Help With Central Apnea Events?

I'm new to therapy. My WatchPat Report showed 5.2 AHI and 12 RDI. Mostly just symptoms of daytime fatigue and grogginess for a long-time.

I actually feel pretty good today after this report. I used the mask and mouth-tape to force nasal breathing. I've tried head straps (KnightsBridge) and soft collar, but haven't found them comfortable or been able to sleep through the night with them.

However, I have a lot of central events that didn't show up in my WatchPat. Are there any settings I could play with to try and eliminate those?

Thank you!!!!!!

Just exactly how many is

lunarprogram wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 02, 2024 5:45 pm

I have a lot of central events

per hour???

Are you using any exhale relief?
What machine are you using?

Are you sleeping soundly for the most part or is your sleep fragmented with a lot of wake ups?

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 02, 2024 6:33 pm

Just exactly how many is

lunarprogram wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 02, 2024 5:45 pm

I have a lot of central events

per hour???

So sorry, I tried to follow the New User guide, but I see my image and settings didn't save right!

I'm using a Resmed Airsense 11. Just started using climate line. Switched to FFM (F30i) after trouble with the nasal pillows. Here's the OSCAR view from last night.

Last night was one of my least fragmented nights. Only took the mask off twice, but still changed positions a lot.

Usually very fragmented. Wake up, toss and turn a lot. Use the bathroom 2-3 times.

I have EPR set to 1.

How long have you been using the machine?

I suspect a good chunk of those "centrals" are related to being either awake or half awake and if you can improve your sleep quality and sleep sounder then you won't see so many centrals.

It's been discussed often here. These machines only measure air flow...they don't know if we are asleep or not and often arousal/awake breathing (which is very irregular when compared to asleep breathing) gets flagged as some sort of apnea event.

One such discussion here. Read it please.
posting.php?mode=reply&f=1&t=187812

The only setting you could really change that might help reduce the centrals is maybe turn EPR off but that only helps IF the use of EPR is the trigger for the centrals....and I don't think your centrals are related to EPR use but you could try it.
I think the bulk of your centrals are related to awakenings and most likely you need to improve your sleep quality.
Fix your sleep quality problem and I think those centrals will fix themselves.

Thank you! That makes sense about it just detecting flow rate change. I think your assessment sounds right.

I’m still not used to the setup. Tops and turn a lot. I would go through periods of sort of pulling the mask away from the face and repositioning/readjusting a bunch through the night. I wonder if that is getting flagged some.

Thanks for your help, unfortunately the link was back to this post.

Our awake/arousal related breathing is very irregular and we never notice the irregularities but the machine does.
It can and will flag those irregularities as some sort of apnea event but it doesn't really count if we aren't asleep.

crap....let me fix that link. Too many pages open.

Try this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=187767&p=1451526#p1451526

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 02, 2024 8:28 pm

Our awake/arousal related breathing is very irregular and we never notice the irregularities but the machine does.
It can and will flag those irregularities as some sort of apnea event but it doesn't really count if we aren't asleep.

crap....let me fix that link. Too many pages open.

Try this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=187767&p=1451526#p1451526

Thanks for the education and help.

I had less wakings last night without changing any settings and AHI dropped to only 1. I think a lot of the disturbance is trying to get used to different changes like chin strap or not, collar or not, mask or pillow, mouth tape or not, changing pillows...

I did an expirement Sat. night w/o the CPAP and slept through with very minimal wakings on my Apple Watch with only mouth tape placed vertically to try and hold chin in place a bit. Since my apnea was mild (AHI just above 5, RDI 12), I'm wondering how much of it was just actually triggered by mouth breathing, jaw slacking, dried out throat, etc.

I'd tried to use mouth tape a couple years ago for a week straight and would always rip it off, but it seems a couple weeks playing with a CPAP and using steroid nasal sprays has actually let me learn to sleep through my nose the whole night.

Towards the end of the night last night I kept getting woken up by my cheeks puffing out. Over and over.

Ignoring where I ripped the mask off in the middle of the night - the only thing I see that looks weird is that suddenly EPAP started showing up on the graph. That didn't show up the rest of the night. I had EPR said to 3, and always on instead or "ramp only"

Any clear why that is showing up? Can I change it? I wonder if some effect of that was responsible.