CA longer than 1 minute?

I saw this on my SleepyHead data from last night. Am I reading this right? Did I stop breathing for over a minute? Should I be alarmed or is this sort of thing common? Why didn't my machine wake me up?

I'll bump your thread because I don't use sleepyhead.

Well, to answer your question some questions are in order.

• Is this a "one off thing"?
• Or do you have a high number of untreated central apneas?
• Did your last sleep study indicate you had a lot of central apneas?
• Do you fell rested in the morning?
• Do you awaken with headaches?
• Is your blood pressure under control?

In general, a central apnea of that duration is NOT normal. If it happens frequently every night, then it should definitely be addressed. So, here are some thoughts and how I would approach this, if I were in your shoes.

If this was just one event, then keep an eye on it. If it happens frequently, almost every night, then I would definitely discuss it with your sleep specialist.

If your last sleep study showed central sleep apnea, it's possible your doctor hoped the use of CPAP would address the central events. It does happen. And in general, doctors want to use the simplest method to treat a problem. Don't use surgery if a band-aid will work.

Do you feel poorly in the mornings, and possibly have those horrible morning headaches? That might be a sign that you have too many untreated apneas. Central apneas are just as damaging as obstructive apneas. In fact, prior to treatment of my central sleep apnea my blood pressure was uncontrolled. Once I went on the ASV unit, my blood pressure dropped to an acceptable level.

Hope that helps answer your question.

ohwhatanight wrote:I saw this on my SleepyHead data from last night. Am I reading this right?

Yeah, you're reading it right. I do notice a regular pattern of very shallow breaths, or is that your machine's attempt to suss out the status of your airway? But I'd still count that as apnea.

And yes, that's a freaking long apnea. If this happens regularly, you should definitely talk to your doctor about it. The oximetry for events like this should be interesting.

I also have no idea why the machine didn't wake you. Does your machine have that feature? If so, maybe it wasn't your breathing that cut out, but electronics in your PR1.

My answers in red.

• Is this a "one off thing"? I've only been on CPAP for about 2 weeks. I've had a few CAs but this was the longest.
• Or do you have a high number of untreated central apneas? only 1-2 a night
• Did your last sleep study indicate you had a lot of central apneas? only 1
• Do you fell rested in the morning? No, I don't ever feel rested. I've had sleep problems for over 30 years.
• Do you awaken with headaches? Sometimes - this morning I just felt really sluggish (more than usual)
• Is your blood pressure under control?

I am on BP meds - has still been a bit high though, like 130/95

Thanks for your help with this. Last night was my first night with a Zeo too - it showed I was in light sleep during that time. I have no idea if that means anything.

Otter - The little dots and blips are the machine sending out a pulse of air to see if my airway is clear, those aren't shallow breaths on my part. My respiratory rate went down to 0. I woke up fully about a minute after I started breathing again. I checked the clinical manual for my machine - it doesn't look like it has a feature to wake me up. That's a bit scary!

What do you mean by "wake you up?" Are you expecting some kind of alarm?

I don't think any machines attempt to wake people up, but it's an interesting idea.

Zoom out a bit. Show us before and after, and show us the other graphs, especially leak rate. That might be a large leak.

You need to look at your snoring as well.

archangle wrote:What do you mean by "wake you up?" Are you expecting some kind of alarm?

I don't think any machines attempt to wake people up, but it's an interesting idea.

Zoom out a bit. Show us before and after, and show us the other graphs, especially leak rate. That might be a large leak.

You need to look at your snoring as well.

Yeah, I thought somehow it was supposed to set off an alarm if you stopped breathing for too long. That would probably be a nice feature!

Okay - here is the event zoomed out just a bit.

And here is the whole night. As you can see, I have very few apnea events but lots of snoring. (I think I am snoring with my mouth closed though - is that possible?) I woke up and ripped my mask off apparently shortly after my long CA.

ohwhatanight wrote:Yeah, I thought somehow it was supposed to set off an alarm if you stopped breathing for too long. That would probably be a nice feature!

You can get an oximeter that does that.

I think that's a leak. Probably, your mask lost the seal on your nose, or you've opened your mouth and air is leaking and you're not breathing through the machine.

Keep an eye on your data. Even if it's a real central apnea, one per night like this shouldn't be a big deal.

As the furry guy says, some oximeters have an alert, but mine is too quiet to wake me reliably. Some CPAPs have leak alerts, but they're too quiet for me, too.

why the Flow Rate graph shows twice the time of 05:21 and also, two other times in duplicate?

avi123 wrote:why the Flow Rate graph shows twice the time of 05:21 and also, two other times in duplicate?

Good catch. That's some kind of graph labeling bug. I was able to reproduce it in my copy of sleepyhead by resizing the window and zooming in and out when it's in hh:mm mode instead of hh:mm:ss mode.

When Mark returns, we'll feed him this info.

archangle wrote:... What do you mean by "wake you up?" Are you expecting some kind of alarm? ...

Actually, that is a feature of most machines that treat central apneas.

BiPAP S/T and ASV units all have an alarm to handle long apneas.

Most BiPAP and CPAP units do NOT have this feature.

I have seen a very similar graph when I get up in the night to visit the bathroom. I'm also thinking it was a very bad leak.
In my case the machine called it an OA.

BasementDwellingGeek wrote:I have seen a very similar graph when I get up in the night to visit the bathroom. I'm also thinking it was a very bad leak.
In my case the machine called it an OA.

Thanks for showing me your graph. You have almost the identical setup I do (machine, mask, humidifier) and your "event" looks almost the same too. So I'll quit worrying about this unless I see a lot more of them. I checked my other CAs from other nights and none of them had a leak going on near the same time so I agree, this one was probably just a bad leak. Whew!