Kenny's CPAP Thread

[Pineapple]

It's good practice to let any changes sit for at least a week before you make another change whether it is pressure, EPR, humidity, etc. I've noticed the first couple of days after a change, my numbers seem terrible and jump all over the place. after that they level out and give me a true picture of how I'm reacting to the change. The fact you felt like you slept better is a positive. Your AI may have been up for some other reason. See how it goes over the next couple of days.

Your doing well.

[tattooyu]

A few decimal points or even a whole cm or two are meaningless differences in the data, imho. There are going to be variations from night to night no matter what. What we think may have made a difference in the data might have absolutely nothing to do with it.

What matters is how well we sleep and how good we feel. Even that is going to vary occasionally, without being attributable to the something about the CPAP treatment at all.

The data can be helpful in making overall treatment decisions, but not so much so in trying to figure out why "this night"'s data looks slightly different from "that night's" data, especially when it's minor differences in the reports. A major difference to me would be three or more whole cms in the apnea index...seen during at least 4 or 5 nights of data gathering at one setting.

It's like when the stock market takes a huge dip, people panic, even though the overall trend is still upward. Got it!

It's good practice to let any changes sit for at least a week before you make another change whether it is pressure, EPR, humidity, etc. I've noticed the first couple of days after a change, my numbers seem terrible and jump all over the place. after that they level out and give me a true picture of how I'm reacting to the change. The fact you felt like you slept better is a positive. Your AI may have been up for some other reason. See how it goes over the next couple of days.

Your doing well.

That's a good point, which is why I made the change back to my original settings. I'm going to use those settings for at least one whole week before doing anything else. One thing I had to change was my starting ramp pressure. It was way too low at 6.0. I'm now starting off at 9.0cm, which feels a LOT better. I may even turn the ramp off next week.

[DoriC]

Kenny, you are an inspiration! Aah, Youth! It took my husband almost 6mos to really adjust. Keep up the good work, it's interesting to follow your progress. Dori

[tattooyu]

So, last night was not so good, but it's only 1 out of many future nights. I don't feel all that good today. My resting pulse is up a little, chest heaviness, reflux. I'd say like 50% intensity of pre-treatment symptoms. I'm also having a few PVCs (benign extra heartbeats; feels like a flip-flop), which I hadn't had any of since starting my treatment.

My wife thought she heard some leaks in the middle of the night, but she's not sure if I opened my mouth or if it was from the mask. When I woke up in the night, my mouth was BONE dry, so I'm betting on mouth leaks. No biggie. I'll just try again tonight!

Results for 2/19/2008:
Usage: 4 hr, 36 min out of ~7 hrs of sleep (I actually pulled the mask off for a few hours. )
Leakage: 0.32 L/s
AHI: 18.1 (Adjusted = 10.2)
AI: 2.3
HI: 15.8 (ResMed/2 = 7.9)


I think I was tossing and turning, and swallowing a lot, which I think upped the HI, but I think the AI is still pretty good. Plus, it was only ONE NIGHT, right rested gal?

[rested gal]

When I woke up in the night, my mouth was BONE dry, so I'm betting on mouth leaks.

Probably.

I think I was tossing and turning, and swallowing a lot, which I think upped the HI, but I think the AI is still pretty good. Plus, it was only ONE NIGHT, right rested gal?

Right!

I like what Pineapple said...

It's good practice to let any changes sit for at least a week before you make another change whether it is pressure, EPR, humidity, etc. I've noticed the first couple of days after a change, my numbers seem terrible and jump all over the place. after that they level out and give me a true picture of how I'm reacting to the change. The fact you felt like you slept better is a positive. Your AI may have been up for some other reason. See how it goes over the next couple of days.

Your doing well.

Yep.

You are on regular meds for your acid reflux, I hope, Kenny.

[tattooyu]

You are on regular meds for your acid reflux, I hope, Kenny.

I've tried every reflux medication known to man, and I don't tolerate any of them. They make me incredibly sick. So...no. However, since starting treatment my reflux has nearly literally vanished. I only have a little bit today, but boy do I feel like crap. I'm all edgy again from not having a good night!

Just to add: I had been keeping my reflux under fairly good control using supplements and diet.

