New User's First Post, Sleepy in GV's therapy thread

[palerider]

Can't tell, you don't have snore, or flow limits on that last overview page. (don't forget to scroll back up, and turn off the calendar before taking the screenshot).

Well, that answers the question of why the machine is raising pressure.

[palerider]

I reformatted my chart to adjust y axis. I also moved mask pressure back up and got rid of the calendar. Now that I changed the y axis, it does not look like the chart you gave as an example. Here it is:

To best see what's going on, you also need to change the y scale on mask pressure, sleepyhead's autoscaling is kind of stupid sometimes, going to 40 with a machine that's set to a max of 25... for your night, which maxes out at a pressure of 12, the autoscaling should go from say 4 to 15, it'd make the pressure change activity much more readable.

However, thanks to the better scaling of the Flow Rate, you can see that your breaths were becoming more and more flow limited in their shape, which was causing pressure to go up, till you got waked up and took some recovery breaths.

[palerider]

Next question, I think I saw the "chopping off" you referred to earlier this week. Is this it

I don't know what you're talking about. what "chopping off", where?

That chopping off was what you had earlier referred to as "clipping off". I guess I used stronger synonym for "clipping". I'm referring to this:

What I see there is just smooth, regular breathing. There's nothing in your machine to try to make you take a breath before you're ready, which a clipped lower limit on exp tome would indicate.

This is when you were helping me last week to see if my inspiration or expiration time was "clipped off". Here is the pic again so you don't have to go searching. Just to be clear, I see that clipping about 1-2 times a night, 3 at the most.

Um, let's back up. When I was talking about 'clipping'/'chopping', I was talking about *inspiration* time, not *expiration* time, and only the maximum inspiration time. I've never said anything about expiration time being clipping/restricted. So, your looking at expiration time is something completely different. (yes, I did respond to that, but exp time is not something I've ever done anything but glance at and go 'huh', because it's irrelevant on a spontaneous machine. (one that's purely driven by your breathing).

In the pic above, your expiration time went to zero.... because you weren't breathing, you were in apnea... no breathing, no insp time OR exp time.

This is why the sleepyhead replacement software won't even have those charts available in normal mode. (and crap like the dreaded Respiration Rate chart)... For the most part, there's no reason to look at them.

[palerider]

Is my survival instinct really that weak, that I wasn't going to take that nose breath and live?! I think if I hadn't put the mask to my face, I would have passed out.

Well, if you had passed out, you'd have started breathing

[Bookit]

Is my survival instinct really that weak, that I wasn't going to take that nose breath and live?! I think if I hadn't put the mask to my face, I would have passed out.

Actually, I took it as your survival instinct is very strong. Your brain apparently thought you were under water. So nasal breathing would have meant drowning. Maybe you need to adjust your humidity.

It is best to just laugh at our poor sleepy brains. I keep hoping xpap therapy will eventually restore all my brain cells. I need every one I can get!!

Happy taping!

[Sleepy in GV]

Um, let's back up. When I was talking about 'clipping'/'chopping', I was talking about *inspiration* time, not *expiration* time, and only the maximum inspiration time. I've never said anything about expiration time being clipping/restricted. So, your looking at expiration time is something completely different. (yes, I did respond to that, but exp time is not something I've ever done anything but glance at and go 'huh', because it's irrelevant on a spontaneous machine. (one that's purely driven by your breathing).

In the pic above, your expiration time went to zero.... because you weren't breathing, you were in apnea... no breathing, no insp time OR exp time.

This is why the sleepyhead replacement software won't even have those charts available in normal mode. (and crap like the dreaded Respiration Rate chart)... For the most part, there's no reason to look at them.

Oh, alright, I didn't realize it was only the inspiration time I needed to look at. Thank you for explaining the expiration time going to zero being an apnea. So, should I still turn my TiMax to 3?

I know, all these charts in the hands of us newbies, it is a little dangerous !

[Sleepy in GV]

To best see what's going on, you also need to change the y scale on mask pressure, sleepyhead's autoscaling is kind of stupid sometimes, going to 40 with a machine that's set to a max of 25... for your night, which maxes out at a pressure of 12, the autoscaling should go from say 4 to 15, it'd make the pressure change activity much more readable.

However, thanks to the better scaling of the Flow Rate, you can see that your breaths were becoming more and more flow limited in their shape, which was causing pressure to go up, till you got waked up and took some recovery breaths.

Done, I reformatted the y axis on the mask pressure.

The original question was, should I adjust trigger? Would that help me breath and maybe eliminate the rescue breaths? I notice it wasn't too long after that I had an OA.

[Sleepy in GV]

Is my survival instinct really that weak, that I wasn't going to take that nose breath and live?! I think if I hadn't put the mask to my face, I would have passed out.

