Please help me to get better ! ( Attn: Pugsy )

Hi Pugsy :

I am a five year CPAP user and have been a very negligent and unfocused one .

But I want to and must change as I'm near 70 and cannot live with this poor sleep condition any longer .

In the 5 Years past I have not paid attention to equipment , data or results . But I just purchased an S 10( had Resmed S9 ) and am very intent on turning my experience around .Critical .

In the last 5 days my Ahi has been one time at 6.5 , twice at 9.6 and one time at 12.5 . I read in the intro for newbies where you expressed a reading of 8.4 as " ugly " and that you are able to get under 5 AHI on occasion. Three days ago when I had a 6.5 score I felt better than I had in years . But at 9.5 feel quite tired . But I suspect I've been living often at 20 AHI over the years - but I cannot do it anymore .

Would you please provide me with suggestions or a roadmap to get my AHI score down . My readings on all other factors ( mask fit ,etc ) are all very positive . The pressure is set at 7 to 18 . I did that myself when the Sleep Therapist three years ago had the setting at 7 and 12 . But that was insufficient and I down loaded a manual and increased the pressure . That helped right away and a lot . I have seen a sleep physician ( two years ago ) that was of no help.

I have never had a " sleep study " and not have used " Sleepyhead ".

Looking forward to hearing from you and I will answer all questions and not just some ! I'm all in this time .

Thanks a lot

ppp

Welcome to the forum.

First thing....your equipment profile shows the AirSense 10 CPAP machine but the settings you mention point to the AutoSet model.
Which is it?
If it is the AutoSet model go back and correct your equipment profile....The ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet is down in the R section of the machine's in the equipment list. It's not up in the A's with the other AirSense/AirCurve 10 machines.

If you do indeed have the AirSense 10 AutoSet machine we need to see what your AHI is composed of to be able to offer the best ideas to help you get that AHI reduced.

Get OSCAR...consider it a new and improved SleepyHead version.
OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

If you want to share with the forum member what you see....see this
viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

What you might need to do in terms of adjustments to your machine settings will depend on what your AHI is composed of.
Most likely you just need a higher minimum pressure but to know for sure we need to see what is going on in the detailed report and more information.

If you have the AirSense 10 CPAP machine...we get to have a different discussion.

There are no S10 models...so no sense in using that term. There were S9 models but when ResMed released the new models they dropped the S notation and just changed things to AirSense 10 or AirCurve 10.

There is some information on the LCD screen itself as to what kind of events you are having but you have to change Essentials from On to Plus to see that information. I mention this in case you aren't able to get the detailed software up and running quickly.
See the manual for how to make sure Essentials is set to Plus so you can get the detailed data the machine offers on the LCD screen.
https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

Hi Pugsy :

Thank-you for the quick response . Indeed it is the Air Sense 10 AutoSet .

I will do all that you suggest . I will get OSCAR this afternoon.

I was unaware that my AHI was actually capable of break down into parts - even that helps a lot to know . Thank-you again !

So unless I hear different I will get OSCAR and see what that is ? But is there anything else I need do to find out what the components of my AHI are ? Sorry if this is a useless or irritating question . But I'm very keen to understand .

And I will do all the other things you mention!

It's a great service that you are providing . Thanks so much - any further response much appreciated .

pat

PPP wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:01 am

Would you please provide me with suggestions or a roadmap to get my AHI score down . My readings on all other factors ( mask fit ,etc ) are all very positive . The pressure is set at 7 to 18 . I did that myself when the Sleep Therapist three years ago had the setting at 7 and 12 . But that was insufficient and I down loaded a manual and increased the pressure . That helped right away and a lot . I have seen a sleep physician ( two years ago ) that was of no help.

I have never had a " sleep study " and not have used " Sleepyhead ".

Looking forward to hearing from you and I will answer all questions and not just some ! I'm all in this time .

Thanks a lot

ppp

First, find out what machine you actually have, nowhere does it say "s10", there are *many* very different Resmed machines, what do you actually have?

