zonker's crib--somewhere over the rainbow

djams wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:11 pm

jnk... wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:03 pm

Oh man. My sides hurt from laughing now.

DogSlobber frequently has the same effect on me.

The man has a beautiful mind.

He has an open invitation to attend a cookout at my house - which is the biggest compliment I can pay anyone.

i know, right? he certainly knows how to make a very big stew out of that one oyster.

i'm sure this question has been discussed here before. and i apologize for bringing it up. besides, my search skills are very weak.

as my edited thread asks, does humidity impact ahi? i ask because i decided to bump my humidity from 4 to 5 without making any other changes. this was three nights ago. my ahi went up from below 0.50 to 1.38 for that night. the next night it was at 1.07. i reacted by raising my minimum by .2 for last night, which resulted in 0.91.

am i making too much of this? is it just a coincidence?

for those who just want to answer that question, stop there and answer away! if you want something tangential, read on.

i found that the .2 increase was enough to cause a slight bit of aerophagia in me last night. i've been typically blowing 15.4 to 20. now, i know...some of you will insist that .2 isn't enough to cause a reaction. can you just take as given that it did?

it wasn't anything near as like i would suffer in the bad old days. but it disrupted my breathing pattern. it's hard to describe. it was like a slight fluttering in my chest. it wasn't the extreme i've suffered before, as in that very tight and bowling ball feeling in my gut. it just sort of messed up my rhythm. and thanks to that, i kept getting wake ups.

i'm thinking perhaps if the answers you guys come up with is that the ahi rising had nothing to do with humidity change, then i'll just turn my minimum back down. if humidity DID cause it, i can either wait out my slight aerophagia for a few nights to see if i adjust. OR just turn the humidity back down. (it was just an experiment anyway.)

what do you all think?

Experiment some more... by itselt, humidity is not indicated for OSA as therapy, but if it makes Cpap therapy work better for YOU, then it does.... maybe because you naturally sleep better in a more humid atmosphere (esp. if you live e.g. in Arizona). It's all so personal so we have to play with all the settings for all the features and see what helps - just don't change more than one feature at a time and do give each trial a few days to be sure results were not just incidental to that particular night.

Julie wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:59 pm

Experiment some more... by itselt, humidity is not indicated for OSA as therapy, but if it makes Cpap therapy work better for YOU, then it does.... maybe because you naturally sleep better in a more humid atmosphere (esp. if you live e.g. in Arizona). It's all so personal so we have to play with all the settings for all the features and see what helps - just don't change more than one feature at a time and do give each trial a few days to be sure results were not just incidental to that particular night.

to tell you the truth, i'm not even sure i needed to start the whole blooming experiment of turning up the humidity!

yes, it gets quite dry here at this time of year. but i think it was more my brain saying "huh. gettin' dry here, zonker. i can see it on the hygrometer there. yup, around 16 percent. yup." and less me FEELING the humidity changes. yeah, was getting a little clogged up but nothing extraordinary.

and i get what you are saying. four years ago, on this forum, it was stressed that humidity is a comfort factor. and that view is starting to change. if your more comfortable, you may get better therapy.

so i'll see what others have to say as well.

thanks!

I don't know that increasing the would impact your AHI.

But 2 days is not statistically significant, especially given the typical variance most of us experiance with out AHI.

My suggestions:

• If the slight increase has created a touch of aerophagia, set it back to what was working for you.
• If the increased humidity feels better, increase it.
• Let's watch the actual averages of your AHI, especially after it becomes a little more statistically significant.
• Since you made a change to your pressure settings SleepyHead/OSCAR will create a new marker for averages under the statistic pages so you don't have to do the math.

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 5:43 pm

I don't know that increasing the would impact your AHI.

But 2 days is not statistically significant, especially given the typical variance most of us experiance with out AHI.

My suggestions:

• If the slight increase has created a touch of aerophagia, set it back to what was working for you.
• If the increased humidity feels better, increase it.
• Let's watch the actual averages of your AHI, especially after it becomes a little more statistically significant.
• Since you made a change to your pressure settings SleepyHead/OSCAR will create a new marker for averages under the statistic pages so you don't have to do the math.

all valuable suggestions, my good man.

on that last, i must admit i've never noticed the "changes in prescription" part. too busy looking at the statistics above it.

i'm thinking of leaving it all as is and see what tonight brings. you know, there is at least ONE good thing about being on cpap AND retired: it doesn't matter if i wreck my sleep because i'm not springing out of bed in the early am!!

zonker wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:46 pm

i found that the .2 increase was enough to cause a slight bit of aerophagia in me last night. i've been typically blowing 15.4 to 20. now, i know...some of you will insist that .2 isn't enough to cause a reaction. can you just take as given that it did?

nuh uh!

zonker wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:46 pm

i'm thinking perhaps if the answers you guys come up with is that the ahi rising had nothing to do with humidity change, then i'll just turn my minimum back down. if humidity DID cause it, i can either wait out my slight aerophagia for a few nights to see if i adjust. OR just turn the humidity back down. (it was just an experiment anyway.)

what do you all think?

So, off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is if the extra humidity caused your nose to be a bit more stuffy... I can't think of any other way that the humidity would affect the AHI, if your nose were more congested, it could easily affect your sleep.

