Sleep Apnoea and CPAP

So I had my final meeting with a consultant yesterday, to get results of my sleep study done a couple of months back.

I have very mild apnea.

He said they measure it on a scale of 0 -5 for nothing to worry about, 5 - 10 for mild, 10 - 15 for moderate, and 15 - 20 for severe.

I was 5.1.

So basically he says that's me done. No need for a cpap machine. He did advise I could see a dentist about getting a mandibular device, which should help low level problems like mine.

Not sure what to do. Still extremely exhausted every morning I wake, irrespective of how much sleep I get. The tech who saw me for an interview before the sleep study said that some people don't show a high count on the device as they are very active and would be fit, and the device often wouldn't pick up occasions of breathing stopping. Might follow up on that.

But looks like it is back to gp to see if there's any more checks that could be done.

This is very hard. I have some of these issues and would not want more.

There could be a couple of things going on together here. When the machine did no good, did its own stats suggest that it was doing good?

There is some discussion earlier in this thread. There is a measure of sleep apneas per hour, if the sleep test showed over 30 then you have a severe problem. The machine reduces this and reports a number, people here report numbers like 2 or 3 which means that the machine should do good, below 5 is "normal". I get around 2, which would be fine if I could keep the mask on most of the night, which I cannot always do. The LED has this info and the SD card should have produced a report with this data. I have a machine which send this data automatically from a SIM card.

I'd speak to the company about understanding the data. If this shows that it should work then there may be other things affecting sleep and they could be addressed in a different way, one by one.

As I understand it, machines have a "prescription" from the consultant. The companies don't change this without medical input.

Have you a consultant? Who put you on the machine? I take my SD card to my consultant every year and he analyses the stats and adjusts the machine accordingly. Someone has to be monitoring you

I did the Study once in the beginning ... and that diagnosed me that I needed to go the CPAP avenue.

I now just see the consultant once a year to review the SD Card and have a chat on any queries I might have.

I reckon you should go back to your Consultant and chat about your problems and take it from there...... am sure he will get you back on the right path again

I have a Resmed machine which links itself to the internet. It keeps track of my apnoeas, time asleep, mask fit (leakage) etc. Every morning it sends a message to my phone to say what my stats were for the previous night. When I go to the consultant they can just draw down the stats, which I believe are more in depth than the ones I get daily, onto their computer. This is much more effective than the previous system of taking the SD card to consultations, I can track progress over time.

It shows apneas per hour, for the time you are wearing the mask. So, if you lie awake with the mask on for an hour say, that counts as an hour's sleep, but because you are not asleep it shows 0 events. As the overnight total is achieved by adding the score for every hour and dividing by the number of hours this 'awake hour' dilutes the number of apnoeas. I have woken in the night and the machine has been showing, say, over 30, but by morning this number is averaged out and it might show the overnight number as, say, 10.

As I understand it, it works like this. You have the highest number of apnoeas as you go into deeper sleep, the concentrated high number means that you are not getting that deep sleep, and often if you have mask problems it is in this phase that you wake with high leakage, so that's another reason why you are not getting the deep sleep. If anyone knows any different I would be interested to hear.

I have occasionaly worn an oxymeter overnight both with and without the mask. Without the mask my blood oxygen levels go extremely low, into the 70s occasionally, whereas with the mask, even with a high number of apnoeas the levels don't drop below the 80s (which is still low).

I would like to discuss this with the consultant, but I have only just found a consultant who is actually taking a flicker of interest in more than taking money off me. Even then he does not really seem to take account of the fact that a person with SA problems is likely to be dozy and not communicating in the most coherent way, especially having travelled a considerable distance to the appointment and all the associated stress of travelling. I intend to take some of these questions written down to my next appointment, I can write much more coherently than I can talk.

Incidentally, do cpap machine wearers realise that the machine and masks are claimable under the drug repayment scheme?

I am using 10. It just uses the broadband connection to an ap called 'My Patient Space'. Worked fine even when there was virtually no connection in that room, got a better connection now.

