I am having a terrible time of it with OSCAR

Hi Pugsy. I slept very well last night (I usually do). I put my mask on around 9 and fell asleep probably around 10. I woke up around 2:30 am (bathroom) and it took me 15 minutes or so to fall back asleep. I may have had another bathroom break (don't really remember), but slept very soundly otherwise. I've watched some OSCAR videos on YouTube and will watch more trying to learn how to read these reports.

Thanks. At least the last 2 nights have been under 5 AHI whereas the last few weeks have been worse, but I was messing around with the settings so the fault may well lie with me (operator error)...

palerider wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:18 am

Please don't use imgbb, it is annoying to try and get a full size pic, just upload the screenshot to the forum as suggested.

I tried to before I used imgbb but it just gave me an HTML link (not bbcode) and I couldn't figure out what was code vs link. I'll try again.

Ah just found it!

Thank you!

palerider wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:37 am

Thank you!

Thank YOU. I appreciate the help from knowledgeable people on this forum.

shragae wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:42 am

palerider wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:37 am

Thank you!

Thank YOU. I appreciate the help from knowledgeable people on this foru.

At this point, my advice is the same as Pugsy:s (it usually is, she's *very* good), first thing to try is less epr, some people's respiration is very sensitive to the extra ventilation that it causes, their co2 levels get a little lower than their body likes, and it compensates by just not breathing for a few seconds. This isn't actually a problem, unless it happens too often frequently, in which case, your o2 levels can drop.

What would you change the EPR setting to be?

Turn it off at least for a few days to see a) how it affects your numbers, and b) whether or not you feel the need to turn it back on at all.

shragae wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:54 am

What would you change the EPR setting to be?

Lower, you just have to experiment, drop it and give it a few days, then drop it again if necessary, it's not an exact science, unfortunately.

So some of those centrals might be awake false positives but some may not.

If it was me I would try reducing EPR by 1 and see if the centrals reduce or not...if not...then try another reduction or just turn it off.

If you need EPR to fall asleep you can set it so it only functions in ramp and then turns off when the ramp turns off...then turn the ramp on for a period of time.

Your can turn off the pie chart (Preferences/appearance tab and remove the check mark) which allows other more important statistics to move up into viewing. No need to redo this image though. I can see well enough. Just mentioning it for further image sharing.

The pie chart...pretty much useless.

Awesome, will do and I'll let you all know how it's going in a few days. Thanks again!

Put me in the camp of reducing EPR down by 1, to 2.

You've been using CPAP for a bit now, so EPR isn't as important as when you first put the mask on. But it is a comfort feature, and comfort features can be important to help us sleep better.

Change EPR this morning, that way you aren't dwelling on it tonight. And you'll probably forget about it tonight. Let it be for a few days, and we'll see how it affects your CAs.

BTW, see the value in sticking an SD Card in them and importing into OSCAR?

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 9:12 am

Change EPR this morning, that way you aren't dwelling on it tonight. And you'll probably forget about it tonight. Let it be for a few days, and we'll see how it affects your CAs.

+1

and i think it applies to pretty much all changes one makes on the machine.

it's a good application of psychology.

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 9:12 am

BTW, see the value in sticking an SD Card in them and importing into OSCAR?

Yes, I definitely see the value! LOL.

A quick update. I didn't run OSCAR this morning (the SD card is in the CPAP) but I did reduce the EPR from 3 to 2. MyAir reported an AHI of 4.7 this morning. I was perfectly comfortable last night while I was awake, didn't notice any discomfort from the EPR. I slept very well (as I usually do), waking up around 6:30.

I'm thinking that I'll turn it down to 1 tonight and check tomorrow... I didn't change any other settings. My thoughts were to wait 3 days from the first OSCAR report I posted here to post another. I did turn off the pie chart as requested!

See you soon.

7/16 -- AHI of 4.0. Best in about 2 weeks, but still not great. I turned the EPR to 1.0 last night and still had no problems with airflow. I did wake up a few times last night which is unusual for me... I may just turn the EPR off tonight (put it on for ramp only) and see what happens. I'll post OSCAR tomorrow.

Update. 3 days later.

First night: turned EPR down to 2. Not a big difference. 4.78 AHI.

Second night: turned EPR down to 1. I'll paste that photo as the 2nd shot here -- 4.06 AHI. A little restless, woke up a few times. Awake for about an hour before sleep... about 3 bathroom breaks...

Last night: turned EPR off except for ramp. 3.87 AHI. Awake for about 90 minutes or so, woke up twice for bathroom.

Last night w/o EPR:



Wednesday night EPR at 1: