2LK68HM

I am new to this. I just received my CPAP Machine 3 days ago. It is a Philips Respironics System One. The machine has been set to 10cm of water pressure based on prior sleep study. The issue is that when using the machine, the 2 symptoms that I have have not gone away or even get relieved a bit. Here are the symptoms I have:

1. I get woken up just after about 3 hours of sleeping due to severe lack of breath (as in low oxygen, high CO2). Many times my heart is beating faster than normal when I wake up. It takes me a couple of hours to stabilize and get ready to fall asleep again.
2. When falling asleep it is very frequent that I stop breathing for a long period of time. This makes the falling asleep part harder than it should be, as I get woken up in the process of falling asleep. Sleeping on my left side seems to be the position that has a lower incidence of these symptom.

In my sleep study, I was diagnosed as having hypopnea due to obstruction. To me, it is very strange that these symptoms dont get any relief when on the CPAP machine
Anybody in this forum has insight into what may be happening?

Welcome to our group.

Unfortunately, really learning about CPAP is a bit like drinking from a fire hose.

Let me suggest that you read the announcements at the top of the main web page. Also, register on the board if you haven't already done so and go into the user control panel at ucp.php and put your equipment into your profile, so people will know what equipment you have and can help you more easily.

When you wake up, look at the display on your machine and make a note of what pressure your machine is giving you at that time.

Also, look at the pressure reading when you first turn your machine on.

Please take a close look at your machine and tell us WHICH PRS1 you have. It will be printed on the machine just above theLED window and will be one of the following:
1. Remstar Plus Cflex
2. Remstar pro Cflex plus
3. Remstar auto Aflex

That will tell us if your machine is data capable so you can check your data to see if the machine is being effective for you or not.

Thanks for the reply. I updated my profile with my machine information.
When I first turn the machine on, it starts to ramp from 7 cm of pressure. It is set to ramp for 30 min to 10cm. When I get woken up after about 3 hours of sleep, the machine must be working at 10cm, however I will pay attention to it tonight. The prescription for the machine specified auto 10-12. There are no leaks that I am aware when I get woken up

Hi.. Have you tried not using the ramp at all? As it is now, your prescribed pressure of 10 is not being reached for half an hour due to the ramp, so you're being deprived of optimum therapy. If your pressure was set at e.g. 15, which is a bit harder to adjust to, then I'd suggest you use a ramp time of maybe 10 mins maximum, but just going from 7 to 10 and over 30 mins is asking for trouble. Most of us I think stop using the ramp altogether very soon after starting Cpap and don't have any problem at all. I'd try it, anyway.

I'm not sure I understand what you are describing. Are you waking up out of breath because the machine is not delivering air? Or is it because you are not breathing?

If it's the latter, then you may well be having an obstructive event. It is even possible that the machine may be causing it. But you won't be able to tell what is going on without looking at the data that your machine is capable of recording.

Did your machine come with a data card and do you have it plugged into the back?

Thanks!

Julie: Yes, I did try to not use the ramp at all and was having problems falling asleep. So I kept the ramp but adjusted the start point from 4 to 7, 4 being what the DME provider had initially. I will continue to experiment. Tonight I will try again with no ramp at the beginning, If not, I will set the ramp start at 8 this time. At this point I am concerned more about symptom #1, waking up after just 3 hr, well after the machine has finished ramping

TooGroggy: When I wake up after 3hr the machine is still delivering air. I think I am waking up because I may not be breathing well (apnea event). The machine came with a data card and it is recording. I have seen that the files get updated. However, I do not have the software yet. I will talk to the DME provider on monday to see if they can facilitate creating a report. If not, I will buy the software from cpap.com

By the way, 3 days is a very short time to get used to sleeping with CPAP.

If your machine is set to Auto 10-12, it may very well show 12 cm when you wake up from a sleeping problem. It may also show you an AHI number on the display if you push the right buttons, but I'm not that familiar with the System One.

Scroll to info on your machine and you will at least be able to see your ahi. You need software to see more--buy Encore viewer or use Oncor free online.

Another thing to consider is that 3 hrs. may be at the point where you are at the end of, perhaps, your second sleep cycle for the night. You are usually in REM sleep at that point and dreaming. It is in this stage that you may be having an event which is awakening you. The data will show this....so it is imperative for you to get the software and monitor your therapy in order to be proactive in its adjustments.

Give it some more time and get settled into a routine..... Best of luck!

I think I am a bit closer to catching this "ghost" than what I was yesterday, I so hope at least . Just woke up, but after experimenting with the machine settings, I did much better on the 2 symptoms described at the beginning of the thread and wanted to share. I tried ramp from 8 to 10 (ramp from 4 was DME's initial setting) and adjusted A-flex from 3 to 1 (3 was DME's initial setting). After reading the manual of the machine I have, A-flex is a comfort setting that seems to lower the pressure on the exhale. 1 provides "less" comfort than 3 according to the manual. This might mean that for my case, hypopnea, I need more constant pressure between inhale and exhale. Or it may have to do with the algorithm the machine executes and how it varies the pressure from 10-12.
With these new settings I did not have any problems falling asleep. And when I woke up, still after 3 hours, I did not have the terrible lack of breath I experimented on the prior nights. I just woke up a bit tired of breathing. Will try to resume sleeping w/ CPAP in a bit.
I will get the software and analyze tonight vs. prior nights and report out. Thanks again for the replies and the advice!

On some machines they can be set for a "split" night, meaning you are only getting optimal therapy for half the night. Not sure exactly why they would have that feature. If that feature is on your system and it is set up that way, it means for half the night you are not getting the treatment you need. Look at the providers manual and check your settings to see if yours could have mistakenly been set up that way (if that is an option for your machine).

Also, have you checked with your doctor? Have you tried sleeping on your side to see if that makes a difference? How were your oxygen levels during your sleep study? You might try using the Onkor software that is on line to check your numbers as well.

I suggest you change the title of this thread so that some of the other old timers (and not so old timers) can chime in, they may have suggestions as well.

Woke up after the 2nd part of my night. Did not have big issues either, same as in the 1st part. The only thing is I seem to have woken up and took off my mask and then fell asleep again on my back and then woke up again with racing heart and lack of breath because I was not using the machine. Need to watch myself to prevent this from happening. But I think I had more than 6 good hours of CPAP last night. Today I will use the software to interpret results and post them.
I don't think my machine allows for a split night, according to the settings described in the manual. The fact that my night had 2 parts is due to my apnea problem. It has been like that for a while. I hope that by getting used more to the machine, and receiving the benefits, I will be able to sleep continuously for 7-8 hours.
Looks like I can't change the subject of this thread since the first time I posted I was not a registered user.
I will create another thread with the results and carry only relevant information from this thread.

You might try the "sew tennis balls to the back of your shirt" solution to keep you from back sleeping. Or try grabbing a body pillow between your legs and hugging it with your arms to stay on your side.

apneo wrote:I don't think my machine allows for a split night, according to the settings described in the manual.

Better to check the machine itself. Get into the Clinician mode and scroll through the set up menus.