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:21 am

So, off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is if the extra humidity caused your nose to be a bit more stuffy... I can't think of any other way that the humidity would affect the AHI, if your nose were more congested, it could easily affect your sleep.

well, poo. that's not what i expected to hear. so i'll just dismiss it out of hand.

i was hoping to get more restful sleep raising the humidity. tbh, as i said, i'm not sure why i raised it. i didn't last summer and i slept fine. i just felt like experimenting, i guess.

however, the experiment is over. i woke up this morning aching all over. plus, i had calf cramps.

so i'm going back to lower humidity and minimum pressure.

why fool with something that works?

zonker wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:46 pm

i'm sure this question has been discussed here before. and i apologize for bringing it up. besides, my search skills are very weak.

as my edited thread asks, does humidity impact ahi? i ask because i decided to bump my humidity from 4 to 5 without making any other changes. this was three nights ago. my ahi went up from below 0.50 to 1.38 for that night. the next night it was at 1.07. i reacted by raising my minimum by .2 for last night, which resulted in 0.91.

am i making too much of this? is it just a coincidence?

for those who just want to answer that question, stop there and answer away! if you want something tangential, read on.

i found that the .2 increase was enough to cause a slight bit of aerophagia in me last night. i've been typically blowing 15.4 to 20. now, i know...some of you will insist that .2 isn't enough to cause a reaction. can you just take as given that it did?

it wasn't anything near as like i would suffer in the bad old days. but it disrupted my breathing pattern. it's hard to describe. it was like a slight fluttering in my chest. it wasn't the extreme i've suffered before, as in that very tight and bowling ball feeling in my gut. it just sort of messed up my rhythm. and thanks to that, i kept getting wake ups.

i'm thinking perhaps if the answers you guys come up with is that the ahi rising had nothing to do with humidity change, then i'll just turn my minimum back down. if humidity DID cause it, i can either wait out my slight aerophagia for a few nights to see if i adjust. OR just turn the humidity back down. (it was just an experiment anyway.)

what do you all think?

Yes, there have been numerous discussions on this subject here before. And, the consensus was that it's possible. Maybe not for everyone, but since we're all different, it's worth a try to turn the humidity down or off to see if the AHI drops.

To be clear, I've never used heated humidity other than the first couple of nights of my therapy back in mid-May of 2005.
I found immediately that I didn't like the warm humid heat and "rainout"........so, I turned off the HH and have enjoyed the cool "passover" humidification ever since. If you read some of those threads, "Julie" is also an advocate of "passover" humidification. There are also a number of others who prefer it, too.


Den

.

zonker wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 10:30 am

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:21 am

So, off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is if the extra humidity caused your nose to be a bit more stuffy... I can't think of any other way that the humidity would affect the AHI, if your nose were more congested, it could easily affect your sleep.

well, poo. that's not what i expected to hear. so i'll just dismiss it out of hand.

i was hoping to get more restful sleep raising the humidity. tbh, as i said, i'm not sure why i raised it. i didn't last summer and i slept fine. i just felt like experimenting, i guess.

however, the experiment is over. i woke up this morning aching all over. plus, i had calf cramps.

so i'm going back to lower humidity and minimum pressure.

why fool with something that works?

Well, if you didn't have congestion, then I really don't know what it might have been... but maybe someone has a better insight.

Wulfman... wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:22 pm

Yes, there have been numerous discussions on this subject here before. And, the consensus was that it's possible. Maybe not for everyone, but since we're all different, it's worth a try to turn the humidity down or off to see if the AHI drops.

To be clear, I've never used heated humidity other than the first couple of nights of my therapy back in mid-May of 2005.
I found immediately that I didn't like the warm humid heat and "rainout"........so, I turned off the HH and have enjoyed the cool "passover" humidification ever since. If you read some of those threads, "Julie" is also an advocate of "passover" humidification. There are also a number of others who prefer it, too.


Den

.

i should've been a little more clear on that. seems when i start to type, my fingers lead their own life, independent of my brain.

i use humidity year round. i usually don't fiddle with it and just leave it at the same settings. in fact, i think i posted that somewhere in someone's thread.

but because i had a wee bit of congestion and flonase wasn't opening me up, i decide to up my humidity level to see if it would help.

it DID but the price i paid was higher ahi and a wee bit of aerophagia. and as i said earlier i woke up to day feeling body aches and such.

i am not saying this is all connected. but i AM going back to my previous settings.

thanks!

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:07 pm

Well, if you didn't have congestion, then I really don't know what it might have been... but maybe someone has a better insight.

see my typing at wulfman; it WAS congestion, just me not expressing it.

thanks!

zonker wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:42 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:07 pm

Well, if you didn't have congestion, then I really don't know what it might have been... but maybe someone has a better insight.

see my typing at wulfman; it WAS congestion, just me not expressing it.

thanks!

Well, if the change resulted in more congestion, that very well could increase your AHI.

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:50 pm

zonker wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:42 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:07 pm

Well, if you didn't have congestion, then I really don't know what it might have been... but maybe someone has a better insight.

see my typing at wulfman; it WAS congestion, just me not expressing it.

thanks!

Well, if the change resulted in more congestion, that very well could increase your AHI.

i don't know if i can really make an impartial judgement on that, i was too busy worrying about the aerophagia!

On the aerophagia- I've had it twice now with my low pressures after switching to nasal masks. Looked at my charts both times, pressure never went over 12 on either occasion.

Guess my point is that the aerophagia could have been totally unrelated to the pressure increase you made. Nothing but a coincidence.