Please help me interpret sleep data!!

Peacenana · Post by **Peacenana** » Sun Nov 17, 2019 1:31 pm

Hi fellow c-pap users,
I am 47 days into c-pap therapy. Still trying to work out the kinks. I can't figure out why some nights are awful (using the same mask) and some are fine. I am attaching two files - one of my sleep data from Nov. 13 (see bottom file when viewing). This night, I felt there was all kinds of weird things happening. Main disturbances to sleep around 4 a.m. Very, very dry mouth and mouth "puffing." I went to bed with headband around my mouth and chin strap to try to keep my mouth closed. At around 5 a.m. I took headband off and tried taping my mouth (leaving on the chin strap). AHI was its highest since I started c-pap. Also, pressure was higher than ever. I felt very tired the next day and frustrated.
The top file is from last night (Nov. 16). This was a "good" night. AHI was lower (0.6). I used the headband and chin strap. I kept mask and machine on until about 6:30 and slept another hour or so without it. Woke feeling refreshed and wondering, "Is this was it is like when you sleep well??"
Can you help me understand what's going on? Leaks? I am still a newbie so need help understanding this.
Thanks so much!!

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Sun Nov 17, 2019 1:56 pm

You need to learn how to distinguish awake vs asleep flagged events.
Watch all the videos here.
http://freecpapadvice.com/sleepyhead-free-software
While they are mainly talking about central flagging the information pertains to any of the category of events.

I am betting that the night with the higher AHI and your reported general troubles sleeping and difficulties with the mask and mouth opening, etc that a sizable portion of that AHI is awake breathing irregularities being flagged by mistake. Think of them as false positives.
You feel better after last night simply because you slept better. Not so many awakenings.
Frequent awakenings mess up the sleep cycles which messes up how a person feels during the day no matter what the AHI might be.

Geer1 · Post by **Geer1** » Sun Nov 17, 2019 2:20 pm

APAP adjusts pressure by increasing the pressure after breathing issues have occurred, it works well when you require more support but isn't ideal for maintaining a minimum pressure(obviously better to prevent the low pressure events rather then having them control your settings).

Your machine is set at 4-15 cm but worked to maintain a median pressure of 8 cm both nights and almost never dropped below 6 cm meaning it would try to drop down then you would have trouble breathing so it would go back up. I think your minimum pressure should be increased to 7 or 8 cm.

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Sun Nov 17, 2019 2:35 pm

These machines will respond to false positives just like they would if we were asleep with they got flagged.
Remember they don't have a clue if we are asleep or not. All they measure is air flow.
So before assuming that more pressure is needed people have to figure out if what they are seeing being reported are real asleep events or awake events.
Awake stuff doesn't count. We must be asleep for any of it to matter and be worth evaluating.

Peacenana · Post by **Peacenana** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:06 pm

Thank you for your responses. Pugsy, this is probably a dumb question, but how can I interpret which are asleep events as opposed to awake ones? I did watch the videos and they are very helpful. I will look at them again because there was a lot of info to absorb. In an attempt to understand this, I am posting my data from last night and the night before. On Wednesday night, it felt like I was having many awakenings (with many instances of cheeks puffing up with air) but don't know how to confirm that in the data. Last night (Thursday) seemed better as I do not recall awakening until morning (though I awoke feeling very tired). I had the mask on for many hours but slept probably 8 hours of that. Also, for the past three nights I switched to the DreamWear gel pillows mask. I find it is better than the under the nose mask which caused nose sores. Little by little I am learning but this feels like a whole science which is why I am so very grateful to all of you on this forum!

zonker · Post by **zonker** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:21 pm

Peacenana wrote: ↑
Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:06 pm
Thank you for your responses. Pugsy, this is probably a dumb question, but how can I interpret which are asleep events as opposed to awake ones? !

one way would be to turn off your machine when you wake. then turn it back on. this will place a marker in your graph to show when you were awake.

good luck!

Geer1 · Post by **Geer1** » Sat Nov 23, 2019 12:08 pm

Peacenana wrote: ↑
Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:06 pm
Thank you for your responses. Pugsy, this is probably a dumb question, but how can I interpret which are asleep events as opposed to awake ones? I did watch the videos and they are very helpful. I will look at them again because there was a lot of info to absorb. In an attempt to understand this, I am posting my data from last night and the night before. On Wednesday night, it felt like I was having many awakenings (with many instances of cheeks puffing up with air) but don't know how to confirm that in the data. Last night (Thursday) seemed better as I do not recall awakening until morning (though I awoke feeling very tired). I had the mask on for many hours but slept probably 8 hours of that. Also, for the past three nights I switched to the DreamWear gel pillows mask. I find it is better than the under the nose mask which caused nose sores. Little by little I am learning but this feels like a whole science which is why I am so very grateful to all of you on this forum!

My wake breathing is either jagged and high amplitude (irregular breathing during an arousal, transitioning to sleep etc) or it is smooth but a different waveform than during sleep (looks like a sine wave due to constant inhale/exhale rate vs the slower inhale/sharp exhale during sleep). One way I learned to interpret this was to look at times that I knew I was awake (before falling asleep or if I knew I woke up at a certain time etc).

This link has some more good info too.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... Rate_graph

Be aware that turning off you machine is good for marking a spot on the graph but not ideal for treatment as it resets you back to minimum pressure.

Once you are able to tell when you are awake/asleep look at the cluster of events you have early in the night. Are these false events being triggered while you are still awake (in which case ignore them) or are they occurring after the transition to sleep (in which case they are real events and you should increase minimum to avoid them).

Please help me interpret sleep data!!

Please help me interpret sleep data!!

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