Help reading VPAP III data

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:57 am

Probably the biggest thing I have noticed is that I don't wake up sore. Up until recently I would wake up and not be able to walk for a minute or two, I felt like I had been hit by a car. I used to seriously fear my ability to be able to move effectively in an emergency. I know adrenaline would take over but I just turned 37 on Tuesday and have an expensive mattress, when I wake up I should not feel like I am 90 years old and just fought Mike Tyson .

I have also been awakened sweaty with my heart POUNDING, like I was having a nightmare but didn't remember it, now I can only imagine that I was in fact suffocating. I see that the night before last I was not breathing for 20-40 seconds at a time, many times in an hour, Its really frightening when its laid out in front of you.

I will figure out those exports and work something out. I would take screen caps but there are 3 or 4 pages that are interesting, I guess I would just pick one. Its just really easy to save as, upload, and be done on my way to work.

I really want in on this mask review thing btw.

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:37 am

I am a PBS junky and I have been watching a science show about the French Apnea team. They see how long they can hold their breath underwater. This got me thinking about my shallow breathing. I have mild OCD and occasionally I will get on a kick where I think I can feel where my heart is and that if I concentrate on it too much, I will give myself a heart attack, Im not sane I know. Anyway, DSM has expressed some concern about the amount of air I am taking in. I have found that if I take shallow breaths I can slow my heart down slightly, and I think I may have conditioned myself to taking shallow breaths, do you think this is possible? I got out of bed this morning and headed for the couch cuz it was cold. I was in a down comforter and I started feeling my breath and trying to take in more air when I breath, this of course hypnotized me and I fell asleep, but I was wondering, do you think this is possible? Can I retrain myself to take deeper breaths? I don't fill up my lungs whenI breath so I know I could fit much more air in there.

I put my report up online again. Here I haven't done a screen cap of it. I'll do something about that today. I am holding steady at about 1 - 1.5 AI and 5 AHI so I guess I am going to have to go back up to 18.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:06 pm

Funny you should mention the art of slow breathing - I practised it for years, even today I can get into a dentist's chair & be in 'pixieland' in a couple of minutes. My HK dentist kept asking me if I was ok as I appeared not to be breathing. I actually developed the practice about 30 years ago because I was so against going to the dentist.

I am sure you have probably discovered that in that state you can change your blood pressure and can alter you pulse up or down at will.

For myself - always found it easy to get into this slowing down while on my back. Unfortunately my SpO2 readings show this is not a good practice. Even today my biggest AHI score is of HI (hypopneas) - night before last AHI was 6.4 AI=0.4 & HI 6.0.

But, in general my MV at 1000 /lpm indicates that in normal sleep, am getting adequate ventilation.

DSM

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:51 pm

Well I am trying to breath deeper than usual when I think of it. I do take very shallow breaths otherwise.

I am going to increase my my numbers back up to 17.5 or 18 tonight. I think 17 is just too light. I dont know how long I should stay to see if it works but I lowered it to 17/12 4 days ago..

The leaks is hit or miss.

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:16 am

I raised my settings slightly from 17 to 17.6. It appears that my leak was nonexistent last night, the max was .38 but the median was 0. I have been trying to take bigger breaths to retrain myself to breath normally and that number has risen slightly. This might sound silly but I believe its going to have an effect.

All of my events were between 2 and 3 am. Other than that the night looks calm. I do remember waking up a few times so I am tired this morning but the test will be around 1 pm after sitting at my desk for a few hours.

I will leave it at 17.6 for a while, then I guess I will go back up unless someone thinks that some of this could be caused by too high of a pressure. My profile is in the usual spot here HERE if DSM wants to check it out, the past couple nights have been interesting.

I think I am going to get one of those small oxymeters in the next couple days, I dont think it can be downloaded but I am curious to try one anyway. I have an email in to my uncle who owns a clinic to see if he can hook me up with one of the nice ones.

Minute Ventilation Median 6.8 L/Min
Leak 0.00 L/sec
Resp Rate Median 12.0 bpm
Tidal Volume 550.0 ml
AHI 9.2
AI 1.7
HI 7.5
Time in apnea .6%

Pessure
IPAP 17.6
EPAP 12

I hope everyone had a nice weekend, daylight savings time sucks in the spring. I miss my extra hour.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:29 pm

HMB,

I think your numbers are showing a definite improvement. The MV especially. I'd leave the 17.6 & possibly even go to 17.8 & even 18. IIRC you were titrated to 19 ?.

The good thing here is that you are getting used to the numbers and thus establishing your own baseline by which you can measure improvement or decline.

I think you are doing well in regard to taking control of your therapy.

Cheers

DSM

PS I'll look at your new nights data tonight (Aust time).

D

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:51 am

I have finally reinstalled Photoshop on my machine and will begin taking screen caps of the previous nights sleep results. This is for anyone that is interested but its mainly for me so that I stay on top of it. Unfortunately last night was not the best night to start. I increased my pressure from 17.6 back up to 18 and I didn’t take the necessary precautions to keep from rolling over on my back. Needless to say, I am a little tired today.

From the night before last

From last night

I had to shrink them down to fit them on my blog as well so I hope they are readable.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:55 pm

HMB,

1st chart ...
The MV is looking even better. The AHI stuff shows a balance between hypops & AIs which are acceptably low & suggests the epap setting is about right all things being equal.

It seems to me that as you increase ipap your MV is going up as well. That implies you are finding it easier to take bigger (deeper) breaths and I know you are focusing on doing so.

2nd Chart ...
obviously some disturbance there - the leaks went up & so did the AI. This was where you upped ipap from 17.6 to 18.0. This is just 1 nights increase but the 1st cut at the results suggests increasing ipap creates more disturbance to sleep which has uppped AI. Perhaps try another nigh at this setting & see if it settles. If not, consider going back to 17.6.

Both charts ...
Your breathing rate looks good

(remember though that I am not a respiratory professional & my comments are purely amateur commentary ).

DSM

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:35 pm

I fell asleep on the couch for 20 minutes just now and my throat hurts and I have a headache. Whenever I feel like this therapy might not be working all I have to do is sleep without the machine for short time.

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:14 am

OK, one last time and then I think Ill stop wasting this websites bandwidth. All in all not a horrible night, something was up when I first went to bed, I was tossing and turning a lot when I first went down. I think I have the leak issue taken care of with the pantyhose ninja mask.

Im ordering a $125 oxymeter today, its not one that can download info but I would like to get some idea as to whats going on when I am asleep and when I am awake.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:50 am

Im ordering a $125 oxymeter today, its not one that can download info but I would like to get some idea as to whats going on when I am asleep and when I am awake.

If you can't download info, where do you get it, and how do you track what happened when you're asleep?

O.

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:39 am

For now I just need to have my GF check it periodically. I have spent all the money in this that i am going to spend for a while.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:06 pm

HMB,

As another experiment bump epap up to 12.6 & lets see if that brings down the AI number.

DSM

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:43 pm

Will do it tonight thanks. SO by raising the epap it will increase the pressure that I am exhaling against correct? THis should be interesting.. I dont know what you change that you made from 19/10 to 18/12 that made such a huge difference..

Tonight I will do 17.6 / 12.6

HelpMeBreath · Post by **HelpMeBreath** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:21 am

I feel like I slept better, and yes the ramp time was way too long. I cut it down to 15 minutes, probably could have been even less. I had water in the mask twice this morning, that doesnt usually happen.

Its interesting, the numbers seem to keep adding up to an AHI of 9.2

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