User Flags

Last night I registered a "user flag" identified in the event graph as a green line. In looking at it the flow rate graph, it appears to be an apnea with flat line breathing for about 10 seconds. I have seen posts here talking about setting custom flags but I have not done this. Where in Sleepyhead are these flags set...I looked in preferences but no luck.

It's in Preferences...CPAP graph...on the right side....by default it is off.
Custom event flags let's you tell Sleepyhead to flag something that the machine wouldn't flag because it didn't meet criteria.

Wow, learnt something again today. !! Amazing how much there is to learn and how impressive you guys are to provide info.

Thanks Pugsy
So, my user flag was set at 20% and 10 seconds...I didn't set it but it was there. It says user flags are not included in AHI. Since mine was set, does that mean all my 10 second apneas were not recorded in AHI and therefore distorted my stats?

No, having the user flags set to pick up stuff that would normally get ignored doesn't alter the fact that you had 10 sec (or longer) events and your AHI is still your AHI.

Using lower % reduction as a filter doesn't negate the AHI you are seeing. If anything it would flag more events and not less because the reduction needed to get a flag was only 20% instead of the normal 50% for hyponeas or 90% for OAs.

I don't like using the custom settings for newbies who don't understand what they are seeing and are fixating on numbers anyway.

Hi,

In sleepyhead v09.08-01 I've defined 2 user flags. Sleepyhead indicates user flag set as 20% works best finding apneus.
Since apneus are normally 10+ seconds I set UF1 as 20% and 5 (till 10) sec, UF2 is set as 20% and 2.5 (till 5) sec. Below is the graph (my first here) which shows these UF's and flow rate. This night UF1# = 10 and UF2# = 31, AHI was 0.3
Are these flatliners less than 10 seconds normal? Anything wrong with my breathing or is this normal?

http://i.imgur.com/ujbf8LR.png

PS.
The graph is for UF1=5s and UF2=2.5s but if UF2 is set 20% and 1.5 second 160# found, If set for 1.0 second 996# are found

Anyone? Perhaps it's nonsense to check for these small blockages but in combination with FL's which are always there I like to find out why my AHI is on average 0.7 and I'm still feeling tired.

johantv wrote:Anyone? Perhaps it's nonsense to check for these small blockages but in combination with FL's which are always there I like to find out why my AHI is on average 0.7 and I'm still feeling tired.

Maybe the answer to your fatigue isn't available in the "numbers" . Using 20% flow reduction criteria...I doubt if anyone would have a totally clean report even those without OSA. Might be useful if you have UARS but the therapy is still the same only you have to go by how you feel and not the numbers.

Otherwise you get the same questions everyone gets when they don't feel as good as the numbers say they should expect to feel.
How long have you been on cpap therapy?
How many hours of sleep are you getting?
Are those hours of sleep fragmented with a lot of wake ups and if so..any idea why?
Do you take any meds of any kind? This one catches a lot of people because often the side effects to various meds are fatigue or drowsiness or insomnia?
Do you have insomnia issues...either falling asleep or staying asleep?
Any issues with mask or bed comfort?
And any other health issues?
Google fatigue causes and you will see that there are many, many potential causes and effective cpap therapy can only fix it if the only cause is sleep apnea.
How's your sleep hygiene? Good or bad? Most of us do some bad sleep hygiene stuff...I know I do and I know better.

Finally...sometimes it just takes time and sometimes a lot of time. Since we have to use the machine anyway...while giving it time use that time to do some detective work to see if there's anything else that is going on that might impact how you feel.

@Pugsy, thanks for your answers and suggestions.

0) 20% seems nothing, but the flatliners look the same als apneus. So I thought a lot of short < 10secs apneus could perhaps make you feel bad so was interested how others scored....?
1) 7 months on cpap
2) 7/8 Hours a night
3) 3/4 awakenings every night, don't know why. Back to sleep in a few minutes
4) Yes, using statines against cholesterol since 4 months. Througt of that myself so stopped temporarily (one week now). Agreed with my docter to quit for two weeks and than evaluate. After one week stopping medicine still feeling the same though.
5) no insomnia or other issues
6) no mask issues
7) except overweight, no sports....the rest is ok
don't know what you mean, bed is cleaned every 2 weeks I think
9) thanks, investigating a lot, but feeling worse now than when I started therapy. Before therapy I fell a sleep on the couch every night, but during daytime no mayor issues. Now more fatigued during the day. Best thing is no naps at evening (not allowing myself) and not sleeping apart from the wife (no snoring anymore).

Last months experimented with pressure since AHI is always low <1 and having some eyeproblems since start of therapy. So slept 4 months APAP 5-8.6, than 1 month CPAP 5 (very tired, Many FL's), than gradually increasing pressure till now 1 month around 6-12. So perhaps changing pressure a lot wasn't consistent so perhaps a stable pressure should improve my situation?!

Not sleeping (like 3-4 awakenings a night) IS insomnia.

and statins are known to cause insomnia and depression for that matter. Are you numbers that bad that you have to take statins? What are your TRG, HDL, HDL and total CHOL? If LipoProfile test, what is the particle number?

@tan, my idea was that I woke up because of incidental leakages due to higher pressure ot the higher pressure as reason itself. As said, after waking up I fall a sleep again right away.

The docter subscribed them since the ldl/hdl index was too high (don't know the exact figures but think it was 4 or 6). Have a BMI of 34, smoked, no sport, so dangerously enough to prescribe statins. Stopped smoking now for 3 months.

Will evaluate after 2 weeks without statins.
(Wish I was like Homer)

johantv wrote:@tan, my idea was that I woke up because of incidental leakages due to higher pressure ot the higher pressure as reason itself. As said, after waking up I fall a sleep again right away.

Insomnia, or sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which there is an inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep as long as desired

The docter subscribed them since the ldl/hdl index was too high (don't know the exact figures but think it was 4 or 6). Have a BMI of 34, smoked, no sport, so dangerously enough to prescribe statins. Stopped smoking now for 3 months.

Will evaluate after 2 weeks without statins.

Hard to comment here without knowning numbers, but your background suggests that you are at a higher risk, though I am not sure that statins fix that. But I aint a doctor.

johantv wrote:don't know what you mean, bed is cleaned every 2 weeks I think

Bed comfort as is your bed comfortable for you or is it old and tired and causing aches and pains and your bed pillow..does it work well with your mask.
Aches and pains don't let us sleep so great...that one I know for sure.

johantv wrote:) no insomnia or other issues

3) 3/4 awakenings every night, don't know why. Back to sleep in a few minutes

waking frequently during the night is called sleep maintenance insomnia
there's also the typical sleep onset insomnia where we have trouble falling asleep ...people can have or both.

The bed is fine. A boxspring and a good, firm pillow.
Perhaps taking statins (simvastatine) is the reason for this insomnia (not falling asleep but wakening up to often). The last 2 months I raised my pressure so I blamed that for some dizzyness at daytime and wakening up more often then Usual. Anyway, I have to continu my quest and hopefully find the right balance...

Good news, my sleep consultant wants me to have a new sleep study end of december to find out why I'm wakening up a few times every night.