Breathing Wrong?

So I got the SpeepyHead app working. What a lot of data!

Apparently, according to the machine, I just had a great night's sleep, 6:44 hours with an AHI of 0.30 !

But, unfortunately, I have been too tired all day to post until now, I slept on the sofa most of the day and am about ready to go to bed again. Still tired.

I don't understand this stuff.

phonebeard wrote:So I got the SpeepyHead app working. What a lot of data!

Apparently, according to the machine, I just had a great night's sleep, 6:44 hours with an AHI of 0.30 !

But, unfortunately, I have been too tired all day to post until now, I slept on the sofa most of the day and am about ready to go to bed again. Still tired.

I don't understand this stuff.

How long have you been on this therapy?
I hope you realize that this can take many weeks and months to see some benefits of it.
It also takes more sleep time than the minimum to repay the "sleep debt".
Low AHIs can be a helpful indicator, but don't necessarily tell the whole story. Another part of it is "how you feel" and that's what can take time. Patience is a virtue with this therapy.


Den

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I am coming up to three months on the machine. The maker used to send me chirpy emails awarding me medals and smiley faces but I unsubscribed they were so annoying. They sent a link to a paper which said "80% of users report a benefit after 3 months." I am one of the 20% I guess. How much longer does one have to mess around until one is sure it won't work?

phonebeard wrote:I am coming up to three months on the machine. The maker used to send me chirpy emails awarding me medals and smiley faces but I unsubscribed they were so annoying. They sent a link to a paper which said "80% of users report a benefit after 3 months." I am one of the 20% I guess. How much longer does one have to mess around until one is sure it won't work?

What are your pressure settings?
Keep monitoring your Sleepyhead reports.
Sometimes the "numbers" look good, but the user isn't getting good sleep. (or enough of it)
Many times the benefits come gradually.
I can speak from experience. I was going through a new computer roll-out ( 50+ machines ) at work when I started my therapy and I had long days and short nights (all by myself). But, a couple of weeks into therapy, I came down with a horrible cold/cough and couldn't sleep with my new machine.......so, I stopped using it until I could tolerate sleeping with it again, which ended up being about 10 days/nights. During that time, my daytime sleepiness came back and I realized that my therapy WAS doing some good and benefiting me. I haven't missed a night since then. At some point, I got to where I loved sleeping with it and felt the need for more sleep......and got it. It's still that way today. I can't sleep without it.

And, try not to be negative......."glass half empty". Quitting never helped anyone.


Den

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Wulfman... wrote: What are your pressure settings?

Is this what I am supposed to report?

Machine Settings

ModeCPAP Mode APAP
Pressure MinMinimum Therapy Pressure 8.00 cmH2O
Pressure MaxMaximum Therapy Pressure 15.00 cmH2O

Wulfman... wrote: Keep monitoring your Sleepyhead reports.

I got an AHI of 0.59 last night, so twice as bad. But scrolling through the flow rate chart it seems Sleepyhead missed quite a lot of "events". The algorithm for marking what is and isn't an event seems a bit obscure.

Wulfman... wrote: And, try not to be negative......."glass half empty". Quitting never helped anyone.

My apologies and thank you for your replies. Unfortunately one can't change ones personality. I am more of a "that glass is twice the size it should be" sort of person.
.[/quote]

Wulfman... wrote: Quitting never helped anyone.

Except perhaps those who smoke. It's all a cost-benefit thing. Is the effort you are putting in worth the benefit you are getting? But I am not going to quit. I just need to know when to look for some other solution as well.

You have no understanding of either AHI or pressure settings - 0.59 is fantastic! And pressure settings of 8 to 20 sound fine.

Please read about Sleepyhead so you understand what you're seeing, but first go to the Wiki lightbulb top of this pg and start reading about Cpap in general, including what pressure settings do and don't do.

Julie wrote:You have no understanding of either AHI or pressure settings - 0.59 is fantastic!

There's a lot to take in, but I do know enough to know that 0.59 is a good number (but all the same, it is still almost twice 0.30). It may be "fantastic", but "fantastic" is not how I feel.

phonebeard wrote:
But, unfortunately, I have been too tired all day to post until now, I slept on the sofa most of the day and am about ready to go to bed again. Still tired.

I hope your are sleeping on your sofa with your cpap machine otherwise you undo all the good it does. NEVER sleep without it!

BlackSpinner wrote:I hope your are sleeping on your sofa with your cpap machine otherwise you undo all the good it does. NEVER sleep without it!

Unfortunately, no. I never intend to sleep on the sofa during the day, I mean to to the many things that need doing. I just doze off.

Don't obsess over AHI's of <1 (or for that matter any # in fractions). As long as you hover in the low #'s under 5 you're fine. If you don't feel well however, post 1-2 nights of Sleepyhead so we can see them to advise what might be going on. Without that, it's impossible to say without your providing other info re sleep habits, alcohol, meds, etc. etc.

phonebeard wrote:

Julie wrote:You have no understanding of either AHI or pressure settings - 0.59 is fantastic!

There's a lot to take in, but I do know enough to know that 0.59 is a good number (but all the same, it is still almost twice 0.30).

and half of 1.2, stop being so negative.

All I am asking is, if I have had such good numbers for three months (I looked back through the records in SleepyHead; my average AHI is 1.4, with the odd 3 here and there), and I still feel tired after a good run, should I be looking elsewhere for a solution given the hassles of using the machine?

Something doesn't seem right to me. If sleep apnea was causing me to feel tired all the time, and AHI was correlated with sleep apnea, then a currently low AHI should mean I don't have much of a sleep apnea problem so the sleep apnea can't be causing my tiredness; something else is. What's wrong with that logic?

It's illogical.

Apnea doesn't cause 'tiredness' (fatigue), but sleepiness, which is not quite the same. You're missing sleep with apnea, not e.g. a good workout.

If you're tired when exercising, get checked for other causes, thyroid or hormone or low Vit D, etc. Not everything's about apnea.

And a low AHI means that Cpap is working, not that something is wrong! If you were to stop Cpap, you'd feel lousy again.

phonebeard wrote:All I am asking is, if I have had such good numbers for three months (I looked back through the records in SleepyHead; my average AHI is 1.4, with the odd 3 here and there), and I still feel tired after a good run, should I be looking elsewhere for a solution given the hassles of using the machine?

Something doesn't seem right to me. If sleep apnea was causing me to feel tired all the time, and AHI was correlated with sleep apnea, then a currently low AHI should mean I don't have much of a sleep apnea problem so the sleep apnea can't be causing my tiredness; something else is. What's wrong with that logic?

You DO have good numbers, but if your pressures are bumping around all night long, it could be they're disturbing your sleep.
And, the amount of sleep you're getting is important, too. AND.......you're just getting started in your therapy.
Look at your Sleepyhead report and see what your pressures are doing through the night.
If you're getting bumped out of your needed sleep stages and into lighter ones, your AHI numbers may be better because you're not getting into deep sleep stages (staying in lighter ones). So, good AHI numbers don't tell the whole story.


Den

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Julie wrote:It's illogical.

Apnea doesn't cause 'tiredness' (fatigue), but sleepiness, which is not quite the same. You're missing sleep with apnea, not e.g. a good workout

I'm certainly tired and lethargic if my apnea isn't treated, speaking for myself.