DanM

Hi @barbz. Auto-titrating (APAP) devices are very commonly prescribed these days in place of traditional fixed-pressure CPAP machines. I'm not sure I would say one is better than the other, APAP machines sense your breathing on a breath-by-breath basis and can adjust the pressure up or down based on whether you are snoring, having respiratory events, etc. As an APAP user myself, I tend to like that my machine will titrate down when I do not need to higher pressures. BIPAP machines are available in fixed pressure and auto-titrating models as well, and BIPAP is used to treat more conditions that just obstructive sleep apnea. It sounds like you are doing well on your APAP unit. Any idea why your physician was not happy with your choice? I would encourage you to share your AHI information with him and see if there are other concerns related specifically to APAP and your diagnosis. Best wishes!

Graduate students in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics track in the Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have made it to the “final four” in this year’s AMIA Student Design Challenge, “The Human Side of Big Data.” Students Ashley Choi, Benjamin Cordier, Prerna Das, Ph.D., and Jason Li, M.S., will present on “Take a Breather: Empowering Adherence & Patient Centered Research through Interactive Data Visualization, Social Engagement, & Gamification in Patients with Sleep Apnea.” With input from the MyApnea.org team, and mentorship from their faculty advisor, Dr. Eilis Boudreau, they created an interactive dashboard with the aim of fostering long-term engagement by patients with their health and treatment plan and encouraging user retention. The students will be presenting their project on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, as part of the AMIA 2015 Annual Symposium, to be held in San Francisco, CA.

Hello @PracticalPrussianBlueGazelle3609. Have you considered discussing this with your primary care physician or seeing a sleep physician? Lack of sleep can have a big impact on overall health, and it sounds like you are aware of the dangers of drowsy driving. I would encourage you to talk to your physician about your symptoms and discuss the possibility of a sleep study. Best of luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

Hi @WittyElectricBlueDuck2633, and welcome to MyApnea.Org. You can post a question within any topic here on the forum, or you can create a new forum topic. If you want to post within a topic, just pick a heading that your question seems to fit within. Thanks!

Hi @FearlessPeriwinkleMoose2666. Here is a link to a 2009 study you might find interesting: http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.200806-981OC#.VgVa7U2FNaQ. A video of the exercises is also posted as a supplement and can be found here: http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/suppl/10.1164/rccm.200806-981OC.

Hello @CharmingTanSparrow4349. CMT disease has been reported to be associated with both central and obstructive sleep apnea. Restless legs syndrome also has been described. Problems with neuromuscular function from CMT are discussed as likely contributors to the sleep problems. Two references are shown below. You may want to discuss this with your doctor or a neurologist, and talk about the best way to manage these disorders. Hope this information is helpful: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23704315 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17294338

Hi @elderbruce51. It is possible that a new study is needed to help determine whether your sleep apnea has changed over the last 2 years, especially since you have had bypass surgery since your original study. Not only might the severity of your sleep apnea have changed, but also the amount of air pressure required to hopefully resolve your sleep apnea. Was treatment recommended 2 years ago after the study? Or was there just no follow-up to get you on treatment back then? Either way, a new study would probably be a good starting point to see what has changed.

Hi @UnassumingOrangeRedCormorant9252. When you propose a research question, the question can be made available for other members to view and vote on. The research questions are ranked, and the top ranking questions are then reviewed and written about in our Research Highlights area. For the reviews written and posted in the Research Highlights area, we reach out to professionals in the field and invite them to submit information that might be useful to our members. Additionally, researchers can attempt to identify sources who might fund research in a given area and submit a research proposal to that organization proposing a study to help obtain more data on the proposed research topic. Thanks for posting a research question and for being interested in the process! -Dan

Thanks, @CompassionateScarletTapir5101! Welcome to MyApnea.Org, and feel free to share any tips and advice you might think helpful to our patients. We're happy to have you here!

Hello @AmbitiousByzantiumSquid1747. PAP treatment (CPAP, APAP and other forms) is usually considered the "gold standard" for treatment of sleep apnea. There are other options, such as dental appliances, that can also used. For some patients, there may also be surgical options. Your physician should be able to speak with you about the various recommendations based on your specific test results. As for the differences between mild and severe sleep apnea, symptoms can vary based on the patient. Some people with mild sleep apnea report feeling extremely tired, while some with severe sleep apnea feel they do not have any symptoms. It is common for patients with sleep apnea to feel fatigued and sometimes sleep during the day, and this will hopefully improve with treatment. Best of luck, and I hope you have more energy and better sleep soon!