Well I went for my Titration study on tuesday. I began the test with a full face mask, but it quickly became painful and uncomfortable. I next tried the nasal pillows which were much more comfortable but I guess I open my mouth alot when I sleep because when I did, air came rushing out of my mouth a woke me up.

The doctor called me then next day with my results. She stated that it went pretty well even though I did not sleep very well. She stated that my apneas were down to 10 from 23 an hour, but she was still concerned with my apneas while in REM. They were still at 43 an hour (down from 66). She stated that she was going to reccommend that I get a CPAP machine that automatically adjusts the pressure when I go into REM sleep.

I was a litte dissapointed that my numbers were still as high as they were and I hope that this type of CPAP works better. I will use the CPAP for a month and then I will be going back for a follow up and my doctor will read the results from the smartcard.

I want to thank everyone on this website for helping me though this. This website is awesome. I have learned so much about this condition and I know that without all of the information and personal stories that are posted here,  it I would not fully understand it nor know the best way to approach treatment.

Thanks again,

Doug

Dwihunternh wrote:

She stated that she was going to reccommend that I get a CPAP machine that automatically adjusts the pressure when I go into REM sleep.
Doug

I have a question: How does the machine know you are in REM sleep?

My machine seems to adjust itself at regular intervals so i can understand having pre-sets for the normal sleep stages, but we, as a group, are anything BUT normal when it comes to sleep!

It would be easier to understand if the machine was hooked up ekg-wise and other probe-wise, but my cPAP is just a regular ol' cPAP machine.  Is your mahine different?

To be honest with you I have no idea..I will let you know when I get the thing...

Doug

I assume she just meant an auto PAP which adjusts the pressure as needed to stop your apneas. It doesn't know what stage of sleep you are in but it measures your bretahing and adjusts the pressure of the air it is pumping into your nose accordingly. I have an auto, and it has to give much more when I sleep on my back than on my side. I look every morning to see what hapopened the pervious night and my prssure used varies between 6.6 cm and 11.4 c.m. Within one week it often goes up and down, depending to some extent on whether I went to sleep early or late... whether I ate shortly before sleeping etc. It also tells me how many apnmeas I had, and the usual ouitcome is almost zero apneas and very few hypopneas (partial interruptions of breathing).
It is a great idea to get an auto and to monitor your progrss, seeing that you had few apneas will encourage you to kleep up the treatment, since we all need feedback.


_________________
Arthur
Sleeping with a curvaceous blonde autoPAP (Resmed autoset). Hope springs eternal.....