Yet Another Attempt

I'm glad you're now getting all your Oscar data from the card. In this short snippet we can see that you paused your breathing for 14 seconds after inhaling a little more deeply for several breaths; then after the pause you caught up with more deep breathing.

Am I right in guessing you were awake the whole time? And did you experience any anxiety before you took the mask off?

It'd be great to see a chart that includes some time while you're asleep, as well as a wake-up with that anxious, claustrophobic feeling. Fingers crossed that'll be coming before too long.

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 12:57 pm

I'm glad you're now getting all your Oscar data from the card. In this short snippet we can see that you paused your breathing for 14 seconds after inhaling a little more deeply for several breaths; then after the pause you caught up with more deep breathing.

Am I right in guessing you were awake the whole time? And did you experience any anxiety before you took the mask off?

It'd be great to see a chart that includes some time while you're asleep, as well as a wake-up with that anxious, claustrophobic feeling. Fingers crossed that'll be coming before too long.

Hi there. No I was nodding off to sleep at my desk so I decided to go to bed and put on the cpap. So this was a true effort at sleeping. And this was an episode of that claustrophobic jump awake. Sorry I don't understand, what will be coming before too long? So I stopped breathing. Isn't the cpap supposed to stop things like this?

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:07 pm

Isn't the cpap supposed to stop things like this?

Not when you are awake.

Read what the woman commented. Quit making assumptions and quit relying on your own knowledge (lack of).

Hang Fire wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:53 pm

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:07 pm

Isn't the cpap supposed to stop things like this?

Not when you are awake.

Read what the woman commented. Quit making assumptions and quit relying on your own knowledge (lack of).

What part of "No I wasn't awake" is confusing? I did read what she put. I didn't get it. Hence the question. What's wrong with you?

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:57 pm

What part of "No I wasn't awake" is confusing?

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 12:57 pm

we can see that you paused your breathing for 14 seconds after inhaling a little more deeply for several breaths

A person doesn't suddenly take deeper breaths when they are sleeping. You had an arousal from sleep, and then you had a post-arousal breathing cessation. The cessation is harmless. Arousals are harmful if they are frequent throughout the night.

Humans are poor judges of whether they arouse or not.

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:07 pm

So I stopped breathing. Isn't the cpap supposed to stop things like this?

CPAP is supposed to blow air into your airway is a way that prevents your airway from collapsing when you're asleep. When the CPAP is set up properly, your sleep breathing will be regular and your airway will rarely collapse.

When you stop breathing, for any reason at all, it's called a-pnea [a latin word literally: not-reathing]. And a diagnosis of "obstructive sleep apnea" sleep causes a person airway to collapse when they sleep and Continous Positive [that is "incoming"] Airway Pressure [CPAP] is being used to prevent the collapse.

In the chart you uploaded, the breathing interruption was not the result of an obstruction and the so the machine is reporting is as a CA - a so called "central apnea'" which means "this breathing cessation happened when the airway was open, not when it collapsed". The machine can diistinguish between "obstructive apnes" and "open airway apneas".
On an automatic, like yours, the algorithm instructs the machine to raise pressur only when it encounters indiccation of airway collapse. If there is an obstructive apnea the machine will raise pressure - once you start inhaling. I does not try to "blow through the obstruction" because it can't do that, and because when brain and musculature are intact, your brain's response the interrupted breathing and the consequent drop in your blood oxygen, is to wake you up (an arousal from sleeo) and get your muscles to breath in.

For many people, the process of falling asleep in accompanied by open airway apnea. So is wakeful breathing.
Summary: The short answer to your question is no your machine was functioning just like it was programmed to function.

OK, thank you. Another problem on the horizon then. Would Obstructive lead to Central?

Part 2 - Recommendations:
First step:
At this point, you should try to get used to breathing with the CPAP when you're awake and relaxed - even seated - and ignore all the charts produced during that "training period" since wake breathing is not something the machine identifies.

Do not try to fall asleep. Set yourself a time period for that training, and try not to remove the mask before that period is over. It can be short. If you do feel anxious, do your best to keep the mask on - but don't aim for "as long as I can stand it". If you do feel a need to remove the mask before the period is over, remove it, put it immediately back on a again - and then keep on only for the period you've set yourself.

