SleepHQ Data Review

[Blaise]

Hello everyone. What a wealth of advise on this board! I started my therapy 11 days ago. Been slowly adjusting. When I raised my EPR to 3 my waveforms smoothed out considerably. I am using my median pressure (10) as my minimum and 15 as my maximum with an auto ramp starting at 7. Been trying to find the best settings for me.

Could anyone please take a look at my last nights SleepHQ data and provide any tips or advise? Do the 4 events my machines recorded look legit? If I am reading this right, it looks like the first OA may have been caused by movement. The second UA looks like it may be legit. The third OA looks like it may have been caused by movement and the 4th hypopnea I don't quite understand if this is really an event. Any input?:

https://sleephq.com/public/4921b943-be0 ... e3897d6e53

[Pugsy]

Your AHI is below 1.0....doesn't matter if all your events were real or not. Not enough events to worry about but the OA and hyponea I found look like arousal/awake related and you weren't sound asleep.

If you were expecting AHI 0.0...unrealistic expectation that will just cause stress and worry.

More concerning is the frequent awakenings....any idea why?

How long have you been using cpap?

[Blaise]

Thanks Pugsy. I have been using CPAP for 11 days. Not sure why, but I seem to toss and turn still. Not nearly as much as I used to but still do. I used to wake up and urinate 4-6 times a night. Now its down to 1-3. Seems to be slowly getting better. Not sure what to think about the frequent awakenings. Any ideas?

[Pugsy]

When you wake up and go pee do you do it because the bladder is uncomfortably full or just because of habit "I am awake might as well go pee" kind of thing?

Male or female?
Age?

Do you have to pee a lot during the day as well?

Do you take any medications of any kind? Even OTC? If so, what?
Any other physical or mental health conditions going on that might be a factor?

It's entirely possible that the wake ups during the night are the brain just still not comfortable with the alien being on the face and blowing air up the nose. I think it took me about 3 months before the brain quite waking me up just to alert me to the new thing on my face.

Your reports are boringly good. You need to look elsewhere for for wake up causes.

[ChicagoGranny]

Not sure what to think about the frequent awakenings. Any ideas?

Study sleep hygiene. Be disciplined about applying it. In our times, people who consistently practice good sleep hygiene are rare. It's difficult.

used to wake up and urinate 4-6 times a night.

Nocturia. Common side effect of untreated sleep apnea.

Now its down to 1-3. Seems to be slowly getting better.

Progress is good.

[Blaise]

When you wake up and go pee do you do it because the bladder is uncomfortably full or just because of habit "I am awake might as well go pee" kind of thing?

It may be a habit at this point but when I go, a lot comes out. So my bladder is definitely somewhat full.

Male or female?
Age?

Male age 50

Do you have to pee a lot during the day as well?

Somewhat.. I am active and drink a lot of water usually.

Do you take any medications of any kind? Even OTC? If so, what?
Any other physical or mental health conditions going on that might be a factor?

Nothing that I can think of.

It's entirely possible that the wake ups during the night are the brain just still not comfortable with the alien being on the face and blowing air up the nose. I think it took me about 3 months before the brain quite waking me up just to alert me to the new thing on my face.

Your reports are boringly good. You need to look elsewhere for for wake up causes.

I bet it is my brain still getting used to it. Time will tell. I will work on sleep hygiene and wakeup issues. Thanks Pugsy!

[Blaise]

Not sure what to think about the frequent awakenings. Any ideas?

Study sleep hygiene. Be disciplined about applying it. In our times, people who consistently practice good sleep hygiene are rare. It's difficult.

used to wake up and urinate 4-6 times a night.

Nocturia. Common side effect of untreated sleep apnea.

Now its down to 1-3. Seems to be slowly getting better.

Progress is good.

Thanks ChicagoGranny.. Does nocturia take time to dissipate?

[Pugsy]

Age 50 and male....a bit early for the old prostate to be a factor but at your next doctor's visit you might have it checked out. As you know enlarged prostate can cause a need to urinate often.

Now sleep apnea also can cause frequent urination and the fact that your frequency has dropped significantly with cpap use points to at least some of your nocturia being apnea related.
You aren't having enough remaining apnea events now to cause it now I wouldn't think.
And we all know that there are more causes for nocturia/frequent urination besides sleep apnea it wouldn't be impossible for you to have some other factor as well as the sleep apnea factor.

So some of it might be habit since you are waking so often from whatever the cause.

It's called sleep maintenance insomnia.....that's when we wake up too many times during the night and/or have trouble going back to sleep. You can google it and see the very long list of potential culprits and see if you are guilty of doing something that might be a problem.

It could also be simply old habits and sometimes they die hard. Give yourself some time for the brain and body to get to used to this new thing called cpap therapy where there is an alien plastered on your face and blowing air up your nose.
On paper...the OSA is very well treated.
Your sleep quality is still crap though because of all the wake ups and at this point we don't know for sure exactly what is causing the wake ups....and unfortunately we can't fix the problem until we know what the problem is and even then sometimes it's not so easy to fix. Been there and done that and have the T shirt to prove it.

It could just be the brain and the newness. It really did take me probably 3 months of therapy for my brain to quit with the "hey dude...you got an alien on your face" wake ups and I might have 10 of those each night.
I had no mask issues and my therapy was dialed in fairly quickly but it took several months for my brain to be okay with this new way of doing things.
Now that was 13 years ago next month.
Now as I have got older I have some other issues that have caused sleep maintenance insomnia which is why I say I have been there and done that. My cpap therapy is still very well dialed in but I have other issues messing with my sleep....mainly just getting older and all the stuff that comes with aging.
I will be 70 next month....sigh....this getting old sure isn't for sissies.

Give yourself some plain old time just using the mask and machine.
Don't worry about the very small handful of events you might see flagged. Some are very likely awake/arousal related due to the multiple awakenings. Your sleep apnea is very well treated. So take that worry away and don't give it a second thought. You are left with crappy sleep quality unfortunately and we don't know the exact cause but it very well could be simple adjustment issues.....hence the give it time thing. Sometimes "give it time" actually works but it does involve us taking one of those big old patience pills. The patience pill is hard to swallow though. We all want immediate relief and results but unfortunately it doesn't always happen that way.

While giving it time you can for sure do some detective work to see if you can isolate any known cause for your wake ups.
And remember...it's normal to wake up after the completion of a REM cycle. So a little bit of waking up is normal.
Most of us aren't awake long enough to form a memory and we just roll over and go back to sleep but for some people they wake up more completely and it can in turn be a full blow wake up.

[zonker]

Thanks ChicagoGranny.. Does nocturia take time to dissipate?

yes, it takes some time. it varies among individuals.

but when it's gone altogether, well that's one of the first signs that you are being properly treated.

good luck!

[Dog Slobber]

Thanks ChicagoGranny.. Does nocturia take time to dissipate?

For me, pre-CPAP, I had to get up one to two times a night.

After a few month on CPAP, it stopped. I can't remember the last time I needed to get up.

Now, I have to set an alarm to get up and put the toilet-seat up to surprise Mrs. Dog Slobber.

[zonker]

Thanks ChicagoGranny.. Does nocturia take time to dissipate?

For me, pre-CPAP, I had to get up one to two times a night.

After a few month on CPAP, it stopped. I can't remember the last time I needed to get up.

Now, I have to set an alarm to get up and put the toilet-seat up to surprise Mrs. Dog Slobber.

what a thoughtful husband you are!