Sleepyhead and forum may have saved my life

[bbridge_GA]

I want to thank you all and especially the guy who wrote Sleepyhead for possibly saving my life or at least my brain cells. The graphs from Sleepyhead showed me how severe my apneas were even with an AHI under 5. The AHI is way overrated as a measure. Flow rate graphing is much more useful. I wonder if people are getting false negative sleep studies because of the reliance on the AHI. Sleepyhead showed me how bad my apneas were even with the CPAP. The information on the cervical collar to lift the chin and open the airway was news to my sleep doctor and to my ent, but quite possibly has given me my life back. Thank you!!

[TheChuckster]

Which cervical collar do you recommend?

Also, which graph were you looking at? Flow rate? How did you know the apneas were severe? What was the duration of the apneas? What does your graph look like now? How do you know things are better? Are you feeling better/more well-rested?

[Lazer1234]

If you are satisfied, Please Donate a buck to which he spent all the hours and still do!

To be able to donate go to this page
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sleepyhead/files/
and look in the top banner above the downloads...over to the right side next to code is a Donate link...just above the little advertisement.

Edited:

[TheChuckster]

If you are satisfied, Please Donate a buck to which he spent all the hours and still do!

https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/websc ... d26650388a

I'd love to donate, but the link you sent appears to be broken. Do you have his PayPal address?

[Pugsy]

To be able to donate go to this page
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sleepyhead/files/
and look in the top banner above the downloads...over to the right side next to code is a Donate link...just above the little advertisement.

[ughwhatname]

To be able to donate go to this page
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sleepyhead/files/
and look in the top banner above the downloads...over to the right side next to code is a Donate link...just above the little advertisement.

Thanks for that link. I just realized I passed my one year anniversary on CPAP and sleepyhead was instrumental in my success. I just made a donation to Mark to celebrate my anniversary!

[bbridge_GA]

Notice the AHI is under 5 though the graph shows that the flow rate is near zero or so low that it appears to have stopped. The AHI on a sleep study might be different, but this is what my machine picks up. The flow rate graph with very low numbers and gaps is without a cervical collar. The nice thick graph is with the plain foam collar. For me at least, the AHI does not tell the whole story. I even have a graph that show half of the night with and half without the collar and it looks like I spliced the graphs below together.

[bbridge_GA]

I finally got the sleep doctor to switch me to an Auto cpap and let me try nasal pillows. It took a while but every night now looks like this top graph instead of once or twice a week having a graph like the one below it. The AHI is similar in both.

[LisaSch]

What kind of cervical collar does one get? Just an average one?

[bbridge_GA]

A plain foam one works and is comfortable. you can cut pieces off of girls tights to make sleeves to keep it clean. I found that when I had the head of the bed elevated, the collar was a necessity to keep my chin up and my airway open. It may come in to play other times too if you sleep on your side and you tuck your chin in towards your chest.

[ButtermilkBuoy]

What kind of cervical collar does one get? Just an average one?

Yes, the very basic, cheap, foam collars are best. I get mine at a local drugstore. Pretty much like this one - http://www.walmart.com/ip/OTC-Professio ... ethod=p13n

[archangle]

AHI is probably the best single number to use. If it's really low, you probalby don't have much of a problem. If it's really big, you almost certainly have big problems.

It's sort of like taking a blood pressure and pulse. It's a good first step, but further investigation is often warranted.

Unfortunately, insurance likes to use it as an excuse to deny coverage.