Sleep Apnea Support Group
Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. People with sleep apnea partially awaken as they struggle to breathe, but in the morning they may not be aware of sleep disturbances.
Hi I have sleep apena, I've been using a machine for at least 8 months. It's been going ok, but now I'm having issues. I'm ok with wearing the mask I'm use to it, but once again I'm having the same issue I had a few months ago. I wake up feeling like I'm suffocating,and closterfobic I can't breath or having a hard time breathing. I try to ignore it and go back to sleep,but the more ingore it the worse it gets . I called my Rt, she didn't help me and didn't listen to me so my cpap dr is away. I've also noticed my events per hour,have gone up they went from 0.0 to 0.6 1.1. I know that's not a big deal because it's under 5 but my events per hour are climbing. Also I wake up feeling very stuffy plugged. I also have bumped my humility up as well and it hasn't helped help
A couple questions:
1. Are you using a CPAP, APAP, or other type of machine?
2. If CPAP, what is your pressure setting?
3. If APAP, what is your pressure setting range (lowest to highest pressure).
4. Do you have the ability to make changes to the settings or does your sleep doctor have 100% control?
Well, maybe another question. Do you have the ability to see your breathing data? For example, with my machine and computer software I am able to see every breath that I take all night. What I am getting around to asking is do you know what type of SA event(s) are causing the increases? Different types of SA events can be clues to what is causing the problem.
Sorry for the questions, but more information would be very helpful.
I can see on the app
how many hours I used it for
Mask seal
Events per hour and how many times I took my mask off and on.
I have a sd card but I can’t Anything on it as I do not have a computer.
With your limited access to sleep data it makes it difficult for you to determine what may be causing your increase in your AHI. Luckily, your AHI was great to begin with and is still fine, but I understand your concern, not to mention your waking up problems.
Let me take shots at some of your issues.
I guess that you have a ResMed CPAP (not APAP). Seven is not a high setting, but may be OK if your sleep test results were around that level.
Humidity level settings can be a difficult nut to crack. Too much causes me to plug up, oddly too low can also have the same results. I live in Houston so my humidifier is removed most of the year. It is still in today, but it will be removed in 4-6 weeks until next October. Only you know how you resond to humidity, just remember that more is not necessarily better.
Does your ResMed allow you to turn on exhale relief? (Sorry, the correct name of the option/setting escapes me for now.) I used to keep my off for the first three years of my SA treatment. Then about a year ago my AHI numbers jumped almost exactly like you described, still OK but I wanted to know why. I have three identical ResMed APAP machines and I tried them all; no diffence. The same with multiple masks, no difference.
According to the nightly data, I was having clusters of hypoapenas randomly all night. I had no idea why I suddenly started having these after three clean years (still do not for that matter). I finally fixed the problem after 3-4 months. I turned on the exhale relief option and that fixed it completely. Sorry for the long story, but you may want to give that a go. Nothing to lose.
As for waking up in the middle of the night, not sure what to suggest. The only time that I have had trouble breathing was when my mask began to go bad although they always looked fine. If you have not changed masks recently try a new one.
That is all I can think of for now, plus I am tired of typing on this tablet. It drives me nuts LOL.
Hope you have some ideas now.
If you do get to the place where you can turn on "pressure relief" do so and set it for at least 2 to start with (the setting options are 0,1,2, or 3).
Turn the ramp to "off". It does keep you from reaching the desired pressure for a period of time that you have set. Not really needed for most people.
What kind of mask do you have? Full face (FFM), Nasal (NM), or pillow (PM). Hopefully, not an FFM since they are only needed for mouth breathers. That alone could be causing some of your middle of the night issues. If you are a mouth breather, look into buying a cervical collar and/or a chin strap. Both are available on Amazon and many other places cheap.
I would like you to be on a PM if not already, They are the least expensive, and are almost unnoticeable when wearing one. I have a ResMed "P10" and have several for backup and other reasons. If by chance you are using one, the only time that I have experienced breathing problems similar to yours is when the "pillow" starts to go bad (but not visible).
Make sure that the vent holes in your mask are clean and not blocked.
Just curious, does your doctor read the data from your SD disk? My does not (he is an idiot) so I now just bring the reports that the software generates which will show any problems,
Without knowing the actual data, it is very difficult to suggest anything else.
Below are links to two other SA only Boards that I recommend that you join. You can repost your original post on these Boards and get many, many, more views and responses. When you set up your user ID on either Board make sure that you enter your equipment types in the boxes provided. If you do not, that will be the first response that you will receive. Be prepared to answer any questions. Many people including me, are members of both Boards. cpaptalk is the busiest one.
Good luck!
http://www.cpaptalk.com/CPAP-Sleep-Apnea-Forum.html
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/index.php
Should help me, and she can change the level but she’s not willing to help me. I wish I knew someone with a computer so I could read my data I am at a loss on what to do