Greentree's Therapy

[Greentree]

Hello forum users,

I am a new senior female apap user having begun treatment in December, 2018. I have very good compliance with my machine, but have been limping along with high AHI numbers (8-10 and above) and I know I need a great deal of help from you. I am hampered by my pitiful tech skills. However, In the last few days I have been able to get my sd card into my computer and have a few days of data in Sleepyhead now. I just now was looking at Sleepyhead data from last night and I believe I must have clicked on something that is a "no no", as now it says "Sessions all off". Can someone help me to rescue that data?

If I can get it back I am going to try to get screen shots and then try to post a couple of days of data. At that time I will post my sleep study diagnostic information as well as mask history and any other information you might need to help me. I must say I am dazzled by the help you have been able to give to others on the forum and am immensely grateful for this resource.

With thanks,
Greentree

[Pugsy]

I know how to turn sessions on/off individually but I couldn't find anything that did a blanket on/off over multiple nights.
Turn turn a session on or off individually you just go down to each session and where it looks red/black you just click on it to change it to green/black.

Or just create a new profile and import to the new profile and be careful to not mess with any of the defaults. They should show up in the new profile as normal.

[Dog Slobber]

You have multiple sessions for a day and you have turned them all off.

Click the switch for every session to turn it green instead of red.

Session.jpg

I know how to turn sessions on/off individually but I couldn't find anything that did a blanket on/off over multiple nights.

It's a misleading error.

It suggests multi-night, it's not.

It means multiple sessions in one night. You get a different error if the night has only one session and you turn it off.

Where's OSCAR?

[Greentree]

Thank you Pugsy and Dogslobber,

I was able to do as you said and the data has now "returned". I am afraid that is what happens to us tech dummies from time to time....we click on things that we don't know anything about! Thank you for helping me.

Greentree

[Dog Slobber]

Thank you Pugsy and Dogslobber,

I was able to do as you said and the data has now "returned". I am afraid that is what happens to us tech dummies from time to time....we click on things that we don't know anything about! Thank you for helping me.

Greentree

You don't give yourself enough credit.

You've downloaded SleepyHead, installed it, transferred data, set your signature with your correct equipment.

You hit one glitch with a non-intuitive interface. Wish there was more like you.

You're a rockstar.

[zonker]

Thank you Pugsy and Dogslobber,

I was able to do as you said and the data has now "returned". I am afraid that is what happens to us tech dummies from time to time....we click on things that we don't know anything about! Thank you for helping me.

Greentree

tech dummies? no way! as dog slobber says, you've done quit a bit in getting this software up and running.

look forward to seeing your charts posted here. of course, if you need any help with that, just ask.

OH! and can you post your pics here in this thread rather than starting a new one?

good luck!

[Greentree]

Dear Dogslobber and Zonker,

You have no idea how much your encouragement helps. Thank you for reaching out with uplifting thoughts. This whole apap scenario has consumed so much of my life lately and I get so nervous trying to do the "tech stuff". Later today or tomorrow I will try to plunge into trying to take the next steps and get some data for you to see. I will post them in this thread so as to retain the continuity. So thankful for your kind messages!!!

[zonker]

Dear Dogslobber and Zonker,

You have no idea how much your encouragement helps. Thank you for reaching out with uplifting thoughts. This whole apap scenario has consumed so much of my life lately and I get so nervous trying to do the "tech stuff". Later today or tomorrow I will try to plunge into trying to take the next steps and get some data for you to see. I will post them in this thread so as to retain the continuity. So thankful for your kind messages!!!

well, thank YOU for saying so. it's my main function here. i don't have any tech savvy skills, so i've taken it upon myself to offer a kind word to the newbies.

and YES apap does indeed consume so much of our lives, at first. it's all a person can think about. someone here,zoocrewphoto i think, says something along the lines of "who knew just going to sleep could be so difficult?"

but i predict that in short order, this stuff will make sense to you.

soon you'll wonder why you had so much trouble in the beginning!

kindact.jpg

[Greentree]

Hello forum users,

I am going to post the results of my sleep study report so that you can begin to get a fuller picture of my cpap journey thus far. I am a female, in her 70's in generally good health. I was referred to a Sleep Center for an in-lab study in November of 2018. The test was conducted on Nov. 18.

