Where did all the help GO??

sawinglogz wrote:... As a technique to fall asleep I tried to slow down my breathing (slow inhale, slow exhale), but the ASV kept wanting me to breathe faster. I wish I could have told it, "I'm awake right now, just watch and learn for the next 4-5 breaths." ...

Place the machine where you can reach it. When you are ready to fall asleep and do the slow breathing thing, turn it off and then back on .. then do the slow breathing thing. It only retains the last three minutes or so (from the time it's turned on).

so far i've had great results with using my asv machine with my own settings. The sleep study in hospital titration and my own findings with a PR apap/bipap both gave me base settings of 8 and 12. THe problem i have is that while these settings work great some nights on other nights my centrals go wild with ahi up in 30s. Unfortunately and what I and Pugsy feared prior to the sleep studies was that my nights in the hospital were "good" nights ( great nights actually) and my doctors don't believe in the reliability of the centrals reported by the machines software. So when I switched to asv on my own I used the EPAP of 8 and set the PSmin at 3 ( i thought i'd start at lower than 4 to give the machine more room to play) and the PSmax at 17 ( to let the machine go as high as it needs to address an obstructive event). I have stayed with these settings for about 2 weeks and so far the results have been spectacular - worst night was an ahi of 4.9, best 1.2 but what really is the key is how I sleep through the night, no nocturia and I feel great upon waking. But again, in my case, I still can't be sure that it won't go crazy again tonight. But regardless, i have no plans to tweak the numbers at all,they may not be perfect but they are good enough. I'm not going to try to reach Zero ahi. If i go lower it will be because of my breathing and the machine adjusting to one another at the current settings.

racprops wrote:A Pro Bono Lab would be a god send.

Thanks I will call around.

Rich

Rich,

Didn't you say elsewhere that you are going to be on Medicare in about 3 weeks from now?

If so, shouldn't that solve your financial problem in getting a different sleep physician and sleep lab of your choice, without being limited to those willing to work pro bono?

In the sleep medicine area, it is my impression that a large percentage of the practice deals with Medicare patients, so I don't think that will be an impediment to finding a sleep doctor and sleep lab you like.

Regards, Nate

Are you talking about the clear breaks??

I still wake up a few times, I wake and reach over and push and hold the button until it beeps and stops blowing, then I remove the mask and take care of business and I then put on the mask and feel it cut is and I return to sleep.

Sometimes I mistakenly fall asleep before I replace the mask.

Last night I did it only once and for only a hour..I then got back on the machine.

Can you tell which is which.

Rich

Pugsy wrote:I see several breaks in therapy lines...are you by any chance also spending a lot of time wearing the mask with machine on while awake? Like the time frame starting at 12:30 and lasting till just before 1:15 and again at the end of the night and even that 4:15 cluster or the cluster between roughly 2:30 and 2:45 then the wake up and turning off the machine.

If you are/were awake for those periods of time those may be awake breathing artifacts.

I am of age but as I plan on still working I don't think I will be signing up.

Rich

NateS wrote:

racprops wrote:A Pro Bono Lab would be a god send.

Thanks I will call around.

Rich

Rich,

Didn't you say elsewhere that you are going to be on Medicare in about 3 weeks from now?

If so, shouldn't that solve your financial problem in getting a different sleep physician and sleep lab of your choice, without being limited to those willing to work pro bono?

In the sleep medicine area, it is my impression that a large percentage of the practice deals with Medicare patients, so I don't think that will be an impediment to finding a sleep doctor and sleep lab you like.

Regards, Nate

The blanks where you turned the machine off I can see clearly. I was wondering about the ugly clusters like at the very end of the night around 7 AM...and that little cluster right before 23:45 and the big cluster between the 2 breaks in therapy around 12:30 to 1:15. Do you remember spending much time awake?

Those puzzle me as well...

I do have some trouble getting a sleep first, then later during the night I can fall asleep without knowing...

The middle run I don't know...

I guess the end is my waking up...I do find the machine running very low pressure I even have thought It was off.

Rich

Pugsy wrote:The blanks where you turned the machine off I can see clearly. I was wondering about the ugly clusters like at the very end of the night around 7 AM...and that little cluster right before 23:45 and the big cluster between the 2 breaks in therapy around 12:30 to 1:15. Do you remember spending much time awake?

