Initial Sleep Study Results

LakeGuy85 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:24 pm

SDBud wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:47 pm

LakeGuy85 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:48 am

2) How severe is this sleep apnea? With these numbers, could I see an improvement in the ailments above with a CPAP?

Your numbers are VERY good, many don't get that low WITH therapy.

A CPAP machine might help with the hypopneas, and if it's offered, can't see any reason to NOT try it.

OK, so if I'm borderline, would it make sense to maybe get retested via in-home study in 6-12 months if I lost 20 lbs of weight and got into better shape? Maybe I would test OK and not even need a CPAP/APAP at that point? Or would the APAP monitoring tell me itself that maybe I could try going off it at some point?

No reason NOT to get retested in the future, and if that finds you don't need to use a machine, all the better for you.

SDBud wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:47 pm

LakeGuy85 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:48 am

2) How severe is this sleep apnea? With these numbers, could I see an improvement in the ailments above with a CPAP?

Your numbers are VERY good, many don't get that low WITH therapy.

A CPAP machine might help with the hypopneas, and if it's offered, can't see any reason to NOT try it.

This score would be classed as moderate, IIRC. I would not call them "good" let alone "VERY good."

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:10 pm

People often poo poo off cpap because they "only have hyponeas and not real OAs".....big mistake to do that.
Remember the definitions I gave you above...
do you really think that the damage done by a hyponea that is 75 % reduction in air flow but lasts for 45 seconds ...isn't as big of a deal as an OA that is 81% reduction that lasts 11 seconds???

There is a reason that hyponeas are included in the diagnosis criteria....they can be just as nasty as OAs in terms of disturbing sleep and even oxygen level desats...

I second Pugsy on this! I was diagnosed as severe with just hypops . AHI 63, lowest 02 desat 83% with brain activity showing huge jagged repeating swings with practically no normal sleep patterns...no laughing matter, too many O2 desats. I was a mental and physical mess and had been for maybe 9-10 years -- I thought I was getting ready to die. Came out of the sleep study with no REM sleep and just 5 hours of sleep feeling like a million bucks! All I knew was that whatever it was going to take to get a machine, I was going to do it because I wanted to wakeup feeling like that all the time. Took me a while but I got there.

There are a differences between manufacturers in how they support your breathing pattern, ie, how the increase pressure and in the case of APAPs decrease pressure back to the low range. And how they implement pressures changes during inhale and exhale if exhalation relief is turned on. APAPs typically change pressure based on your last 4-5 breaths and if they detect changes that suggest there is a pending apneic event -- they sample it seems hundreds of elements during those recent breaths and compare them to their built-in parameters.

Replying to your request for links to Auto machines:
In the Philips line:
Auto CPAP - http://www.directhomemedical.com/dsx500 ... onics.html
Auto BiPap - http://www.directhomemedical.com/dsx700 ... onics.html
The price differential is about $800 more for the BiPap machine (Philips trademark for their Bi-Level machines.)
In the ResMed Line:
Auto CPAP - https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... t-humidair
Auto BiPap - https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... el-machine

Notice that the costs for comparable machines are similar. I prefer the Philips, but most folks here prefer the ResMed. For a person selecting their first machine, I don't recommend a preference. Having a local DME who mainly carries one or the other would tend towards that brand. I didn't and chose a machine they didn't routinely carry and got a continuous line of c**p until I just went on my one (with lots of help from the folks here on this message board.)

If you already have a machine, I strongly recommend staying with that manufacturer unless you are having issues with that brand and hope changing will help.