PSG type: Overnight attended in lab polysomnogram including diagnostic as well as titration portions.

ASSESSMENT:
1) Severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with an AHI of 45. The patient has more sleep disordered breathing than even this may suggest with an RDI of 66 and a spontaneous arousal index of 32 that is probably also at least partly due to respiratory effort related arousals.
2) Cardiac: Sinus rhythm. No arrhythmias.
3) Oxygen: Mild oxygen desaturation to a nadir of 83% with an average of 93%.
4) The patient met criteria for initiating positive airway pressure treatment during the study, and was titrated to as high as 15 cm pressure but did not have optimal results.
5) Sleep was severely fragmented before and somewhat less fragmented after positive airway pressure treatment.
6) There was a decrease in REM sleep and an increase in slow-wave sleep noted.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Positive airway pressure treatment is recommended for this patient's sleep-disordered breathing. CPAP was titrated during the current study but the results were suboptimal. Part of this may be due to the lower straps for a full face mask pulling the patients chin toward her neck adding to airway resistance, although this is speculative. Full face masks were used for the titration. Pressures tested did not produce ideal results. An alternative strategy for this patient may be to use a nasal mask with a separate chinstrap and have the patient provided with an auto titrating continuous positive airway pressure device set to the auto mode. If this does not produce good results with an AHI in an acceptable range, repeat polysomnography with titration may be appropriate, if clinically indicated.

RESULTS:
Sleep onset latency, REM latency: 80 minutes, no rim (sic.) sleep was seen during the diagnostic part of the test.
Sleep efficiency: 34%. Total sleep time: 85 minutes.
Position: 18% of the sleep recorded during the diagnostic part of the test was in the supine position.
Sleep aid: one Ambien tablet
Consolidation: Sleep was very poorly consolidated during the diagnostic part of the test.
Architecture: Sleep architecture was abnormal with no rim (sic.) sleep seen during the diagnostic part of the test. The patient did have more slow wave sleep than might be expected for a woman of her age at 21% of the sleep recorded during the diagnostic part of the test.

Apnea hypopnea index (AHI): 45
Central apnea index: 1
Respiratory disturbance index: 66
Supine AHI: 72 Lateral AHI: 39

Spontaneous arousal index: 32
PLM arousal index: 0
Minimum Oxygen saturation: 83%
Average Oxygen saturation: 93%
Minutes of sleep with SpO2 <89%: 7
Cardiac events: The patient was in sinus rhythm throughout the study. No significant arrhythmias were noted.

PAP titration: Continuous positive airway pressure was titrated to 15 cm with suboptimal results. The patient slept in the supine position on 15 cm and also had REM sleep, but the residual AHI remained elevated at 35.

There are many pages of graphs and charts. If those become necessary for you to see at some point, I can certainly add them. I will begin a new message now to document what has been happening since the Sleep Study.

[zonker]

Hello forum users,

I will begin a new message now to document what has been happening since the Sleep Study.

if you would be so kind, keep your messages within this thread for now. this isn't a hard and fast rule and once you've been here for awhile, feel free to start new threads.

it will help the experts here to keep track of you and your progress if you just saty right here.

thank you!

[Greentree]

This will be a followup to my previous post documenting my Sleep Study results.

Following the sleep study I met with the medical rep. and was referred to a DME where I was given a Dreamstation apap machine with humidifier and heated tube on Dec. 10. I began with a Nuance Gel mask. I had thought I needed a ffm but the DME person said that it was a "mask of last resort" and that I should start with a nasal pillow. I am a mouth breather and I tried any number of chin straps but none worked for me.

I began taping my mouth and had pretty good results with that until recently when higher pressures led to tape blowout. I have tried the Somnifix strips (doubled so as to cover the tiny breathing slit.); Micropore tape (irritated my sensitive Irish skin!) and the more gentle blue 3M tape. It works well unless pressures get high and then it leaks. I have been using a vertical piece and two horizontal pieces.

