confused over settings

The doctor is probably just trying to get you to more comfortable with the machine and mask. You need to use it everytime you sleep for as long as you sleep. Once you get used to the machine she may increase the pressure or find other ways to optimize your treatment.
You obviously are having trouble understanding what we are telling you, you may also be misunderstanding what the doctor says and the scientific studies you are reading. This why I said you should stop researching on your own for now. You need to stop overthinking this and just do it for now. Stick to the KISS system for the time being. If this inability to comprehend is due to sleep apnea, it will start to improve with treatment. If it isn't due to sleep apnea...

Brenda

sickwithapnea17 wrote:she told me that she had this theory that I had OSA but my machine readouts show only central apnea and mostly hypopneas when I do sleep on the machine

Can you show us a detailed report rom a typical night? Because I'm confused: Are you mainly having the machine score CAs? Or is it mainly scoring Hypops? Or are the number of CAs and Hypops roughly equal?

][quotethe graph is broken up though the x axis goes up to 8- usually there is only a small fragmented line for 2 hours a night (it says 12pm though at the top)
ok I will try again[/quote]What graph are you talking about? Because without known which graph you are referring to, this information is meaningless to the rest of us. Again, can you post an image of the graph in question?

And in case you don't know how to post an image of your graphs, here are some excellent instructions from pugsy:

Pugsy wrote:I am going to post my how to post screen images again here just in case another new person might wander by and wonder how. There is no way to attach files here so the posting of images is via photo hosting site is all we can do.

I never save my files as pdf but for those that do

Open the PDF file to view it at 100%, then take a snapshot of the pdf file (if you have Vista, use the snipping tool). Crop it if you need to get it trimmed down.
Save that snapshot as a jpg file.
Then go to the photo hosting site, upload, get the IMG address and post it here.
Use the preview button to see if you see the image, if not, try again.

Normally I will just take a screen shot of the report and put it in a folder full of such screen shots. I have Vista and the Snipping Tool in Vista makes it so easy to take the snapshot and crop at the same time that I find it effortless.
Don't have Windows 7 so don't know if they changed that. Windows XP snapshots have more steps with print screen to get a cropped image.

Photobucket, Flicker, or PIcassa should all work for the photo hosting site by the way.

OK,

First I think you are going waaaaay off track on this.

it's strange I read my card today and while I didn't sleep all night on the machine I had only central apneas and hypopneas. think it's 8 centrals and 1.5 hypopneas.
0 osa's. I still wake up with the swollen throat, mucous. maybe there's a chance the machine is misreading my osa's as centrals?

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I do not know of any machine that can determine the diffrence between a Central or a Obstructive Apnea. In the sleep lap they look for a corralation between a Apnea and no breathing efforts on the belly bands.

Also, I hate to be negative but you need to listen to some of the harsher members of this board. You are being stupid with your treatment I think. All you have done is complained about the Bipap at 18/14.. It sounds like when you complained about it to your Dr, they put you on a Auto with a range from 5-15.. And in the course of two nights did you ever run at a auto of 5-15 with settings setup by the DME or your Dr by chance? Not set by you. Or how lone until you changed your machine settings back to 18/14?

Right now the Dr. Probbly does not care about what your O2 levels are looking like because they are more concerned with getting you to be able to use the machine all night long and sleep. You say you had 3 sleep studies, How many sleep stuides over how long does your insurance cover? Mine caps at a certian amount, and my 3rd sleep study ended up costing me $2000. Perhaps your sleep Dr thinks you two can get the settings setup correctly without the added expense of another sleep study to your bill. Maybe they do not think that insurance will cover another one yet and don't want you stuck with that charge,

And finnly, as people here that set and change their own settings will attest, They dialed in their settings through small adjustments and then using those settings for a period of time to see how they felt. You go from 18/14 on a bilevel to 14/10 on a bilevel to 5-15 on a auto. and make mention of 11-9 ?? You are all over the board, it's no wonder you are having problems.. You are causing yourself to fail.. I'm sorry but it's just a fact. You are one of those cases of why people argue to prevent patients from accessing the settings on their machines. Because for some people it will do more harm than good as they attempt to self adjust. Right now you do not have the mental facilities to be screwing with your own settings. Maybe later. But not right now.