Well, if you had passed out, you'd have started breathing

Well, that's good to know ! It will bring me peace of mind next time I'm on the brink of it. Hopefully, it will never happen again.

[Sleepy in GV]

Is my survival instinct really that weak, that I wasn't going to take that nose breath and live?! I think if I hadn't put the mask to my face, I would have passed out.

Actually, I took it as your survival instinct is very strong. Your brain apparently thought you were under water. So nasal breathing would have meant drowning. Maybe you need to adjust your humidity.

It is best to just laugh at our poor sleepy brains. I keep hoping xpap therapy will eventually restore all my brain cells. I need every one I can get!!

Happy taping!

Well thank you for thinking of it that way Bookit !
You are so right about replenishing brain cells. I can't wait for that day my brain is replenished!! I think I have a lifetime of brain cells lost from nose breathing all these years and probably always having flow limits. I'm so glad I'm finally reversing it. Just sad it took so long to do something about it. Better late than never.

[palerider]

So, should I still turn my TiMax to 3?

Yuz. There's no harm in that for people with normal lungs. Reducing TiMax time can be helpful with some people that have certain lung diseases, such as those having trouble exhaling, in that case you might want to reduce the TiMax from it's default setting.

[palerider]

The original question was, should I adjust trigger? Would that help me breath and maybe eliminate the rescue breaths? I notice it wasn't too long after that I had an OA.

Did you look at what I posted?

apnea.png

Do you see where there were two attempts at breaths and no response from the mask pressure?

Do you see that in your chart you're asking about?

I don't. I see mask pressure responding to every increasingly flow limited breath.

[Sleepy in GV]

Did you look at what I posted?

apnea.png
Do you see where there were two attempts at breaths and no response from the mask pressure?

Do you see that in your chart you're asking about?

I don't. I see mask pressure responding to every increasingly flow limited breath.

I did see it. I clearly see how mine is different, now. Thank you for explaining. Appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions . I’m going to safely tape tonight, use my nasal cushion, and replenish my brain cells ! Only adjust will be on the TiMax. Sleep tight!

[palerider]

Did you look at what I posted?

apnea.png
Do you see where there were two attempts at breaths and no response from the mask pressure?

Do you see that in your chart you're asking about?

I don't. I see mask pressure responding to every increasingly flow limited breath.

I did see it. I clearly see how mine is different, now. Thank you for explaining. Appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions . I’m going to safely tape tonight, use my nasal cushion, and replenish my brain cells ! Only adjust will be on the TiMax. Sleep tight!

Sounds like a plan.

[Sleepy in GV]

I used the dreamwear nasal cushion all week with tape over mouth. My pressures were lower with the nasal cushion, I had less flow limits, and I had my best night ever, .48 ahi. Now for the bad news, the other nights weren’t great. It isn’t as comfortable as the dreamwear full face cushion and the back strap that holds the cushion and headgear on kept riding up my head. It would wake me up and I’d have to push it back down over and over. I didn’t sleep as well with it. I had a slight headache all week too. Last night, I put the dreamwear full face back on w/tape. More pressure, more flow limits, but I slept better and was more comfortable.

Is there a trick to not having the back strap on the dreamwear nasal cushion slide up the back of your head? One night I tried pulling some hair over the top to try and hold it down, but that was uncomfortable, as it would slowly ride up, it would then pull my hair.

I am going to try a swift fix (I think that is what it is called). A new nasal mask came with my machine so I bought the headgear for it. It has the inserts that go into the nostrils. I’m a little worried as I’ll have the hose in front and I do toss and turn a lot. But, want to give it a try.

I want to make nasal style work! I love the hose on top of my head. If dreamwear won’t work, any other recommendations?

[Pugsy]

Back straps on a lot of masks are problematic for some people more so than other people. The just tend to crawl up the back of the head more for some than others. I think a lot of it is simply from the shape of the back of the skull...is it more flat or more round and does the occipital protuberance help a person keep that strap down or not. The flatter the back of the skull...the greater chance of that back strap sliding upwards because there's just nothing to slow down the crawling upwards.

You might be surprised as to how stable a nasal mask is that has the hose coming out at the nose level. I toss and turn all night long and have used a nasal pillow mask coming on 10 years now. The back strap crawling up was always the greater of the problems...the nasal pillows were stable until that back strap slip way up the back of my head.

When you do try the Swift FX (or whatever nasal pillow mask you have)...remember that they rest gently on the outside of your nostrils.
Nothing goes inside the nostril for you to feel on the inside. The ONLY part is the tiny inner cone that just goes barely up inside your nose and it should NEVER touch the inside of your nose anywhere. If it does you either have the wrong size pillow or too much tension on the straps pulling the pillow up inside the nose. You shouldn't be feeling anything from the pillow inside the nose at all.