Apnea duration question

archangle wrote:Look at the event on the airflow waveform.

Is airflow waveform the same as Flow Rate in SH? Also Cosmo thanks for showing me the tip.

Don't think I need O2, had overnight tests, but was on O2 at night before XPAP

Always tired wrote:

archangle wrote:Look at the event on the airflow waveform.

Is airflow waveform the same as Flow Rate in SH? Also Cosmo thanks for showing me the tip.

Don't think I need O2, had overnight tests, but was on O2 at night before XPAP

Why were you on O2 before cpap? That might be something to discuss with your Dr. One overnight test doesn't always tell the whole story.

255 seconds is a little more than 4 minutes. You may have had partial OSA during that period. I'm just guessing and trying to be helpful atvthe same time.

Dave

Denial Dave wrote:I'm just guessing and trying to be helpful

DoriC wrote:Why were you on O2 before cpap?

Dave,
All responses are welcome, you never know what our collective wisdom may uncover. Don't ever stop thinking of new ways to beat OSA.

DoriC,
I was only on O2 at night because oxy sat levels dropped too low during an overnight test and never really felt any better with the oxygen. During the sleep test the technician discovered that I had OSA, but with the mask on did not need O2. I have also had two overnight pulse oxy tests after starting XPAP and both are negative.

AT, I think people are saying that an oximeter might help you discover whether or not your long duration apneas are causing desats. Not that you need O2. Since these long duration events don't seem to happen every night, wearing a Pulse-Oximeter only one or two nights does not necessarily give you any insight into the nature of the events.

Jay

Jay Aitchsee wrote:AT, I think people are saying that an oximeter might help you discover whether or not your long duration apneas are causing desats. Not that you need O2. Since these long duration events don't seem to happen every night, wearing a Pulse-Oximeter only one or two nights does not necessarily give you any insight into the nature of the events.

Jay

Jay,
I went back and looked at waveform graphs for those events listed and there is no flat line indication. However; on events (same day listed and others) with durations of approximately 8-15 seconds the flatline is very visible and then nothing on others.
So is there a glitch is software, or is something nasty going on? I think I'll report it as a possible bug to the SH SourceForge page after I review events over many months.

Your recommendation of wearing a Pulse-Oximeter for an extended period is good--can you buy the models that track or do you need a doctor?
Confusing
A T

When I've had long Events like yours (255) I have assumed that they refer to periods where I've had my mask/nasal pillow off with the machine still running. I'm dealing (poorly) with interrupted sleep, getting up several times a night, and on those occasions when I neglect to shut the machine off prior to heading to the john, I find that I often have events that last a seemingly abnormal length of time.

Not saying that's what's happening in your case, but for the most part my "real" obstructive/airway/apnea events all fall below 15 seconds.

Good luck.

Always tired wrote:Your recommendation of wearing a Pulse-Oximeter for an extended period is good--can you buy the models that track or do you need a doctor?

No Rx necessary. I think the most popular models among forum members are the CMS 50E and CMS 50F. The F model is a wist model and has the advantage of real time clock while the E is finger tip only and has a stop watch type timer (just a little harder to synch). Both are overnight recording capable and come with software to upload the results to a PC so that one can compare repiratory events with pulse/ox events. See here for some examples of reports:
viewtopic/t85327/Recommendations-for-a- ... meter.html

IIRC, I think you have a mac and that might be an issue with these. You might have to buy a cheap PC laptop for your sleep stuff

Also see here where I've combined the output from several sensors to compare: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68747&p=638020&hilit=+build#p638020

Jay

I've kept my trap shut because I'm no expert on Sleepyhead, but the long duration events need to be looked at using your flow chart. Zoom in on the flow and see what happened during that time. Otherwise, we're all just guessing.

Apneas are usually of 15 - 20 seconds duration, occasionally as much as 45 seconds. More than that is very unusual. Are you sure that's not cumulative time, rather than the time of a single apnea? I suspect it's a scoring problem. 4 minute events would, I think, land you in the hospital or worse.

It sounds like your APAP worked better than you than CPAP at 10. Stick with it.

Slartybartfast wrote:I've kept my trap shut because I'm no expert on Sleepyhead, but the long duration events need to be looked at using your flow chart. Zoom in on the flow and see what happened during that time. Otherwise, we're all just guessing.

Apneas are usually of 15 - 20 seconds duration, occasionally as much as 45 seconds. More than that is very unusual. Are you sure that's not cumulative time, rather than the time of a single apnea? I suspect it's a scoring problem. 4 minute events would, I think, land you in the hospital or worse.

It sounds like your APAP worked better than you than CPAP at 10. Stick with it.

i agree it's time to stop guessing. I did look at the wave forms in, I think, about a one minute interval for the big numbers and saw nothing irregulaer. Definately not cumulative times.
Time to turn this over to the SH bug people and my sleep doc.
Thanks for all of your input