[roster]

You are on regular meds for your acid reflux, I hope, Kenny.

I've tried every reflux medication known to man, and I don't tolerate any of them. They make me incredibly sick. So...no. However, since starting treatment my reflux has nearly literally vanished. I only have a little bit today, but boy do I feel like crap. I'm all edgy again from not having a good night!

Just to add: I had been keeping my reflux under fairly good control using supplements and diet.

Keeping the head of the bed elevated four to five inches is a great help to many.

[tattooyu]

Keeping the head of the bed elevated four to five inches is a great help to many.

Quite a while ago I purchased the MedSlant pillow which really helps a lot.

By the way, I was feeling so crappy I came home early from work. I had a panic attack on the way home and felt very heavy in the chest. I really think that poor night of sleep screwed me up for today!

[roster]

..........
Quite a while ago I purchased the MedSlant pillow which really helps a lot.
.........

You purchased the correct one. The MedSlant is long enough that you lie on it so that the bend in your body is at the waist.

Other slant pillows are shorter and your body bend is in the stomach area which can actually worsen acid reflux.

[tattooyu]

I really wish it were about 3-4" wider. My arms always hang off the edges. Regardless, it's a comfortable pillow and really helps reflux. I combine that with my memory foam pillow, and it works really well for me.

[tattooyu]

By the way, I was feeling so crappy I came home early from work. I had a panic attack on the way home and felt very heavy in the chest. I really think that poor night of sleep screwed me up for today!

Okay, so I was home early today, and I watched some of the videos on RedMed's site about assembling, disassembling, cleaning and fitting my mask. During the course of that half hour, I discovered something very interesting: I REASSEMBLED MY MASK WITH THE NOSE PILLOWS BACKWARDS! I'm pretty sure that explains my horrible sleep and symptoms today. Who knows how low my oxygen dropped or how much CO2 I was re-breathing?

As a test, I fitted and reassembled my mask--the right way--and decided to take a nap. Heaven. Even though I didn't fall deeply asleep--it was a short cat nap--everything fit into place and felt wonderful!


QUESTION/COMMENT: since starting my CPAP therapy on 2/15/2009, I have noticed that when I'm about to nod off, my legs twitch. I don't have (and never had) RLS, and this is new. They don't jerk violently, but I thought I'd ask. Anybody else experience that?

[rested gal]

QUESTION/COMMENT: since starting my CPAP therapy on 2/15/2009, I have noticed that when I'm about to nod off, my legs twitch. I don't have (and never had) RLS, and this is new. They don't jerk violently, but I thought I'd ask. Anybody else experience that?[/b][/color]

Since I don't think you had PLMD (Periodic Limb Movement Disorder) show up in your sleep study, it sounds like those are just normal hypnic or myoclonic jerks when drifting off to sleep:

http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/ ... nnyon.html

[tattooyu]

Since I don't think you had PLMD (Periodic Limb Movement Disorder) show up in your sleep study, it sounds like those are just normal hypnic or myoclonic jerks when drifting off to sleep:

http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/ ... nnyon.html

That's what I figured, just wanted to make sure. That Discovery article is quite amusing!

[tattooyu]

I've lost six pounds since starting xPAP therapy with no change to my diet (already really healthy) or exercise (could use more)!

What's really nagging me is I'm waking up 1-2 times per night with a bone dry throat. So dry, I can't swallow. I'm probably mouth breathing, and I'm trying to break myself of the habit if possible before buying a chinstrap or FF mask. I have my humidifier up at 3. I can't crank it up any more until my wife sews my hose covers.

Anyway, the weight loss is a bonus!

[MoneyGal]

Kenny (or anyone else who can answer) - I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have the same CPAP machine and now I have (thanks to another forum member) a copy of the clinician's manual.

But - whoa! it is 70 pages long, and I am easily intimidated by this kind of information (I can read stock charts all day long...but this?!).

I see in this thread that Kenny writes "I went into the clinician's manual [and got some statistics]" - can someone tell me how to do exactly this? Or even what page on the manual it says how to do this? (and then I will sit with the machine and my husband while he figures it out...)

Thanks to anyone who can help.