Thanks, yes these have already been checked. It does sometimes seem as though 'chat amongst ourselves' is as helpful as the consultant type advice out there, though this is not normally the approach I would take.

Started back with a cpap machine a few days ago. Its the airsense 10. I initially tried it a few years back but couldnt get used to it. I had no choice but to try it again.
Despite receiving decent scores on the app, I dont wake up feeling any better or refreshed.
Gonna stick with it though and hopefully things improve

Which mask are you using? I have been trying to figure out if the nasal mask or this newer pillow one works better, its the airfit n30

I tried that one in the past. Once a month? Does the seal break or what? I would have thought you would get longer out of it

I found that I can extend the life of the F20 cushion mask to 2 - 3 months by cleaning my face before bed with a baby wipe and cleaning the mask with a wipe in the morning. They're expensive but worth it for comfort and seal so the longer I can get out of them the better!

Took me 3 months, couldn't imagine life without it now!

I tried it for three months on 2 separate occasions. Absolute waste of time. I was getting no sleep at all with it. Felt like I was suffocating. Totally counter productive.

I've been in that situation of feeling tired after an apparently good night's sleep. I went off demand pressure onto constant 18 for a few months and it was a disaster. I am back on demand and mysteriously I am sleeping much better than the previous, demand pressure situation, fewer events, longer sleep time, and fresher during the day. The technician made a couple of adjustments and I am not sure if they helped - removed the ramp and something else that I don't understand, to do with exhaling, anyway its better.

I did the 'its too much trouble and not doing me any good' thing for about 8 years between one diagnosis and a new diagnosis (severe sa) and ended up with atrial fibrillation, that is now finally under control but I am on very heavy medication for it. So you should not dismiss sa. If you had a recording oximeter you may well find that your blood oxygen goes very low, mine tips 70 and spends a lot of time around the 80s when I am sleeping without the mask, which is very damaging to your heart, so I wear the mask in spite of hating the damn thing.

Wow down to 1.8, thats amazing, I'm using the machine years and maybe a handful of times I got below 2. I range happily between 3-5 nightly. If I have a bad night it's between 5 - 8. Took me 3 months to get used to it. It was torture. But I couldn't live without it now.

I'm also chipping away at reducing my BMI / Weight, so down 4 stone this week after 18 months. It certainly is helping with my sleep now.

Try 105…

Yep... Was juicy alright. Best part was, it was symptomless. I was never tired. With the CPAP it's usually about 4, average "sleep" time is about 6.5hrs. Machine doesn't bother me unless it's very hot at night, then it's a pain.

If the pressure used on the machine is getting lower does that mean the machine is intervening less, think it was around 12 the first night and about 10 this morning, mines set on auto between 6 and 16.

Used it for 8hrs 20 last night with 0.7 interuptions per hour.

I was in the same position as a lot of poster above, saying I did not need a machine but I was fooling myself.

I was falling asleep going into work in the morning after having 8 hours sleep. Wanting to pull over for a kip. Driving home was a nightmare. I definitely fell asleep behind the wheel one evening at Kinnegad and ended up on the Mullingar road after missing the Galway turn off. Frightened the sh1te out of myself because of what could could have happened.

That was the trigger that made me say I needed the machine. After a rough start I finally got used to it and have not looked back.

Wake in the morning refreshed and can really tell the difference if I miss a night for whatever reason.

Also towards the end of my denial phase I was getting up definitely twice a night to go to the toilet, that all stopped immediately with the machine.

Driving the wife crazy with the snoring has disappeared as well.

All positive from me about my CPAP machine.

Just an update on the F40 air fit if anyone's interested, I said I'd try an air fit p30i pillows instead so my mouths not covered, it arrived yesterday, best night for very little leak and 0.1 aph, happy enough, definitely easier sleep with as no tube noticeable.

I am not absolutely sure, but I think that if you want to rent again you have to get the assessments - they need a consultant to control it. I had a similar situation, and I had to start again.

You can claim for rental and masks through the drugs payment scheme, but if you are not paying out for other drugs it might not seem worth it. Not sure about tax, it seems likely that you can claim.