I have tried the Nuance Gel mask, the Dreamwear (small size was still way too large); the F30, leaked terribly, but am giving it a new try the last few days; and the Airfit P10 for her. I had pretty good luck with it as long as the tape stayed on my mouth.

My pressure with the Dreamstation began at 5- 15. Flex was at 3. Both remained at those settings until Jan. 18 when I had my compliance visit with the medical rep. At that meeting she said that I have half Obstructives and half centrals. She didn't know if the centrals were real and said she was requesting a second titration for me. I have been waiting since then and haven't heard anything regarding the study. I am repeatedly told "it is pending". She wanted me to raise my pressure from min. of 5 to 12. I was alarmed by such a big jump and said I was concerned about it. We compromised on 10 min. with the max at 20. It was set remotely by the DME and I had no opportunity to raise it gradually. Thus far I have been reluctant to change any settings on my own, although I do now have the clinical manual. I recently purchased a used Res Med Air Sense 10 for Her from forum member MetsFan. It is to arrive here on Tuesday. I have hopes that the different algorithms may be of help to me. ( I had asked the DME if they would loan me one for a trial period to no avail.)

My AHI numbers are erratic and vary from lows of 3, 4 or 5 when visiting with relatives at 75 feet above sea level, to highs of around 8 to the teens when home here at an altitude of almost 2000 feet above sea level. I would describe my sleep as not good. It generally takes me a long time to get to sleep and I am aroused often during sleep and don't awake feeling rested. I am tremendously committed to making this work and will do whatever it takes to get there. I have been reading the forum and learning so much from all of you. I am hopeful that with your help I will be successful.

My next step will be what I have dreading trying to do and that is importing some nights of Sleepyhead data to the forum due to my extreme tech deficiencies. ] I may have to ask for some help but I will give it a try. It may be a bit confusing because in the last two weeks I have been using my Airfit 10 mask, the Bleep DreamPorts, and also the N30, but I do have notes on which days I wore which mask. I don't see much difference in AHI numbers .

Let me know if you have any questions thus far, or if I can clarify anything posted up to now.

[Greentree]

Hello all,

I have been on Sleepyhead and took a screenshot of two nights of data. Where do I find them now and how do I attach them to a new posting so you can see them? Sorry to be so needy at the moment...hoping to get better at all of this! Thanks for your help, and Zonker, thank you for your reminder to stay in this original thread!

[palerider]

Hello all,

I have been on Sleepyhead and took a screenshot of two nights of data. Where do I find them now and how do I attach them to a new posting so you can see them? Sorry to be so needy at the moment...hoping to get better at all of this! Thanks for your help, and Zonker, thank you for your reminder to stay in this original thread!

Instructions on how to format the screenshots and post them is in my sig.

The folder the screenshots in is indicated at the bottom of the first window sleephead pops up (if you've got version 1.0)

[zonker]

Hello all,

I have been on Sleepyhead and took a screenshot of two nights of data. Where do I find them now and how do I attach them to a new posting so you can see them? Sorry to be so needy at the moment...hoping to get better at all of this! Thanks for your help, and Zonker, thank you for your reminder to stay in this original thread!

so far, so good! i think these screenshots should be in your documents folder. (i'm assuming here that you are on a windows machine?) once you open up the documents folder, you'll see other folders, one of which will be "SleepyHeadData". open that up and you'll find "Screenshots". open that to discover your screenshots. they'll be named something like screenshot-20190202-183245.

yow! that sounds like a lot when i type it out here. but trust me, it's not. anyway, those are what you want to post here.

but please be sure you have them arranged in the proper order by referencing the link palerider mentioned. thos screenshots will have a LOT of info in them and most of it will be superfluous. the experts here just need to see what they need to see.

don't be discouraged if you don't get this perfect the first time. i mean, you should've seen how palerider yelled at me when i first posted screenshots.

i'm confident you can do it!!

[Greentree]

Hi Palerider and Zonker,

Thanks for the info. I am, however, a Mac girl. Does that make a difference in the instructions?