Evaluation of My Oscar Data

Hello everyone,

I spent the entirety of 2023 with new founded health issues and am currently on a cpap machine to deal with very mild osa and moderate rdi issues. I went from being a track star in college to an individual with possible odd long covid effects at the age of 26.

I was prescribed the airsense 11 about two months ago, which is an apap. I find apap ridiculously misprescribed for my high rdi issues. The restriction in flow, whether due to genetics, sinuses, or formation of my body in general, drives the pressure up well past the point that I can maintain a closed mouth or comfortable sleep.

Having said that, I have been playing around with titration levels (locked in at a cpap setting) and erp levels for quite sometime. I was wondering if I could get a little bit of assistance from the plethora of knowledge / experience here for further support?

Long story short, my osa is easily curable. I can sleep supine with a titration pressure of 5 or 6 and cure all events or practically all...... However, 5 leaves me with an unacceptable flow limitation 95th percentile at 0.1 - 0.15. 5 also leaves me feeling groggy and tired the next day. Not a subjective feeling, but quite literally a limitation to my cognitive capabilities. As a data architect, I need the mental portion of my body to be strong.

I am attaching an example of a night set at 5 and a night set at 7 cpap. Please let me know your thoughts. Both nights had erp at 0, as I find the pressure differential to be extremely disconcerting....and inhibitive to my sleep (almost gave up on pap therapy until I discovered how to turn the little bugger off). However, perhaps an erp of 1 would be enough to clean up the rest of my arousals and flow limitations? I find the majority of my issues reside during or shortly after I exit REM sleep. I also find that my respitory rate in REM is abnormal. I would love to see an average of 15, 95th of 20, and 99th slightly above that.

All in all, any assistance would be appreciated. Sometimes the feeling of loneliness amidst these trials is the most difficult barrier to break, so I am thankful to have discovered this forum.

P.S I take lots of vitamins, but the only sleep drug that I am using now is high quality cbd oil. 17mg.


https://imgur.com/a/ztKr8VV
First image is 5, second is 7.

Try fixed cpap at 7 with EPR set to 3 full time and see how you do with your sleep quality and those pesky flow limitations.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 06, 2024 3:23 pm

Try fixed cpap at 7 with EPR set to 3 full time and see how you do with your sleep quality and those pesky flow limitations.

Cool beans. I shall make that change tonight and give it a few days to see the effect. Much obliged!

Ok, here are the results of a 6 with EPR 2 on. Still suggest I go up to 7 and drop the EPR down to 3 at this point? In terms of sleep quality, these past couple of nights with these settings have significantly improved my condition. One night I slept through all of my morning REM without any disturbances. This morning I was startled awake once by a nightmare during REM.

https://imgur.com/a/EE9LMuy

It's very good to hear you're sleeping better. EPR is your main tool for reducing flow limitations, so you might experiment with EPR of 3 and a pressure of 7. But be aware that FLs may not be affecting the soundness of your sleep; they're a problem for some people but not for others. Unless you just hate EPR of 3, give the experiment a few nights before you decide whether or not to return to your current settings.

Just by way of background: it's normal to experience arousals and wake-ups during the night. Problems arise when you stay awake for more than a few minutes with each arousal or have very frequent arousals. It's also normal to have a higher respiration rate during part or all of REM sleep. And it's normal to wake up at least briefly after REM sleep.

Great response! I appreciate all the helpful information and insights. I shall give the EPR 3 a try for a few nights and see if I can become accustomed to the feeling.