Your deal with yourself should be: I will remove the mask when I choose to., and if I am forced to remove it by panic and will put it back on again and use it till I choose to remove it" In the beginning this can be as short a period as necessary: you define that period, and you stick to the deal: I am the one who decides to remove the mask, I won't wait for panic to cause the removal. You also don't try to extend the period for longer "until panic appears"
Do this for a week or so, focusing on learning that its your decision to remove the mask, and on the fact that if panic causes the removal, you will put the mask on again. Never (and I really mean never) let a panic response end the session. You're basically telling your panic "sorry buddy, I know you're feeling dreadful, but I'm going to put the mask on again since I'm in control here and I know its important for my health." Extend the sessions' length when you trust yourself to be able to end the seeion without panic. Be reliable and friendly to yourself.

Second step:
Only when you've trained yourself to stay with the mask on, and never stop a session just because panic reared its head, only then try to sleep with it, and, make sure to resume your sleep after panic woke you and made you remove the mask. If you can fall asleep again, fine. If not, tell yourself: OK, I'm putting the mask on again for a short time, and I will then take it off, not out of anger and not out of panic.

You've spent years in severe sleep apnea. Years in which your brain knew you were choking, and woke you up to get you breathing. It's a very primitive, important. live saving part of your brain. It doesn't understand that CPAP therapy that will prevent choking is a better solution - you have to teach it patiently that what was a justified, life saving panic response without CPAP is no longer necessary.

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:03 pm

OK, thank you. Another problem on the horizon then. Would Obstructive lead to Central?

Until you have reports of many open airway apneas happening while you're asleep, you can safely ignore the so-called central apneas.
Did you have central apneas mentioned in your sleep reports?
Are you receiving any kind a treatment for your diagnosed narcolepsy?

ozij wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:10 pm

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:03 pm

OK, thank you. Another problem on the horizon then. Would Obstructive lead to Central?

Until you have reports of many open airway apneas happening while you're asleep, you can safely ignore the so-called central apneas.
Did you have central apneas mentioned in your sleep reports?
Are you receiving any kind a treatment for your diagnosed narcolepsy?

I've never witnessed anything like this before. We've never spoken about this. I'm on 600 mg Modafinil when I can be awake to take it. Because it's unpredictable, my sleep doctor is thinking about alternatives.

ozij wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:06 pm

Part 2 - Recommendations:
First step:
At this point, you should try to get used to breathing with the CPAP when you're awake and relaxed - even seated - and ignore all the charts produced during that "training period" since wake breathing is not something the machine identifies.

...

Ya I did this years ago. Only recently did this come up.

daBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:20 pm

ozij wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 13, 2025 10:06 pm

Part 2 - Recommendations:
First step:
At this point, you should try to get used to breathing with the CPAP when you're awake and relaxed - even seated - and ignore all the charts produced during that "training period" since wake breathing is not something the machine identifies.

...

Ya I did this years ago. Only recently did this come up.

Are you saying "I was using my CPAP consistently every night sleeping peacefully for many hours a night and suddenly I started waking up in panic"?
That's not the impression I got.
So you have to start from the beginning. Once we see what happens when you sleep with the mask, and put it on again after you wake up, we'll be wiser.

I wouldn't go that far. Having a regular night with cpap was rare if ever experienced. But only recently have these attempts stopped due to this feeling of anxiety and panic. I usually take it off and go back to sleep if I can, or I stay up like I am now at 11:35 pm. My sleep schedule has no structure anymore.

What I hoped would come along soon was a chart showing some actual sleep. I'm a little skeptical that you were actually asleep right before the end of the 11-minute snippet. At any rate, right before the end I don't see anything in the graphs that could explain the sudden onset of anxiety/claustrophobia. Sigh. But I'm still hopeful you can post a chart from a period of time when you're clearly asleep. -- Lots of good questions and advice from ozij. I hope you'll consider taking it.

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 14, 2025 12:17 pm

What I hoped would come along soon was a chart showing some actual sleep. I'm a little skeptical that you were actually asleep right before the end of the 11-minute snippet. At any rate, right before the end I don't see anything in the graphs that could explain the sudden onset of anxiety/claustrophobia. Sigh. But I'm still hopeful you can post a chart from a period of time when you're clearly asleep. -- Lots of good questions and advice from ozij. I hope you'll consider taking it.

I will post when I get some sleep. I'm on meds for another unrelated item and it's working. I actually got some good sleep earlier today, but the card wasn't in the machine. Things are all upside down with sleep these days and there is no schedule. But I will post soon. Cheers