to 0. This is about the third time this has happened in the last 6 weeks.
Should I be concerned?

Show us a zoomed in shot of what the cluster looks like.

Since you say it happened when the pressure was decreasing be sure to show the pressure graph. It would also be useful to see the leak graph as well.

That's the only way we can intelligently speculate on what's going on and give a reasonable answer to your question of how much to worry about this.

My initial suspicion would be that it's "positional" (like being on your back)


Den

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Wulfman... wrote:My initial suspicion would be that it's "positional" (like being on your back)


Den

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ok
should I be concerned?

Sonnyboy wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:My initial suspicion would be that it's "positional" (like being on your back)


Den

.

ok
should I be concerned?

I would say.......probably not.
Those apnea events had a little "spread" to their occurrences and it appears you had a little time between them to get some breaths.
So, it wasn't like you were completely suffocating for those few minutes. You probably desaturated a bit, but it was probably something like we all experienced before we started therapy. And, the drive to breathe when being deprived of oxygen is pretty strong.

Any more questions?


Den

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Wulfman... wrote:

Sonnyboy wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:My initial suspicion would be that it's "positional" (like being on your back)


Den

.

ok
should I be concerned?

I would say.......probably not.
Those apnea events had a little "spread" to their occurrences and it appears you had a little time between them to get some breaths.
So, it wasn't like you were completely suffocating for those few minutes. You probably desaturated a bit, but it was probably something like we all experienced before we started therapy. And, the drive to breathe when being deprived of oxygen is pretty strong.

Any more questions?


Den

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No more questions.
Thank you.

Around 5 a.m. the body is starting a waking cycle. Maybe this was during the transition? You may have been moving around a bit in bed--I tend to hold my breath a little when turning over--usually around that time.

Sonnyboy, I'm going to guess your mask became dislodged and the leak was so great that the machine couldn't cope finally resulting in a brief shut down. Meanwhile, it is sensing some changes in flow that it interprets as breaths and apneas.
I've had similar looking graphs following nights (more than one ) when I awoke during the night with the P10 under my chin at the top of my throat! Same thing - no breaths, apneas, and an apparent brief shut down.

Jay Aitchsee wrote:Sonnyboy, I'm going to guess your mask became dislodged and the leak was so great that the machine couldn't cope finally resulting in a brief shut down. Meanwhile, it is sensing some changes in flow that it interprets as breaths and apneas.
I've had similar looking graphs following nights (more than one ) when I awoke during the night with the P10 under my chin at the top of my throat! Same thing - no breaths, apneas, and an apparent brief shut down.

That's interesting.
My leak rate was 16.89, graph shows only one small leak at about 6am, and I have no memory of the mask [Dreamwear] becoming dislodged.
Anyway, all the theory's fit because I move around a lot, could easily roll over on my back, and could easily dislodge a mask.
Thank you

Sonnyboy,

The pressure curve has a big gap in it. Can you show the Leak Graph as well as the pressure and flow rate graphs. The other graphs are not needed. Also can you zoom in further and show just the period between 4:55 and 5:15.

The fact that the pressure curve just cuts out completely, but there are hints of a flow rate curve points to the possibility that the machine is just having a very tough time tracking your breathing for some reason. A largish leak might explain why the machine is has apparently lost track of your breathing. Our machines are good, but they're not perfect and sometimes this happens. When it does, it's possible for the events being scored to be "false" events. But it's also possible for the events to be "real" events. It can be very tough to figure out whether the events are real when the machine is having problems tracking the breathing in the first place.

When I first saw this kind of a pattern in my own data, I took the data (and my machine) back to the DME and asked them what the heck was going on and whether my machine was defective. (They had already replaced one machine under warranty when I woke up to it rebooting itself one morning.) The RT at the DME called the pattern a "patient disconnect", meaning that the machine had lost track of my breathing for some reason. (What reason was never explained since the leak rate was not particularly high.)

In my own data, this kind of "missing" data doesn't happen very often. Sometimes there is a large leak. Sometimes there isn't. I'll occasionally have a patient disconnect for 2 or 3 nights in a row, and then I won't see another one for several months (as in 6-12 months at times). Because these "patient disconnects" are rare in my data, I don't tend to worry about them.