A question about CPAP and snores

[SleepyDreamCatcher]

First I wanted to say Hello and Thank you. I've been reading posts and some of the other information on this site since my titration study and have learned so much here. I've been using my AutoSet for about 40 days now and had my first follow up visit with my sleep doctor last week. I asked about the snoring that was being picked up on the SleeyHead software. Her take on that was that the machine was picking up environmental sounds not snoring since at the titration a pressure of 6 stopped all my apneas and snores. The pressure is now set at 7 (on a previous visit with her sleep tech) so there couldn't possibly be any snoring going on. (Oh yes, and then told me that I shouldn't be looking at my own data ... That's not going to happen. I check it every day or two.)

My question... does the AutoSet pick up environmental noises are report them as snores? How does the AutoSet decide that you are snoring?

[ChicagoGranny]

Vibrations traveling down the hose to the machine are picked up and reported as snores. So the hose rattling in the bed as you move could be reported as snores. Or a mask leak that vibrates would likely be reported as snores.

If you think it might be the hose, you can try a hose cover, https://www.cpap.com/productpage/snuggl ... cover.html, as a muffler to see if the reported snore decreases.

What snore level are you getting? What is your typical AHI? Is your pressure setting a straight 7 or a range starting at 7?

ChicagoGramps

[palerider]

Vibrations traveling down the hose to the machine are picked up and reported as snores. So the hose rattling in the bed as you move could be reported as snores. Or a mask leak that vibrates would likely be reported as snores.

If you think it might be the hose, you can try a hose cover, https://www.cpap.com/productpage/snuggl ... cover.html, as a muffler to see if the reported snore decreases.

What snore level are you getting? What is your typical AHI? Is your pressure setting a straight 7 or a range starting at 7?

ChicagoGramps

amusingly, I answered this same question from this same poster, the same way you did, on "another forum"(tm).

[JDS74]

There is another way snores get reported. On my Oracle mask if I get condensation in the mask, it makes little bubble noises and the machine indicates snoring. So, it is possible that condensation somewhere in your system may be doing the same thing.

A hose support system that holds most of the hose higher than the machine will let most of any condensation drain back into the humidifier chamber and limit that source.

I think that all of the mentioned sources other than actual snoring, could be classified as environmental. Unless there are lots of them or the occurrences cause your pressure to spike, then they are safely ignorable.

[BlackSpinner]

You could record yourself sleeping if there is not an unbiased co sleeper with you.

[palerider]

Unless there are lots of them or the occurrences cause your pressure to spike, then they are safely ignorable.

auto machines *do* respond to snores though... viewing them as a precursor to apneas.

[JDS74]

True, but not to the occasional one just out of the blue.
If I get a cluster, my ASV responds. My 750 used to respond also but not to just one or two. It needed several before it would react.

Still think the OP has environmental noises and the doc is correct.

[ChicagoGranny]

amusingly, I answered this same question from this same poster, the same way you did, on "another forum"(tm).

Two-timers.


ChicagoGramps

[palerider]

there's this big rantfest "over there"(tm) about how Pugsy shouldn't share her mask with her snoring dog, and other stupidity... *lol*

I think it's funny, that based on *one night* of a sleep study, and we all know how iron clad perfect they are, the know everything doctor is just discounting the data the machine pulls and saying it's impossible that the OP is snoring...

I guess the doctor thinks the OP never changes position, or possibly their airway responds differently at different times?

[Pugsy]

I can't seem to find my reports where I caught the Pug snores and if I do I will share them. My machine flagged them (and they are pretty impressive looking) but didn't respond to them with an increase in pressure when in auto mode.
So the machine seemed to think that even though it was sensing something it called snores it didn't try to prevent them with an increase in pressure at all. Now on occasion I have see some real snores and the machine responded to those. So the machine in my case could at least decide if the snores warranted a response or not. Since it didn't respond to the Pug snores (1 or 2 solid hour long blocks of snores) then I just shrugged my shoulders and chuckled.
Now if a machine is increasing pressure trying to prevent a large number of snores that gets flagged then I would probably try to do something about that. It all depends on how many snores and how often.

[SleepyDreamCatcher]

Well I don't have any animals to add their snores to what the machine picks up. I don't think there are other environmental sounds other than the air conditionar which is pretty quiet and I don't think that should be setting off the snore scale. If so, I should see a fairly consistent pattern every night, and I don't. Someone mentioned that the hose rubbing over a sharp edge can be picked up as a snore. That could be a possibility as I do move around while sleeping at home...and probably didn't do as much of during the sleep study. My personal guess is that I'm still snoring.

I think I'll try to find a way to record myself and see what I hear on playback. Sounds like a good weekend project.

[palerider]

got an smartphone/tablet?

check into sleepbot.

there are many other apps. sleepbot also records flopping around with it's accelerometer.

[echo]

I love sleepbot to death but don't like how they output the results of the accelerometer. For that I prefer Sleep As An Droid - they do a nice job determining % deep sleep (whether that's accurate or meaninful is another story ). In any case both of them record snores (without recording the *entire* night).

[Luthie2006]

Please correct me if I am wrong: I had thought that the purpose of the CPAP machine and therapy was to eliminate all snoring? Or does the mask and air catch the snore and then push more air in?

[palerider]

I love sleepbot to death but don't like how they output the results of the accelerometer. For that I prefer Sleep As An Droid - they do a nice job determining % deep sleep (whether that's accurate or meaninful is another story ). In any case both of them record snores (without recording the *entire* night).

I'll look into that one, thanks!