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Re: How am I doing?

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:08 pm
by scruffies
Was going to wait for my initial sleep doc appointment in about 3 weeks, but I have been studying how to interpret SH data and although I really want to feel like I am getting good sleep, it's better but not that great. Here is my data from last night:

https://imgur.com/a/axHAa

Since I started CPAP on 1-22-18 (sleep study AHI was 98.6), I average about 9 hours usage per night with about 4 AHIs (a few at 1.5, most at over 3) at 8-10 pressure setting. Last night it was 5.3 and today I have been yawning all day. Pressure was maxed out at 10 most of the night. Did not get a good nights sleep. I know I will not want to wait for an appointment for the sleep staff every time I want to change a setting.

So.... I went into the "clinical settings" and upped the max pressure from 10 to 15. Will see how it goes tonight and beyond. I have read some of Pugsy's comments on the "adjusting max setting" thread and her advice is "let the machine sort it out." I am taking the shackles off so let 'er rip!

Hopefully my doc will understand. We will have a discussion about all of this and I would be fine keeping him informed of any setting changes.

Re: How am I doing?

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:16 pm
by Pugsy
Welcome to the dark side. :lol:
Be sure and let us know tomorrow what happens tonight.

Re: How am I doing?

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:28 pm
by scruffies
Well... here is last nights events:
https://imgur.com/a/ucAlS

I set the pressure max to 15 and was fine until I got up for the 2nd time at about 4:30 timeline and spent the next several hours semi-awake and during that time had lots of CAs. I got up again at about 7:00 and shortly after started coughing so got up again to get a cough drop and it took some time to get to sleep again. I suffered from insomnia before CPAP but it's been better lately, until last night. If the machine is automatic, and it seems to be so since pressure maxed out at about 12 rather than the 15 I set, not sure if it makes sense to lower it to 12. Might that help with the CAs?

Of course, one night does not a trend make, but was really disappointed with the whole night. I am hoping that I get better results (and sleep) when insomnia is not present. I will give it another go tonight and hope I actually sleep most of the time.

PS: Just read Pugsy's great post on clear airway events, so the real issue is insomnia, not the CAs. I will start researching that. I am not having a problem (yet) with the mask/chin strap, so I don't think that is the culprit. Still, do I reduce the max from 15 to 12, or leave it at 15?

Re: How am I doing?

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:38 pm
by Pugsy
If you spent much time awake with the machine on then there's a good chance that those CAs/centrals are awake breathing flags and not real. I doubt they are caused by the pressure itself and I doubt that reducing the maximum would impact them unless the pressure itself is causing the difficulty staying asleep and if we can get you to sleeping more soundly (less time awake with mask on) then the centrals will go away just because of less awake breathing.

For some people the pressures changing are a disruptive factor in terms of sleep quality. The variations in pressure can cause sleep disturbances and those people probably do better with a tight range of pressure or even fixed cpap pressure.

So it might be that whatever the machine wants to kill with more pressure is less of a problem in terms of sleep quality than the problem that the changes in pressure might be causing. Sometimes we have to make compromises and sometimes just because a machine wants to go somewhere doesn't mean that we should always let it.

If the machine never goes above 12...doesn't matter if the max is 15 or 20 in terms of centrals. It's not going to the max so it's a moot point.
Now IF (big IF) you only saw a truck load of centrals at the pressure of 12 and you were for sure asleep...and you didn't have a truckload of centrals at 11...then we could assume that maybe you shouldn't use 12.
At this point with the reported insomnia last night...there's a good chance that the bulk of those centrals aren't real and if they aren't real they aren't caused by higher pressures in the sense of pressure triggered centrals. Awake events of any kind simply don't count and have to be ignored.

Re: How am I doing?

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:43 pm
by scruffies
Thanks Pugsy. Always appreciated.

Sounds like I keep the pressure at 15 and give it some more nights.....

Re: How am I doing?

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:48 pm
by Pugsy
I would give it a few more nights but if the insomnia continues I think I would back up and do a smaller change in the maximum just in case the pressure changes themselves are disrupting the sleep.
Like maybe try 10.6 max...and then 11.0 and then 11.6 and so on. See if the insomnia reduces.
It's not much help if the settings themselves is causing insomnia...we gotta get the sleep first and foremost.
I can sleep through some wild changes in pressure but not everyone can and if something disturbs sleep...it's unwanted.

Hurts nothing to back up and take the slower road to a higher maximum.