I had a sleep test done and I just got my results today. They say I have  severe sleep apnea. My results were: I slept for 393 minutes. I had 289 apnea events of 10 seconds or longer. That is one event every 1 to 3 minutes. The longest event was 43.8 seconds and my oxygen level dropped to 83%. I am going in for another test with the cpap in a couple of weeks. My question is this. How do these results compair to everyone else? How severe is it? Do poeple actually die from this? How is the cpap machine and can you really sleep with one on? Does it really make you feel rested. I would love to be able to stay awake all day. It is affecting my job.

Anyway, Thanks for letting me ask.
Bill.

The number of apnea events you had is pretty high, but not the record.  Congratulations on discovering what the problem was!

I've seen obituaries listing sleep apnea as the cause of death, but generally sleep apnea causes another condition that's the actual cause of death.

You'll be amazed at how wonderful CPAP therapy is!  First, it sounds like a white noise machine, so you really don't notice noises during the night.  Second, masks generally have a device that swivels so you don't get tangled up in the hose.  Third (and best), many nights you'll put on your mask, turn the machine one, turn out the light, and not be aware of a thing until the alarm goes off!

Don't expect the benefits to happen overnight.  Some people take a while to get used to XPAP therapy, and even getting used to a new mask can take time.  Additionally, you've been sleep deprived for years, and the first night of CPAP won't erase the deficit of years.  Find joy in each step toward feeling great!

Once you start CPAP treatment, make it a priority to get enough sleep.  It's very tempting to get six hours of sleep with CPAP, and be satisfied because you may feel as alert as eight hours of "sleep" without CPAP.  What you really want is seven to eight (try for eight) hours of good sleep, so you can really feel refreshed.  Don't settle for not being well rested!

Good luck!

Ridge Runner wrote:

The number of apnea events you had is pretty high, but not the record.  Congratulations on discovering what the problem was!

I've seen obituaries listing sleep apnea as the cause of death, but generally sleep apnea causes another condition that's the actual cause of death.

You'll be amazed at how wonderful CPAP therapy is!  First, it sounds like a white noise machine, so you really don't notice noises during the night.  Second, masks generally have a device that swivels so you don't get tangled up in the hose.  Third (and best), many nights you'll put on your mask, turn the machine one, turn out the light, and not be aware of a thing until the alarm goes off!

Don't expect the benefits to happen overnight.  Some people take a while to get used to XPAP therapy, and even getting used to a new mask can take time.  Additionally, you've been sleep deprived for years, and the first night of CPAP won't erase the deficit of years.  Find joy in each step toward feeling great!

Once you start CPAP treatment, make it a priority to get enough sleep.  It's very tempting to get six hours of sleep with CPAP, and be satisfied because you may feel as alert as eight hours of "sleep" without CPAP.  What you really want is seven to eight (try for eight) hours of good sleep, so you can really feel refreshed.  Don't settle for not being well rested!

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. Now what does periodic limb movement index of 14.8 mean?  I had a snoring index of 171.30. No ideal what that means other then loud. lol I had 61 central apneas. What is a central apnea?

Thanks for your help I feel much better.

bill

Hi Bill:
PLMs are this:
http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=435

Anything that is an index means number per time unit, in this case per hour, so you got 15 PLMs per hour.
You got 170 snores per hour, but that number really doesn't mean anything.  Well over half the time you were having apneas, and not snoring, which is certainly a heckuva lot more important than if you were to have, say 500 snores per hour and breathing fine.  A snore is not an issue unless it causes a break in your sleep continuity, or an arousal.  Be sure to tell that to your wife.

Central apneas have a myriad of causes, but most likely in your case, they could have been obstructive apneas that were not quite picked up by the sensors, or by a compensatory pause following an arousal or movement.  See what happens after the CPAP titration.

