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uptick in apnea events

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EasygoingAmethystOctopus1026 +0 points · over 5 years ago Original Poster

After three and a half years on AirSense using nasal cushion and nasal pillows , and having .5 or less events per night, I am having 1.5 2.0 or other above 1.0 events per night. Don't know why. Could my machine have lost some pressure? Nothing has changed healthwise.

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Sierra +0 points · over 5 years ago Sleep Patron

It is possible you now need more pressure than your maximum pressure setting in the machine allows. When you start your machine it should display for a few seconds while it is warming up the minimum and maximum pressure setting. It will be above and to the right of the circle.

Then if you go to your sleep report below MyAir, you should see some more detailed data like Period, Days Used, etc. If that is not there then you can go into the Clinical Menu and make it available. Just hold down the Home key and the round settings keep for about 5 seconds. That will bring up the Clinical settings menu. Select it, and go down to near the bottom where you will see Options. One option will be Essentials. Select it, and then set it to Plus. Push the Home key and then select to exit from the clinical menu. That will enable the more detailed sleep report from the user menu.

Once you have it then you can select different periods like 1 day, one week, one month etc. At each period you can go further down and see what the Pressure is. This is the 95% pressure which means that your pressure is below that for 95% of the night. Now if that 95% pressure is getting up near the maximum pressure set in your machine, the machine may be limiting the pressure you need to prevent apnea events. In the Clinical Menu you can change your maximum pressure. If you are not comfortable doing that yourself, you can ask your service provider to do it. They may be able to change it wirelessly without you having to take the machine in.

The other thing to check in the more detailed sleep report is central apnea index or CAI. If the last week value is much higher than the last year, it may be increasing. If that is the case it is something to talk to your sleep doctor about. However, the general goal is to be below an AHI of 5, and if you are under that, they are likely to consider you are treated, and nothing needs to be done.

This all said, the better way to monitor your treatment is to use SleepyHead software. It will tell you in much more detail what is going bump in the night. If you are interested, post back and I will give you more detail. It is free software to download, runs on a PC or Mac, and you transfer the data by taking the SD card out of your machine and plugging it into a card reader on your computer.

Hope that helps some...

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EasygoingAmethystOctopus1026 +0 points · over 5 years ago Original Poster

Thanks sierra, I don't understand, every one uses a number of 5. Is that .5 or 5.0? My reading were always .5, .8, .3 etc. Now they are 1.0 2.1 etc. Also, I don't use an SD card, my data is transmitted directly by wifi link to Umbian.

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Sierra +0 points · over 5 years ago Sleep Patron

The treatment standard is an AHI of 5.0. When a sleep test is done and the results are in the 0-5 range that is considered normal - no treatment required.

That said depending on the type of apnea you are having a CPAP can bring the residual AHI with treatment down under 1.0 or even to zero at times. My wife regularly gets under 1.0. I average about 3.0 and I think only one night in 6 months have I been under 1.0.

What specific model of AirSense do you have? There is the AirSense CPAP, AirSense Elite, and AirSense AutoSet. Not sure if they all record data. I do know some AirSense machines are sold without a SD card, but you can put one in, and data will be recorded. For sure that is the case with the AutoSet. They take a 4 GB SD card, and the slot for it is located on the left side near the top. You have to pry open the flexible door with the blue tab.

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wiredgeorge +0 points · over 5 years ago Sleep Enthusiast

Three and a half years; you need to start doing some research to find out what numbers mean. You MyAir report has the AHI going from a fraction to up to 2.1. Sleep apnea is characterized from a diagnosis standpoint in three categories with "MILD" characterized as 5 or a bit greater. If you are below five (at 2.1 that means you are under the 5), you are considered in the normal human being range and sleep apnea is being treated successfully. Should you be concerned? Maybe. Your body has changed over the period you have been using the Airsense 10; you didn't say what mode or what pressure so no guessing what might need done to tweek the settings a bit. Its all in the numbers! Some setting may be in need of slight adjustment so either talk to your sleep doc (who will probably say don't worry about it as you are still being treated effectively) or find out what your initial prescription was based on machine settings and look at how these settings might need slight adjustment.

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