Just kind of keep one eye out for approximation of awake time on the machine.
If you are spending much time awake with it on your own awake breathing (which sometimes is rather irregular) could maybe account for some of the ugliness you see. Especially now that you see some good solid blocks of time with not much real exciting going on. It's working part of the time...so makes me wonder what changed to make it not work the rest of the time...and with the breaks in therapy line where we know you were awake to turn the machine off and on..makes me wonder about the possibility of some awake events getting flagged. The machine doesn't know if you are awake or not so it just goes along happily doing its job.

Things have been like that most of the past 4/5 days...which is why I have been asking about it.

Take a look at my earlier posts with these reports and you can see the same thing...

Rich

racprops wrote:I am of age but as I plan on still working I don't think I will be signing up.

Rich

You know that you don't have to be retired to exercise your eligibility for Medicare, right?

And with all of your health conditions, heart bypass, severe central apneas, etc. you are going to pass up an opportunity to get Part A coverage without cost and Part B etc. at nominal cost, etc.? And with no exclusions for pre-existing conditions? Something you have already paid for during your working years?

http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibi ... ge=English

Generally, you are eligible for Medicare if you or your spouse worked for at least 10 years in Medicare-covered employment and you are 65 years or older and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. If you aren’t yet 65, you might also qualify for coverage if you have a disability or with End-Stage Renal disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant).
Here are some simple guidelines. You can get Part A at age 65 without having to pay premiums if:
You already get retirement benefits from Social Security or the Railroad Retirement Board.

You are eligible to get Social Security or Railroad benefits but haven't yet filed for them.

You or your spouse had Medicare-covered government employment.

Is that a wise decision, Rich?

Regards, Nate

PS In addition, if you pass up Medicare when you are eligible to receive it, you may not qualify for pro bono care, as a physician may feel he has to reserve his pro bono time contributions for those who have no other resources available to them.

I know your other reports had some of that also but you didn't have hardly any time where things looked somewhat normal. Not counting the obvious breaks in therapy where the machine was off.
Maybe your body is slowly learning it is okay to breathe like the machine wants you.
Just keep an eye on things. Like if you wake up and lay in bed for a little while before turning machine off or if you have a little trouble getting to sleep.

It looks like a mess...

I am still looking into it.

Also if I have it then he can collect from it so again his probono would be given to someone with out MC>

Rich

NateS wrote:

racprops wrote:I am of age but as I plan on still working I don't think I will be signing up.

Rich

You know that you don't have to be retired to exercise your eligibility for Medicare, right?

And with all of your health conditions, heart bypass, severe central apneas, etc. you are going to pass up an opportunity to get Part A coverage without cost and Part B etc. at nominal cost, etc.? And with no exclusions for pre-existing conditions? Something you have already paid for during your working years?

http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibi ... ge=English

Generally, you are eligible for Medicare if you or your spouse worked for at least 10 years in Medicare-covered employment and you are 65 years or older and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. If you aren’t yet 65, you might also qualify for coverage if you have a disability or with End-Stage Renal disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant).
Here are some simple guidelines. You can get Part A at age 65 without having to pay premiums if:
You already get retirement benefits from Social Security or the Railroad Retirement Board.

You are eligible to get Social Security or Railroad benefits but haven't yet filed for them.

You or your spouse had Medicare-covered government employment.

Is that a wise decision, Rich?

Regards, Nate

PS In addition, if you pass up Medicare when you are eligible to receive it, you may not qualify for pro bono care, as a physician may feel he has to reserve his pro bono time contributions for those who have no other resources available to them.

racprops wrote:It looks like a mess...

I am still looking into it.

Also if I have it then he can collect from it so again his probono would be given to someone with out MC>

Rich

It is not "a mess" - it's very simple to apply for Medicare:

http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibi ... ge=English

But there is a penalty in the coverage if you do not apply for Medicare when first eligible. And if that happens, you will pay the penalty every month for the rest of your life. (That is to discourage people for waiting until their next major medical crisis occurs before participating.)

Regards, Nate

If you are 65 or older and working full time and receive insurance coverage through your employer that meets or exceeds Medicare coverage, I believe you can postpone taking Part B without incurring a penalty if your employer fills out a form for you. Otherwise, there is no getting out of the penalty.

I am still waiting for a book about Medicare and its costs and benefits; they send me a card saying they were out of stock.

I am self-employed and thus uninsured.

Rich