I know, I know, but please answer anyway re: pressure

[graygables]

I don't have a data capable machine. I don't have an auto machine. No, I can't have another sleep study. I don't want to go into great detail, but none of those things is going to change at the moment, so on to the question...I currently have a pressure setting of 9. How they reach this number when I have never really slept at a "sleep study" is beyond me, but that's what I have. With Babette's loving guidance (I {heart} you!), my mask issues are resolved, but I'm still not feeling as rested as I thought I would. I've been thinking of bumping my pressure up a notch, mostly b/c I sometimes feel like I'm suffocating or the thingies in my nose are closed off when they really are not. Is a bump from a 9 to a 10, just for experimentation's sake going to be bad news?

[orange]

sounds like youre at the same stage as me, my sleep study showed nothing , that night i had the best sleep for years!! Otherwise i suffer badly from breathing at night, and i know that i can have terrible nights. I bought an apap and am still trying to fiddle with the pressures, they do make an obvious difference. I think you should try a different pressure for a week and see how you get on

[Paul56]

There will be no real basis upon which to base your adjustments on... lacking LCD information or detailed data the software can provide.

So any adjustments made would be strictly experimental. If you do make adjustments you will need to give them at least a week at those new settings to determine if you feel any different.

Unfortunately, you really will be flying by the seat of your pants.

[bdp522]

mostly b/c I sometimes feel like I'm suffocating or the thingies in my nose are closed off when they really are not.

Sounds like more of a mask issue than a pressure issue. Do you use rhino rinse? Are you certain that you aren't mouth leaking? Have you tried a FF mask and if so what were the results?

Brenda

[echo]

Hey gray gables, that's a real bummer and I feel for you. Best thing to do IMHO, is bump up the pressure and stick to it for 1 or 2 weeks. Keep track of how you wake up - congested? bad taste in mouth? dry mouth? bloated? etc... There may be other things at work here like leaks or GERD or medications.

During your PSG, did they make any mention of central apnea's? Do you have any lung issues or disease? Those would be the two main reasons not to increase your pressure indiscriminantly.
What about restless legs?

In the meantime, maybe you can also look into one of the following (just ignore this if i'm way off track here, no need to respond if these are beyond your possibilities):
- Renting a pulse-ox from your DME or hospital or doctor (your house doctor should be able to write you a prescription) - if you're still having events then youll be desat and that will be useful info while tweaking the pressure
- Looking on craigslist or the cpapaction for a data capable machine
- Looking to whether there are any cpaptalk.com forum members in your area who would trade your machine for their data capable machine for a few weeks

So with that said, many have found that their titration pressure was below the actual pressure they needed, so you are probably on the right track. Just make sure not to ignore the other possibilities that may make you feel bad.

And oh, one last thing - probably you already now this but if you're using ramp while falling asleep that could make you feel suffocated too. I'm guess you're talking about the pressure of 9 being suffocating though...

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Pineapple]

My sleep study was no where near right. Like you I don't think I really slept, and also I think the techs stopped raising the pressure when I started having mouth leaks. Since your flying by the seat of your pants (no data) proceed carefully - a 1/2 cm to 1 cm at a time. Remember never change 2 things at once (such as mask and pressure), if something changes you won't know which one caused it. Like Echo said, leave it there for a week or 2, keep a record of how you felt the night went and how you feel in the morning.

Footnote - the first 3 days after I make a change my numbers jump around, usually higher, then they level out.

[Bearded_One]

One thing to remember is that too high of a pressure can induce central apneas, making things worse. This is a very good reason to not adjust your pressure unless you know what it has done for you or to you. Some people have a very narrow range between reducing AHI and inducing centrals.

[Wulfman]

I don't have a data capable machine. I don't have an auto machine. No, I can't have another sleep study. I don't want to go into great detail, but none of those things is going to change at the moment, so on to the question...I currently have a pressure setting of 9. How they reach this number when I have never really slept at a "sleep study" is beyond me, but that's what I have. With Babette's loving guidance (I {heart} you!), my mask issues are resolved, but I'm still not feeling as rested as I thought I would. I've been thinking of bumping my pressure up a notch, mostly b/c I sometimes feel like I'm suffocating or the thingies in my nose are closed off when they really are not. Is a bump from a 9 to a 10, just for experimentation's sake going to be bad news?

You haven't mentioned anything about what humidity levels you're using with your humidifier. Too much humidity can have the effect of closing up your nasal passages. In addition to nasal "cleansing" (rinses, whatever), you might turn your humidifier down or OFF.
Since you don't have a data-capable machine, you're going to have to go by "how you feel"......but you need to consider and experiment with some of these other things, too. A one centimeter increase in your pressure would probably not be a "bad" thing. And make sure you're not mouth-leaking, too.

Den

[rested gal]

I'm not a doctor, but I very much doubt that raising cpap pressure from 9 cm to 10 cm would cause any problem at all for most people. There can always be exceptions, of course, but for most people I'd think a one cm increase would be ok.

I've read that statistically, 10 cm H2O for cpap pressure was found to keep most people's airway open, and does it safely without causing centrals. For most. That's why ResMed developed their "A-10" algorithm in their autopaps. And why Puritan Bennett autopaps have the default of "10" in one of their advanced settings.

I personally wouldn't worry for one moment that changing a prescribed pressure up one cm was going to unleash central apneas. But that's just me.

Some interesting discussions about central apneas in general, and "pressure induced central apneas"....

Links to Central Apnea discussions
viewtopic.php?p=22702

[graygables]

Thanks, everyone. As for the humidity, it's as low as it will go. I can't turn it off or I get a wicked dry cough. I'm not a mouth breather and my hubby confirms that I'm not making any noise (we sleep in odd shifts, so he gets to hear me sleep quite a bit) I bumped it up to 10 and will see how that goes for a week or so.

[echo]

Don't forget to report back (like anyone needs encouragement for that )

[imsleepynomore]

You didn't indicate what leval your humidy was set at, I have severe allergies and found nasel rinse in the evening and setting my humidy at 3 keeps my nasel passages open if I go above 3 I can plug up I don't have Encore Pro yet but have played some with my settings and kept a written record I'm fortunate enough to be very awake during most of the day since starting CPAP August I would like to get my AHI lower but I'm content to stay put until I can get download capable. I HANG IN THERE

[LoQ]

Is it possible a breath right strip would relieve the feeling of suffocation?