Why?

I've been on OSA therapy for 15 days as of this morning. Something happened for the first time in last night's sleep. It puzzles me as to why this happened; maybe someone could explain it too me.

Last night I went to bed at around 10:30. I hooked up my machine and mask to my face, turned it on and the lights off, and got right to sleep in very short order with the PR System One model 760 running as normal. But 3 hours later at 1:30 a.m., I woke up sensing something was wrong with me and my glucose level (I am a type 2 diabetic).

So I got up and unhooked my nasal mask from my face, and turned my Respironics machine off while I went downstairs to check my blood sugar level. It was quite low with a reading of just 55 on my glucose meter. So I did what I have always done in the past with low sugar events in the night; I poured myself an 8 oz glass of orange juice and went to the basement office of mine and read for a while on the computer while I drank the OJ to gave some time for it to take effect on my glucose level. I went back to bed an hour later at 2:30 a.m., hooked myself back up to my BiPAP unit and turned it on. I was awake for a while, but eventually I fell asleep with the sound of my machine lulling me to sleep. I got up at 8:00 a.m. this morning and read the status of my sleep on the LCD screen of my machine.

Here is my "why" question. My AHI showed a typical reading at 4.8, but the hours of therapy last night read as being just a total of a little more than 3 hours. I did have 8-1/2 hours in total by my count, albeit the session of sleep was broken into two segments with the machine off for an hour in-between the 2 segments. Why did the BiPAP unit only show 3 hours for my total time on the machine last night?

Is it normal for your glucose to drop sharply in the night? I've been wondering how much your base metabolic rate changes once the cpap helps you sleep. Would seem to me that more restful sleep=higher metabolic rate=lower blood sugar, is this correct? I've seen a number of people saying they've lost weight once cpap therapy begins.

Is it possible that when you check your total hours of use last night that you checked it before GMT Noon?
The LCD screen data doesn't get a final update until Noon GMT time.

8 am central time should be 2pm GMT.

Pachyderm's Nose wrote:8 am central time should be 2pm GMT.

That's what I come up with sort of....does GMT do Daylight savings time though? That's where I get confused.

To OP:
How much sleep did you get during the last session? There was a discussion a while back that if too much time (I forget how much) passes between turning off the machine and back on that the first session gets sort of closed and then the machine only reports the last session on the LCD screen.

I would check the LCD screen again now.
I would also use the software to see what it calculates as hours of use for last night. If its right and the LCD screen is incorrect for last night...then it's the session thing that got off because the time from turning off to turning back on.
Nothing you can do about it and if the software shows correct usage then that's what we go on.

Pugsy wrote:That's what I come up with sort of....does GMT do Daylight savings time though? That's where I get confused.

GMT is unaffected by DST, for e.g. CET is GMT+1 or GMT+2 depending on if DST is "active" or not (or properly it is GMT+1+[DST]).
Number of countries decided to remove DST as it really makes no sense in 21st century but it makes even more mess now then it was before as some countries killed the DST and most did not so .. crazy

ironhands wrote:Is it normal for your glucose to drop sharply in the night? I've been wondering how much your base metabolic rate changes once the cpap helps you sleep. Would seem to me that more restful sleep=higher metabolic rate=lower blood sugar, is this correct? I've seen a number of people saying they've lost weight once cpap therapy begins.

My glucose reading was a direct result of me injecting too much insulin before I went to bed last night. My meter had me reading at 227 before bed, so I gave myself my normal basil injection of Lantus (long acting insulin) but I also gave myself a small bolus injection of Humalog (quick acting insulin) to get that high 227 reading down to an acceptable number fast. A mistake I will not make again. I'm not a newbie with insulin. Been injecting for 15 years now, and I should have known better than to give myself a bolus and then no food.

But that is not the thrust of my question.....it has to do with my BiPAP hours measured on my machine this morning.

Lambeau wrote:But that is not the thrust of my question.....it has to do with my BiPAP hours measured on my machine this morning.

I know, I was just curious about the effects of a cpap with diabetes, I have very low blood sugar and was wondering how it would be affected.

ironhands wrote: I know, I was just curious about the effects of a cpap with diabetes, I have very low blood sugar and was wondering how it would be affected.

I have noticed that I need less insulin now, and I believe that is primarily due to cutting back on carbohydrates, and also with better sleep I have more energy to get out and exercise my dog more often for longer stretches of time versus naps on the sofa in the daytime.

Lambeau wrote:

ironhands wrote: I know, I was just curious about the effects of a cpap with diabetes, I have very low blood sugar and was wondering how it would be affected.

I have noticed that I need less insulin now, and I believe that is primarily due to cutting back on carbohydrates, and also with better sleep I have more energy to get out and exercise my dog more often for longer stretches of time versus naps on the sofa in the daytime.

Many people have noticed a shift in what they require for medications after cpap therapy kicks in and they start getting good sleep. Bad sleep causes all sorts of hormonal shifts, apnea events trigger stress reactions which changes the chemical balances. Medications no longer have to fight these issues and are absorbed faster and better. Keep aware of the levels of your meds and how you feel for the first 6 months of cpap therapy.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Lambeau wrote:

ironhands wrote: I know, I was just curious about the effects of a cpap with diabetes, I have very low blood sugar and was wondering how it would be affected.

I have noticed that I need less insulin now, and I believe that is primarily due to cutting back on carbohydrates, and also with better sleep I have more energy to get out and exercise my dog more often for longer stretches of time versus naps on the sofa in the daytime.

Many people have noticed a shift in what they require for medications after cpap therapy kicks in and they start getting good sleep. Bad sleep causes all sorts of hormonal shifts, apnea events trigger stress reactions which changes the chemical balances. Medications no longer have to fight these issues and are absorbed faster and better. Keep aware of the levels of your meds and how you feel for the first 6 months of cpap therapy.

I'm not on anything ATM, was on a heavy anti-depressant dosage for a few years, hopefully it'll help with my mood and energy levels.

I don't know if this is what happened with you, or whether the newer machines still do this, but in the past, if you were up for an hour or more, the machine started a new session when you went back to bed.

Hawthorne wrote:I don't know if this is what happened with you, or whether the newer machines still do this, but in the past, if you were up for an hour or more, the machine started a new session when you went back to bed.

That's kind of what I've been thinking. Perhaps an hour or more break after midnight and then turning it back on, then perhaps the additional time logged is for the next day's reporting period.

For instance, if I took a nap at 1:00 o'clock this afternoon for an hour and hooked myself up to the BiPAP, it should record that hour somewhere. I'm thinking it would show up the next morning, and added to the regular night session. I'll see if that is what took place when I check my therapy hours for 1 day in the a.m. of July 24th. The machine perhaps has an accommodation programed to not do that in the middle of the night for a short 2 or 3 minute excursion to the bathroom to pee.

When looking on the machine's LCD screen for anything...remember everything is tied to GMT time and Noon GMT time is when a new new day starts and the machine won't update totally until Noon the next day GMT time.

I can't find the thread where the session things was explained but I will keep looking...basically if the break in therapy during the night is prolonged enough then a totally new session gets started and the hours of use aren't combined. I don't remember how long is prolonged enough though.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=89999&p=827558&hili ... on#p827558

Check out akcpapguy's comments in the above thread.