How do I set my Dreamstation BiPAP to timed mode?

Doesn't look like normal sleep leading up to those centrals to me.

I don't believe you were really "asleep", even though you took a sleep aid.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:58 pm

Are you self treating or do you have a doctor guiding you with the use of these machines?
Sounds like you are grasping at straws and self diagnosing and self treating??

wetwilly wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 11:34 am

The sleep doctor said I just needed to relax, turn off all distractions, and do breathing exercises, which was pretty dismissive. That's why I'm here asking for advice. If not Central Sleep Apnea, any idea what this could be?

Does that mean "Yes, I'm self diagnosing and self treating?"

wetwilly wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:31 pm

They logged 34 Respiratory-Event Related Arousal (RERAs)

That's not the meaning of RERA. RERA is Respiratory Effort Related Arousals.
A central apnea is typified by lack of respiratory effort.

To summarize:
You didn't sleep enough to be diagnosed with Sleep Apnea (be it obstructive or central)

palerider wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 9:26 pm

Doesn't look like normal sleep leading up to those centrals to me.

I don't believe you were really "asleep", even though you took a sleep aid.

To elaborate on that: The machine's identification of "Central (or Clear Airway) Apnea" is only valid when it appears when the machine is analyzing the regular breathing typical of sleep. Nothing in that perious looks regular enough for valid analysis.

You may have disordered breathing that snaps you out of sleep just as you're falling into it. As far as I know (and I may be misremembering) one does not wake up gasping from central apneas. Your sleep doctor seems to want to treat you for insomnia, and anxiety ("just need to relax"). Maybe you're suffering from insomnia because you're very sensitive to the minor obstructions that came out as RERA's in the sleep study? Are you aware of any breathing problems when you're awake?

Your breathing pattern under Ambien was not regular enough for the machine to correctly analyze the disruptions that appeared during that period.

Did anyone suggest Ambien for a sleep study?

ozij wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 11:38 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 9:26 pm

Doesn't look like normal sleep leading up to those centrals to me.

I don't believe you were really "asleep", even though you took a sleep aid.

To elaborate on that: The machine's identification of "Central (or Clear Airway) Apnea" is only valid when it appears when the machine is analyzing the regular breathing typical of sleep. Nothing in that perious looks regular enough for valid analysis.

As an aside, have you ever noticed that the only time that the PR machines start getting 'restless' and start doing their sawtooth pressure probes is when the users breathing is very nice and regular? So if you glance at a PR pressure trace, and it's a nite full of sawtooth pressure twiddling, you'll find the breathing is always really pretty and regular.

OTOH, when a pressure change might actually help, the stupid machines do NOTHING.

But, yeah, that's a pretty good first thing to look at on a PR machine.

I think of them as the bratty children of the PAP world... "everything's good, I'm bored, *poke poke poke*"

ozij wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 11:38 pm

Nothing in that perious looks regular enough for valid analysis.

First off, thank you for your insight and for explaining things so methodically. Do you have a similar chart that shows what regular sleep-breathing would look like? Why the heck is mine so erratic?

ozij wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 11:38 pm

You may have disordered breathing that snaps you out of sleep just as you're falling into it.

You're very good, this is exactly what I'm experiencing! This all started one month ago after I recovered from COVID. I started being woken up by a jolt when falling asleep. I didn't think much of it, but the next day I kept struggling to fall asleep, then I started noticing that my breathing would get pretty shallow as I'm approaching sleep, I doze off very briefly, then I wake up because I "manually" have to take the next breath. I used to be a heavy sleeper, now I'm jolted awake by what feels like moments of no breathing. My doctor prescribed hydroxyzine, then Ambien, to just knock me out and stop focusing on my breathing. But now I'm jolted awake even on Ambien after 2 hours, so I'm not sure it's my anxiety, when it happens while completely unconscious. That's why I was initially suspecting central apnea.

What would you use to treat disordered breathing? Do I simply need to do breathing exercises and get off the PAP machine? Someone said I should hold my breath for long periods of time to get my body used to high C02 levels, instead of being hypersensitive to it... not sure how true that could be.

ozij wrote: ↑

Mon May 01, 2023 11:38 pm

Maybe you're suffering from insomnia because you're very sensitive to the minor obstructions that came out as RERA's in the sleep study? Are you aware of any breathing problems when you're awake?

I'm definitely sensitive to lots of things now. Leg spasms, night sweats, adrenaline rushes... all those things kept me up during the sleep study. I fell asleep almost immediately, but then kept being woken up for 5 hours.
I've only noticed one breathing problem while awake: when reclining back on a chair at a 45-degree angle, my diaphragm area feels a bit sore, and it feels like sometimes I have to push it to breathe. Only when I'm leaning back, though.

wetwilly wrote: ↑

Tue May 02, 2023 12:46 am

This all started one month ago after I recovered from COVID. I started being woken up by a jolt when falling asleep. I didn't think much of it, but the next day I kept struggling to fall asleep, then I started noticing that my breathing would get pretty shallow as I'm approaching sleep, I doze off very briefly, then I wake up because I "manually" have to take the next breath. I used to be a heavy sleeper, now I'm jolted awake by what feels like moments of no breathing. My doctor prescribed hydroxyzine, then Ambien, to just knock me out and stop focusing on my breathing. But now I'm jolted awake even on Ambien after 2 hours, so I'm not sure it's my anxiety, when it happens while completely unconscious. That's why I was initially suspecting central apnea.

I'm a long time CPAP user, and a bout of Covid really messed up my sleep temporarily. More so when I was ill (with fever and coughing), and it did take a while for things to settle down.

What would you use to treat disordered breathing? Do I simply need to do breathing exercises and get off the PAP machine? Someone said I should hold my breath for long periods of time to get my body used to high C02 levels, instead of being hypersensitive to it... not sure how true that could be.

CPAP is meant to take care of sleep disordered breathing that is, breathing that is disordered simply because you're asleep. If you think Covid may have had an impact on your breathing in general, you have to discuss this with a pulmonologist, maybe have a pulmonary function test that will either tell you that all is well with your breathing , or perhaps tell you there's a problem that can be a taken care of. Are you / were you a smoker?

How bad was your Covid? Were you hospitalized? Did you need any help with breathing while you were ill? What about Covid made you focus on your breathing in the first place - just the jolts after you recovered? I mean, are you responding to something that happened during your Covid illness, or are just afraid Covid may have left longer lasting harm?

In the following thread, Pugsy has examples of sleep breathing and wake breathing: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=186231&p=1438273&hi ... l#p1435131

ozij wrote: ↑

Tue May 02, 2023 3:20 am

Are you / were you a smoker?

How bad was your Covid? Were you hospitalized? Did you need any help with breathing while you were ill? What about Covid made you focus on your breathing in the first place - just the jolts after you recovered?

I am not a smoker, I used to have no health issues, 5'8" height at 145lbs. COVID was very mild. I started experiencing tachycardia a week later, then a little insomnia, then came the jolts and feelings of breathing cessation as I doze off into sleep. That's when I took the sleep study, and they told me I have a mild case of upper-respiratory resistance, and they recommended a mouth-guard, or CPAP if I really wanted it. So I got the CPAP, but it didn't work because it wasn't addressing the underlying issue.

wetwilly wrote: ↑

Tue May 02, 2023 1:04 pm

That's when I took the sleep study, and they told me I have a mild case of upper-respiratory resistance, and they recommended a mouth-guard, or CPAP if I really wanted it. So I got the CPAP, but it didn't work because it wasn't addressing the underlying issue.

And what is the "underlying issue" that a CPAP didn't address?