CPAP & ASV Apnea machine Questions Regarding Accuracy

Posted by inquirer2 @inquirer2, 2 days ago

I have complex sleep apnea with both central & obstructive features. There is also Cheyne-Stokes respiration. I have used both CPAP & ASV apnea machines.

One night while using my CPAP apnea machine I couldn’t fall asleep & lay awake for about 6 hours. During that time I didn’t notice any changes in my breathing. No pauses, no slowing down or stopping of my breathing yet the reading on my apnea machine indicated that I had 29.6 apneas per hour. I know for sure I didn’t sleep so how can this be?

There are other nights when I had between 40 and 50 apneas per hour, yet upon awakening, I felt I had a good sleep.

I am wondering if these apnea machines are really giving an accurate reading. Has anyone else had this experience?

The reason I am asking this question is because my doctor has recommended that I buy an ASV apnea machine which costs $5,765.00. A lot of money for me. I hate to spend this amount of money if I don’t really need it.

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gloaming | @gloaming | 2 days ago

My machine, well two now, both RESMED, have been exceptional. They routinely show that I have anywhere from 0.0-1.5 AHI. That's a fair range considering my month-over-month average for seven years going has been 0.5 events/hr. But it's not like 2-15 events which would suggest non-treatment to me.

I fear you may have one of two things going on...that I can think of: you are actually drifting into light sleep more than you realize, and you are not being treated well at your current settings. This from the high numbers. Or, your machine is on the fritz and may need servicing.

Lastly, if you are not already there, please consider joining an superior forum and resource site, apneaboard.com. There is no cost, and they provide an excellent freeware that you can download to a PC and then use your machine's SIM to download data into that program after you have established a profile. At the top of the site's main forum page, in the black marquee, toward the center-right, see OSCAR. That's it. Also, post with a description of your circumstances. There's a good chance you'll soon get several highly educated replies.

carculmer | @carculmer | 2 days ago

I recently had another sleep study at an overnight sleep center. I was comfortable but would swear I DID NOT fall asleep. I tossed and turned as much as as possible while being hooked up. When the tech came in at 6 AM to "wake" me up I said I felt like I barely slept and she said "oh you did - you had a good night's sleep." I was shocked. This is in contrast to my very first sleep study 10years ago at a sleep center when they sent me home at 3 AM stating I wasn't sleeping so I might as well go home and I had to do it all over again with a sleeping pill of some sort on another night.