Newbie who HATED the CPAP setup...NOW won't give it up!

I started using my ResMed AirSense10 in early April with a mask. Settings were 5-15, autoramp, and whatever else came with all the factory settings. I hated it. Pressure felt like it was shoving air in my face, I couldn't breathe calmly, blah, blah, blah. So I hardly used it and then after 6 weeks told my Dr. I'm not using it.

Then things changed....

I posted my troubles here and SleepyHead reports and got feedback from the "seasoned posters". So I switched my settings (yes I got into the clinical menu) and made some changes. They really helped, along with switching to the nasal pillows.

So I start using my machine EVERY night and get almost 7 hours of sleep or close to it. It's not PERFECT, but better. My issues were more hypopnea related, and I still think I need to make a tweak to my settings. I will still wake up a couple times a week and feel some faster heart rate and can tell my BP is a little up, but nothing like the panic I used to wake up to on a regular basis.

Question: If I stop breathing from a hypopnea event, do my setting account for that and give me air? Because I don't feel like it does. Of course, some air is always slightly coming into the pillows I know. I'm including my settings from SleepHead.

So long story short, if you're new and get frustrated, hang in there and ask questions. There are too many damn variables to every person, every machine, every accessory and every circumstance to make this a simple fix to a frustrating condition.

Increase your Min to 6 and your max to 15. You don't say what your AHI is , but these changes should reduce it.

My AHI is usually 0.0 or .33 is about the highest. I've never seen it above 1. My SleepHead reports gives me very low RERA's, Hypopneas, and OSA's. However, I still will have 3 or 4 quick events per night.

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:46 pm

Question: If I stop breathing from a hypopnea event, do my setting account for that and give me air? Because I don't feel like it does. Of course, some air is always slightly coming into the pillows I know. I'm including my settings from SleepHead.

We can give you better advice on settings if you post a typical night's graph in a different format. It's the format described in Pugsy's second post here - viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

If your AHI is that low all the time, quit looking at it. Leave everything alone.

LSAT wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:19 pm

If your AHI is that low all the time, quit looking at it. Leave everything alone.

+1

Chicago Granny and LSAT....I completely understand what you're saying. However I have something that happens to me that nobody can figure out. My doctor doesn't seem too concerned about it, however it doesn't happen to him. I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden I notice my heart rate is up, my BP as well. I often slowly get up and go drink some water and sit in the living room for 15-30 minutes until I'm "back to normal". Without the CPAP it would be bad. Almost wake up in a panic and it was scary. Now using the CPAP if I do wake up it's subdued, and not as alarming. I don't snore, but I do shallow breath and my wife confirms this. I don't have nightmares or COPD or any heart issues I know about, but when I wake up, I have to reset myself after about 30 minutes.

Just really odd. I'd looked into SEVERAL reasons why it happens. Next doctor meeting is with my Gastroenterologist to see if it's stomach related since my diaphragm seems to be affected sometimes. Feels like it locks up and I can't get a good breath.

But I'm better, just not back to normal. I was on the road to a stroke before the CPAP.

Maybe nothing more than a remote possibility--but it could be a heart arrhtmia.
Insist on a referral to a cardiologist.

LSAT wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:54 pm

Increase your Min to 6 and your max to 15. You don't say what your AHI is , but these changes should reduce it.

I bumped up my Min and Max and my AHI last night was 0.00

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:05 am

I bumped up my Min and Max and my AHI last night was 0.00

Very good!

Did you experience this? --------->

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:43 pm

I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden I notice my heart rate is up, my BP as well.

Did you experience this? --------->

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:43 pm

I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden I notice my heart rate is up, my BP as well.

You know I awoke about 3:30 and noticed it a little bit but not enough for me to get up. I did feel like bumping up the min/max it pushed up the air a little more, but not enough for me to turn it down. It did cross my mind to turn it back because I felt like my breathing was a little bit labored, but I'll run it tonight to see what results I get.

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:22 am

You know I awoke about 3:30 and noticed it a little bit but not enough for me to get up.

Gosh, once a night. That's something I would not worry about.

But, if you are very curious, here is a little trick. When this happens, turn your machine off, and then turn it back on. Or, let it AutoStart (recommended). When you look at Sleepyhead the next day, you can easily find this point and look at the waveforms immediately preceding.

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:46 pm

...Question: If I stop breathing from a hypopnea event...

Hypopneas are shallow breathing, so shallow your oxygen levels drop. You do not stop breathing with hypops. I am in the severe category; in my sleep study I ONLY had hypops with oxygen drops, no REM sleep, and what they said was 'profound' snoring.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 01, 2018 12:03 pm

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:22 am

You know I awoke about 3:30 and noticed it a little bit but not enough for me to get up.

Gosh, once a night. That's something I would not worry about.

But, if you are very curious, here is a little trick. When this happens, turn your machine off, and then turn it back on. Or, let it AutoStart (recommended). When you look at Sleepyhead the next day, you can easily find this point and look at the waveforms immediately preceding.

Well last night it happened. I was awakened at 4:40 and felt my heart racing and felt like crap. So I slowing got up, took a drink of water and sat in the living room for 30 minutes. Finally went back to bed, only to wake up at 7am still feeling crappy. My stomach hurt in my solar plexus like somebody punched me.

I'm sending you my sleep head screen shots from last night, hopefully someone can see what was happening before I woke up. I see the graph is rather active before I awoke and turned off my machine. Looks like my resp. rate was rather active before I woke up? But honestly I have no clue how to read these.

TheBigTenor wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 03, 2018 7:25 am

TheBigTenor

Your screenshots are not in a very helpful format. Look at Pugsy's thread, especially her second post, here - viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

Look at the description of how to format screenshots and the example she includes.

When you get that, then part two is zooming in on the troublesome area (Keep the same format as in part one.)

This screenshot should be zoomed down to the trouble spot. This is roughly from 4:30 to 4:45. We need to see what the individual waveforms look like just before you awakened. When you get the format right, post the zoomed in period.