Info. on how to interpret sleep study data?

Hello all,

So I'm another "newbie" here. I have been on the APAP machine for about 3 weeks now. The first night was really bad, the second "okay", and now I can fall asleep pretty easily with the mask on (Activa standard, ResMed Autoset Respond). Guess I shouldn't complain since many of the stories I read here are of people having great difficulties getting used to the machines and masks.

I have a couple of questions, I hope one of you friendly souls can answer...

1. I got a copy of my sleep study but I have no idea how to interpret the data. Is there an FAQ/thread somewhere that explains all the magic numbers? I've obviously got apnea since they pretty much everyone who has looked at the study (lab tech, my doctor, his nursing assistant) have said things like "He's got it bad..." But I would like to know exactly what is going on with the data.

2. I've used it for 3 weeks now and I feel "okay". I didn't really feel that tired before starting the treatment either so it's hard for me to determine if this is actually helping me or not. Any thoughts on this? Are there others out there who had neither an ordeal getting used to CPAP but also did not get a huge return from it either? Maybe I expected too much from it since hearing of the success stories here. (Granted, I wasn't passing out asleep in my car either)

Okay, now having said the above I must say that I do not snore anymore at all and that makes my wife very happy. It remains to be seen if this will bring down my weight/blood pressure at all...

Eric

You can click the CPAPopedia links generated from this post for info on sleep study results.

Polysomnogram, AHI, RDI

Welcome, Eric!

I'm about as new to the cpap world as you are, and I've had so many questions answered on this board.

Last night I looked at my sleep study results again (I hadn't looked at it since the day I got it), and understood much more of it.

Stick around and do some reading here, you'll learn LOTS!

Katie