Help with CPAP Therapy - SleepyPrince !!!

Good Morning,

Last night I slept with the cervical collar, though it was very weird to sleep with it. I felt like sleeping like a rock in a strange position, but surprisingly I did not have any neck pain or shoulder pain in the morning.

And for the first time in 3 weeks, my events were less than 3 I think I will have to get used to the collar.

I checked few of my events and the mask pressure during the events is less than 9, but my minimum pressure was set as 10. I'm not sure about this? I thought I would be getting minimum pressure at all the times?

Thank you very much for all the suggestion and tips. I have learnt a lot this 3 weeks. Greatly Appreciated. Cheers

You are using EPR so you will have a drop during exhale that you see on the mask pressure graph.
I am not sure how masked pressure gets reported on the graphs in terms of a single number. I prefer the regular pressure graph myself.

The 9 cm you see might be some sort of average between inhale and exhale for all I know.
Or maybe you were at 12 inhale and with EPR at 3 that would make 9 exhale and you saw the exhale (EPAP) pressure noted.

When you are at IPAP (inhale) of 10 cm...EPAP will be 7 cm. That sort of thing.

Sleeping with any sort of apparatus on us is challenging but people learn to do it. You might experiment with various cervical collars to find one that is more comfortable for you. They aren't all the same and some are more comfortable than others and there is also the availability of different sizes of collars.

SleepyPrince wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 5:55 am

Good Morning,

Last night I slept with the cervical collar, though it was very weird to sleep with it. I felt like sleeping like a rock in a strange position, but surprisingly I did not have any neck pain or shoulder pain in the morning.

And for the first time in 3 weeks, my events were less than 3 I think I will have to get used to the collar.

it IS strange, at first. but you get used to it. as pugsy says, there are different sizes and such. i know they come in 3" and 4" so maybe you have the 4" and need to downsize?

oh also, something that rarely gets mentioned about the collar. it breaks down over time letting your jaw drop more and more. on my 4" collar, it lasts about 3 months for me. then i have to replace it. pretty easy if you are ordering on amazon and just have it renew automatically.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 6:56 am

I am not sure how masked pressure gets reported on the graphs in terms of a single number. I prefer the regular pressure graph myself.

It doesn't, it's just the same as the regular pressure graph, it just appears that the space between the ipap and epap is colored in, until you zoom in enough to see the pressure trace changing with each breath.

But yes, for most uses, the pressure graph is easier to read, until you get down to examining breath shapes and pressure support timing on them. (or seeing if a large leak was large enough for the machine to be unable to maintain therapy pressure, since that'll show up on mask pressure, but not pressure)

Thanks for the info I'm looking forward to using this collar and see if I can keep my events as low as possible.

I will keep you guys updated. As always appreciate the help and insights

Hello All,

I was able to keep the AHI <3 most of the time these three months, but this week it was terrible. I get 6-7 almost every day this week.

The only change is I'm having an bad sore throat pain with a prickly feeling and sinus allergies. I got checked with my doctor told & he has prescribed some antibiotic.

I'm a mouth breather since I have a severe deviated septum as well. So basically my throat is always dry. Does throat infection makes the apnea worst? Thanks in advance.

Any illness can make things worse especially upper respiratory illness.
Lots of factors involved from increased in congestion or general discomfort to poor sleep quality causing false positives.

General advice when we get crappy numbers when we are ill....shrug your shoulders and chalk it up to being ill and try to get by the best you can. It will pass.

Thank for the reply Pugsy.

I was back to normal after my sore throat but this week numbers are not very promising.

I feel its time to change the collar and try it out. Also last night I slept from 23:45 to 4:00 am but in the Oscar , I see till events till 4:40 am . I count not understand how? Appreciate the help.

Thanks in advance.

Did you change the clock on your machine with DST change?

Your machine obviously wants to go higher and can't. Flow limitations are growing up to be real OAs and hyponeas.

Are you talking about using a soft cervical collar and needing to replace it? Have you been using one and is it getting tired and no longer offering the support it once offered??
If so...get a new collar and see if that resolves your problem.
If it doesn't we get to have a different discussion about what has changed that is causing such a marked change in pressure needs and what can be done about it if we can no longer lay blame on illness.

SleepyPrince wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:58 am

I feel its time to change the collar and try it out.

i find i can only get about three months out of one before changing out.

i keep forgetting to mention that when i recommend them.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 19, 2021 7:55 am

Did you change the clock on your machine with DST change?

Your machine obviously wants to go higher and can't. Flow limitations are growing up to be real OAs and hyponeas.

Are you talking about using a soft cervical collar and needing to replace it? Have you been using one and is it getting tired and no longer offering the support it once offered??
If so...get a new collar and see if that resolves your problem.
If it doesn't we get to have a different discussion about what has changed that is causing such a marked change in pressure needs and what can be done about it if we can no longer lay blame on illness.

I did not change the timings, but i dont understand is why it shows 5hrs of sleep when i slept only for 4hrs.

Yes I assume its the collar since I can feel its not firm anymore. I have ordered a new collar and will update it after use. Thank you very much for the inputs

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:53 am

SleepyPrince wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:58 am

I feel its time to change the collar and try it out.

i find i can only get about three months out of one before changing out.

i keep forgetting to mention that when i recommend them.

Gotcha !!! I will get the new one tomorrow and hopefully it should work. Fingers crossed. Thank you

You turned the machine on at 23:44 or 11:44 PM
You turned the machine off at 04:54 or 4:54 AM

That's going to total 310 minutes that the machine was on. It can't tell if you are asleep or not as it only records on/off situations.

310 minutes is equal to 5 hours and 10 minutes...which is what is reported on the report as usage.
I don't understand what your question is or where you think it is reporting something weird.
If the times are off that can be explained with the clock settings within the machine itself but actual time the machine was on....5 hours and 10 minutes.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 19, 2021 2:04 pm

You turned the machine on at 23:44 or 11:44 PM
You turned the machine off at 04:54 or 4:54 AM

That's going to total 310 minutes that the machine was on. It can't tell if you are asleep or not as it only records on/off situations.

310 minutes is equal to 5 hours and 10 minutes...which is what is reported on the report as usage.
I don't understand what your question is or where you think it is reporting something weird.
If the times are off that can be explained with the clock settings within the machine itself but actual time the machine was on....5 hours and 10 minutes.

Actually I woke u at 4am itself & switched off the machine. By 4.10 I was looking at my oscar data in my computer and saw the reading were there till 4:54 am and it was very odd. It has never happened before.

You might check out the machine clock and verify that it is correct if the software is showing a different time from when you wake up.

The software only reports what the machine reports.