If you want this to work you need to have the DME or your DR set the initial settings of the machine according to what the Dr has perscribed. Then you need to use the machine every night for a week, (With out messing with the settings) then meet with your Dr and tell them how the week went. Then your Dr can make adjustments to the machine if needed again and you go for another week. Do this and you should start to see improvement. If you are worried about O2 levels, then go out and buy a pulse ox meter and wear it while you sleep.

I know I sound harsh, but this is getting a little on the silly side. So many people have given you good advice which you ingore. If you continue to ingore it you are not going to see any improvement.

Jordy wrote: Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I do not know of any machine that can determine the diffrence between a Central or a Obstructive Apnea. In the sleep lap they look for a corralation between a Apnea and no breathing efforts on the belly bands.

The Philips Respironics System 1 machines and the Resmed S9 machines report two types of apneas, Obstructive Apneas, and Clear Airway apneas. The latter are presumably central which the machines attempt to identify despite the lack of effort bands. You can argue about the validity of the idenfication, but the fact is the machine do report the, and use "CA" to describe those events.

The Philips Respironics System 1 machines and the Resmed S9 machines report two types of apneas, Obstructive Apneas, and Clear Airway apneas. The latter are presumably central which the machines attempt to identify despite the lack of effort bands. You can argue about the validity of the idenfication, but the fact is the machine do report the, and use "CA" to describe those events.

OK Thanks, I stand corrected then. My S8 just reports AI and AHI numbers, I had not thought the machines capable of identifying between the two. Thank you for the clarification.

You're welcome, Jordy. The S8 seried indeed did not distiguish the type of apneas.

This video will show you how to access the clinical menu, then look for Min max settings
http://www.cpaplibrary.com/machine-education

sickwithapnea17 wrote: Why are you telling me to not read STUDIES? do you not want me to get better?

Reading studies on brain damage will get you better how?? You need psyhciartic counseling or lay off the crack in the morning.

And by the way, I hope you never get better Your posts are too entertaining

Padron192664 wrote:

sickwithapnea17 wrote: Why are you telling me to not read STUDIES? do you not want me to get better?

You need psyhciartic counseling or lay off the crack in the morning. And by the way, I hope you never get better Your posts are too entertaining

And this will help the person how?? The person is obviously having a really hard time for whatever reason. Think what you want, but no reason to make an already difficult situation even worse.

Guest wrote: And this will help the person how?? The person is obviously having a really hard time for whatever reason. Think what you want, but no reason to make an already difficult situation even worse.

Please register, log in properly, and then edit your equipment in your profile via the User Control Panel and choose your gear from the drop down menus. Post them in text, not pictures. This needs to be done before I listen to what you have to say.

ems wrote: I'm beginning to think that this is all fun and games for you, and you are enjoying every moment of it. Unless you have something to say that makes any sense, I really am done this time

Padron - I'm not 100% sure he cares whether you listen or not...

Julie wrote:Padron - I'm not 100% sure he cares whether you listen or not...

Then what was the point of the post, about as pointless as mine.

ok when I sleep for about 1-2 hours then the AHI is 10 about but then over a 24 hour period it seems that the average is much lower maybe because it is averaging over 24 hours? I'll post the graph

Padron192664 wrote:

Guest wrote: And this will help the person how?? The person is obviously having a really hard time for whatever reason. Think what you want, but no reason to make an already difficult situation even worse.

Please register, log in properly, and then edit your equipment in your profile via the User Control Panel and choose your gear from the drop down menus. Post them in text, not pictures. This needs to be done before I listen to what you have to say.

ems wrote: I'm beginning to think that this is all fun and games for you, and you are enjoying every moment of it. Unless you have something to say that makes any sense, I really am done this time

I was trying to get the poster to see that he/she wasn't making much sense... different than what you said and the way you said it.

sickwithapnea17 wrote:I'll post the graph

Good idea... I'm sure you'll get some helpful suggestions.