If it has data, then get Oscar and learn.

You can look on the machine itself and go to another section of the sleep report to get the category of events composing the AHI but it's just easier to use the software if possible because not only can we see the category of events but also when they got flagged.
Sometimes I see a large grouping of events flagged right at a known awake time and those I just ignore but the AHI gets elevated because the machine doesn't know to ignore awake flagged events. Remember the machine has no clue if you are really asleep or not.
It only measures air flow.

You probably just need a higher minimum pressure but it wouldn't be impossible for the bulk of your AHI to be central in nature and more pressure won't fix it.
So that's why we like to see for sure what we are wanting to kill before we start increasing pressures to try to kill something.
Once I see a typical detailed report I will have a good idea what to offer in terms of ideas as to how to get your AHI lower.

PPP wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:04 pm

So unless I hear different I will get OSCAR and see what that is ? But is there anything else I need do to find out what the components of my AHI are ? Sorry if this is a useless or irritating question . But I'm very keen to understand .

welcome to the zoo. if you run into any problems getting or running oscar, please let us know. we'd be happy to help.

good luck!

Thanks Pugsy , Pale Rider and Zonker :

This time I'm going to stick at this with my new Air Sense 10 -Autoset (Resmed) - day by day - until I get the AHI down .

So first will do all that Pugsy has detailed .

Very Much Obliged to All !!!

pat

ATTN : Zonker ( I'm trying not to write too often to Bugsy and as you were kind enough to offer )

Hi Zonker : Im seeking your help to install OSCAR , I went to the initial OSCAR page and tried but could get no response whatsoever on trying all response areas . I have a laptop Apple computer - about 5 years old . Can you help .I'm very tech compromised and slow ! .
Thanks a lot .

Pat

Which Apple computer and what operating system is on it?

There is a Mac version of OSCAR available...did you get that version?

Sorry...I use Windows so I am zero help with installation issues on anything but Windows.
But people have mentioned that sometimes the security on their Mac computers won't allow the install until you tell the computer that you know what you are installing and it is safe.

PPP wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:12 pm

ATTN : Zonker ( I'm trying not to write too often to Bugsy and as you were kind enough to offer )

Hi Zonker : Im seeking your help to install OSCAR , I went to the initial OSCAR page and tried but could get no response whatsoever on trying all response areas . I have a laptop Apple computer - about 5 years old . Can you help .I'm very tech compromised and slow ! .
Thanks a lot .

Pat

<gulp!> here i am offering help, but i know nothing about apple computers!

someone familiar with apple will chime in any minute now.

Thanks Pugsy :

There were several options and I pressed the MAC option - but nothing happened . I will check the system and get back to you on what it is exactly -I'll need help from a computer person to answer effectively . But I'm sticking with this until I can somehow get OSCAR - tomorrow Ill go to the Apple store and seek their involvement - they are always helpful with these issues .

In the meantime Im going to try to increase pressure from 7 - 18 , to say , 10 to 18 on the pressure given your earlier comment .I'll try that tonight and see what the results are and report back to you on that . By then the Apple store should have me straightened out on the OSCAR download .

Cannot say how much the efforts made by you and your team of experts are appreciated


pat

try this link for Oscar . scroll down and you will see link for Apple download . http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation . hope this helps .
mike

If your Mac is about 5 years old, that could be a problem with OSCAR.

OSCAR requires MacOS 10.12 (Sierra) which was released in 2016. To see what OS you have, click the apple icon and choose About this Mac.

Should your Mac be to old for OSCAR you can still use SleepyHead, which requires OS X 10.7 or better. It is available here:
https://sleepyhead.jedimark.net

Thanks Bristolman and Dog Slobber . I will try both options or ask Apple store to help .

pk

Hi Dog Slobber and Bristolman :

I have MacOS 2012 - 10.15.2 - which numerically seems greater than 10.12 Sierra ? I will try for OSCAR but if that does not work then SleepyHead .

Thank-you .

pat