Relevance of beginning-of-night apneas/hypopneas?

I recall seeing a post a while back which indicated that events recorded by xPAP machines during the falling-asleep time were not really relevant in determining true AHI, or something to that effect.

Since I haven't a clue as to how I would go about doing a search for this, would someone care to elaborate on this?

Have noticed that nearly all of my machine-scored apneas and a significant number of hypopneas occur within the first 15 minutes or so of recording with my Autopap, running with no settling time.

That must be why Resmed had to add settling time control to there machine, instead of building it in the programming. Jim

Do you think you were asleep when these apneas were scored? (I keep my ramp time very short, since I have apneas if I fall asleep while the pressure is low. However, it seems like something different is going on with you.) I am wondering if these are actual apneas right after you fall asleep, or if some pre-sleep breaths get scored incorrectly.

Moogy

Hi. You may be referring to one of my posts a few weeks ago asking about the ramp and settling features, and whether data is recorded, reported or responded to during use of those features. But if you are not using the settling feature, seems to me you'd be recording from the start, but some machine pros will probably chime in on that.

I know when I first lay down I am quite restless, clearing my throat coughing, and such. I use the settling feature for 5 minutes just to get me past that time of quieting down, since it was my understanding that what happened in that few minutes was not a part of my stats. Sure would like to know if that's not the case.

There's been lots of discussion before on how each brand of machine responds to events, in what increments the pressure increases, etc. Wonder if that could have anything to do with it if the lower pressure in your range is significantly less that what you need to respond to events.

Sorry no answers. Will be watching your thread to learn more myself.

Kathy

Moogy,
Thanks for the response. It's a very real possibility that these 'events' might be happening before I'm fully asleep, or while I'm in transition.

Kathy,
Thanks, as well. Yes, I went back and found the post you referred to; I think I was recalling Snoredog's response to your questions.

So does anyone know how to reset their Settling Time? Darned if I know if "I" did it (or how I did it IF I did do it) or if the durn DME did it but my Settling Time "was" set at 20 minutes w/a Maximum Settling time of 45 which was about right, it usually takes me 20 minutes to get to sleep. However, it is the Settling time is now set a 5 minutes w/Maximum Settling Time of 30 minutes.

I'm thinking I might have accidentally hit the Factory Defaults and that might be what changed it to 5 and 30 but that doesn't quite make sense to me. How often does ANYONE fall asleep in 5 minutes? Which would leave the DME as the culprit.

Anyway, I would "like" to reset the Settling Time to 20 and the Maximum Settling Time to 45 as it was originally. But darned if I can find out how to do that anywhere in the Manual. What am I missing here?

if you hold the "left" and "right" buttons simultaneously for about 3 seconds, you will enter the "efficacy menu" where you can get pressure, leakage, AHI, AI and HI info. "Right" and "down" will put you into "clinical menu"; you can change critical operating parameters here. If you go in clinical, I'd make sure to write down your current settings first.

Hope this helps

Brenda