Here's some central reading in the meanwhile:
http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?p=1180&highlight=central+apnea#1180
I think you will do fabulous on CPAP.
sleepydave



Last edited by sleepydave on Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:21 am; edited 1 time in total

Okay, I got my results back for my titration sleep test and I meet with the neurologist and he said I have very severe sleep apnea. Here is the results:

Total sleep time: 341 mins
Sleep efficiency: 74%
Sleep latency: 46.5 mins
REM latency: 0 mins
stage 1: 47.8%
stage 2: 41.2%
stage 3: 1.3%
stage 4: 9.7%
REM: 0%
Stage change index: 20.23

Respiratory Summary
149 Apnea events
232 Central apneas
total apnea index 67.04
supine AHI of 68.13
Longest Hypopnea: 51.2 seconds
Lowest oxygen saturation: 79%
Average saturation: 93%
Event average: 91%
Snoring index: 50.67

EMG summary
pml index: 12.8
Arousal index: .7

ECG summary
sinus arrhythmias were seen
no epileptic activity was seen

Study was ended with the BIPAP at 23/18 and a backup rate of 12.
However the patient sleep was very fragmented and he continued to have events.
Therefore he might benefit from a second study after he becomes more comfortable with the BIPAP.

So, the first test I had 61 central events but this time on the cpap/bipap my central events skyrocketed to 232. What the heck caused that?
Also, that BIPAP machine was up so high that when I opened my mouth my cheeks would puff out as if I was skydiving. So if the machine is maxed out and I am still having events then what can I do about it now? I suppose I can just go to sleep every night and hope I wake up in the morning.

What do you think SleepyDave?


_________________
Hi. I don't sleep good. Is it bedtime yet?

Hi Bill!
Boy, I really figured that once you got onto CPAP, you'd sleep like a rock.  Instead, that looks like one rotten night.
There should be a table of all the CPAP and BiPAP pressures that were attempted and your response.  See if you can get that.  There may be a clue there.
There's almost no quality sleep here.  Stage 1 is that transition from wake to sleep, has no rest value, and should only be about 5% of the night.  So half the night was spend trying to get to sleep.  And never getting into REM either.  At this point, this seems less of a failure to find the right CPAP level, there was never really a time to properly adjust the settings.
So was it the respiratory events that kept waking you up, or was it something else that prevented you from getting sustained sleep?
So first look at the things that prevent sleep.  Are you on any medications, or have any underlying significant medical issues?  Anything that made it uncomfortable to fall asleep, like leg pains (RLS can be present if you have PLMS, and even if you don't).
There no real way to accurately predict how much CPAP will end up needing to control their apnea, but that's a ton of pressure you got there.  And a backup rate no less.  A possibility could be that the CPAP was titrated too aggressively, until that too, made sleeping nearly impossible.
Still can't tell about the centrals.  As you saw from the examples, they may be generated by an arousal, and are simply a result of a brief period of hyperventilation, even a sigh.  Judging by the severe sleep fragmentation, I'd be leaning that way.  You can tell this by looking at the actual study, the arousal comes first, then the centrals, it would be good to know that.
Centrals can also be caused by over-titration of CPAP/BiPAP.  And, yeah, back to the lot of pressure.
Any underlying cardiac or neurological issues?  You're seeing a neuro guy?
Based on those answers, you could have real centrals, but right now the likelihood seems otherwise, and you really have to know that because chasing centrals with CPAP or BiPAP is a pain in the butt to do.
Overall, this looks like CPAP/BiPAP intolerance that makes any useful information indiscernable from the study.  The question now is, how do you get accustomed to the BiPAP to prepare for the next study.  And 23/18 @12 might be a bear to try to get used to pressure therapy.
A better approach might be use an AutoCPAP.  If there was a pressure on the titration where you had some sustained sleep, use that as the focal point, or just set a wide range, and download frequently to zero in on your effective pressure quickly.  If it is the respiratory events that are causing the fragmentation and failure to attain sustained sleep (and while that could be A reason, I don't think it's THE reason) you don't want to be spending time at a lot of ineffective pressures.  Once you can sleep fairly continuously with AutoCPAP for at least 4 hours or so, then you could try the titration to insure you got into REM,  and verify the pressure.  If it's a very high pressure or you've still got the centrals, then BiPAP would be used, and at least today, there's not an AutoBiPAP (maybe on about October 28, though).
Hope that's a start.  Check back.
sleepydave