Pressure Settings

TCB wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:30 am

The 1st break was my kitty woke me, second was to pee, and the third was to take a thyroid pill. Kitty waking me doesn't always happen, but the other two do every night. The aerophagia was almost non existent!

I take my thyroid pill in the middle of the night (early morning)also. Its so much easier than having to wait 30 min for caffeine or breakfast.

Here is a new graph, plus a close up of Flow Rate. I'm sleeping ok, but I'm waking up dizzy and it lasts most of the day. The Aerophagia is gone with lower settings but my pressure readings seem less choppy with a slightly higher pressure.

You can use more pressure in an effort to smooth out the air flow but more pressure will very likely cause more aerophagia.
What you might do is slowly start increasing that minimum EPAP a little bit at a time OR you might try a little more PS (maybe 3.5 instead of 3.0 minimum PS) (or maybe fixed PS of 4 with minimum and max PS equal to 4) and see if having a little more IPAP in conjunction with the lower EPAP will help smooth things out a bit and reduce the AHI a little.
There's more than one way to get more pressure but just remember....it's the pressure that is feeding the aerophagia monster.

This is why I said sometimes people have to make compromises....which is the worse thing to deal with? A more choppy flow rate and a little bit higher AHI or the symptoms that the aerophagia monster brings with him when he comes for a visit????

You have several ways to get more pressure....slight increase in minimum EPAP...adding in more PS so that IPAP can maybe help out a little more...or heck, maybe even a little of both.

Thanks for all the information. I'll try raising my epap pressure a bit with a little more ps. Is my dizzyness caused by my treatment settings?

I am sorry but I have no idea what might be causing the dizziness. There's nothing in your settings that I know of which might cause dizziness just from the settings themselves.

Did the dizziness start just with the reduction in pressures or has it been sort of hanging around for quite some time now?

If anything the reduction in pressure should reduce dizziness if related to cpap pressures. It's rare but some people have a problem with their Eustachian tubes not closing properly and the air pressure in the nasal cavity goes down the tubes into the inner ear and causes an imbalance which can result it dizziness. Usually lower pressures help if this is going on.

Have you ever had BPPV? Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20370055
I have this myself and it's extremely annoying.

If your dizziness is mild....and not BPPV...you might try adding a little decongestant or antihistamine orally to see if the it might be fluid in the inner ear that is causing it.
If it is extreme dizziness or the decongestant doesn't help...probably should have a chat with the doctor about it because there are quite a few culprits in the dizziness department.
Blood pressure too high or too low...medication side effects...BPPV....nasal congestion can go to the inner ear and cause an imbalance...just to name a few.

I'm goint to try a little more Epap & PS increase. The aerophagia doesn't bother me unless I'm up around 11 Epap + 4 MinPS.
I had a Doctor appointment today and the dizzyness was caused by bronchitis, which is being treated now. He also checked my Eustachian tubes, which are clear.

All I can say is THANKS Pugsy!!! Lowest AHI, ever, and NO aerophagia! I also felt much better this morning.

TCB wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:22 pm

All I can say is THANKS Pugsy!!! Lowest AHI, ever, and NO aerophagia! I also felt much better this morning.

1-11.JPG

It doesn't get much lower than zero

Well done.
It's not always about set formulas or guidelines or anything like that. Sometimes it's just real life situations and common sense.

TCB wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:22 pm

All I can say is THANKS Pugsy!!! Lowest AHI, ever, and NO aerophagia! I also felt much better this morning.

1-11.JPG

while zero ahi isn't the goal(because feeling our best IS) it's still good to see it!

don't be discouraged if you don't see this every night. we don't sleep the same every night.

but still,

GOOD JOB!!

I really appreciate that statement about the zero and feeling better. Feeling better did go along with those numbers, although I really don't expect zero everynight!