3 ms·

Mildly related, I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep (OSA) apnea 6 months ago, and when sleeping I have to use a machine that blows air with a set pressure so

by Sxubas 3y ago

Mildly related, I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep (OSA) apnea 6 months ago, and when sleeping I have to use a machine that blows air with a set pressure so it 'counters' the obstruction (a CPAP machine). Not mission critical like type 1 diabetes, but those machines log a lot more than I expected. While reading this I wondered if someone has geeked something for similar for OSA, maybe for monitoring purposes or more severe cases. I already know (and am incredible grateful for) OSCAR[1], but I'm really curious to see what else is out there. 1: https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/ https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

tibbydudeza 3y ago
Rather mission critical I reckon. A CPAP machine was a life changer for me - long term untreated sleep apnea causes heart and other life issues. During my sleep study I logged about at the worst 48 incidents per minute of stopping to breath (kind of difficult to do that when you tongue rolls back into your airway)
- sbstp 3y ago
  My sleep study revealed 90.7 events per hour (30 is considered severe) and 55% blood oxygen level. I've been using a CPAP machine for about 2 months now, but still feeling pretty tired in general. Still waiting for the life changing effects.
  - cpuguy83 3y ago
    Have you analyzed the data from your cpap to see if it's doing what it needs to do? It has the data for your apnea events, sleep time, all kinds of interesting things. Check for leaks. Make sure your mask is actually comfortable, I'd recommend trying multiple if you haven't already.
  - manmal 3y ago
    Maybe you need a BIPAP.
  - hnlmorg 3y ago
    I was around 79 events and my CPAP was also life changing. But they’re not easy to get right. First you need a mask that fits the profile of your face and the severity of your condition. There are a lot of different shapes and designs. Having tried a few, some were completely useless for me. Only one actually worked. Facial hair also affects the performance of the mask too. I don’t know if this is something you need to be concerned about or not, but if you have a beard and wear a full mouth and nose mask, then you might want to consider a change of appearance. Then you have the configuration of the CPAP machine itself: + how much pressure to apply? + what, if any, ramp up period to use before deep sleep pressure is applied? Those two metrics took a bit of tuning before I found something I was comfortable with. I was lucky that I had (and still have) an excellent doctor to guide me through all of this. Free from the UK NHS too. I can’t imagine having to navigate all of these caveats on my own. Good luck with the CPAP machine. Not getting enough quality sleep can be debilitating. I’ve been in the same situation as you so understand how horrible life was before my CPAP machine.
    - tibbydudeza 3y ago
      I unlocked the machine by pressing two buttons and rebooting it and changed the ramping algorithm to less aggressive and increased the start pressure as it felt I was breathing from a straw when I tried to sleep. I use a nasal mask (not the pillows) since I am not a mouth breather - for me the Fisher & Paykel Eson 2 (L) was just the right fit - took about two different masks before I settled on it.
cpuguy83 3y ago
https://home.sleephq.com/ https://home.sleephq.com/ does a good job of processing this data if they support your machine.
- TheCapeGreek 3y ago
  Interesting, first time I've had a website break on Firefox like this. The CSS & JS are being blocked for tracking on Unbounce.

by Sxubas 3y ago

tibbydudeza 3y ago

Rather mission critical I reckon. A CPAP machine was a life changer for me - long term untreated sleep apnea causes heart and other life issues. During my sleep study I logged about at the worst 48 incidents per minute of stopping to breath (kind of difficult to do that when you tongue rolls back into your airway)

sbstp 3y ago
My sleep study revealed 90.7 events per hour (30 is considered severe) and 55% blood oxygen level. I've been using a CPAP machine for about 2 months now, but still feeling pretty tired in general. Still waiting for the life changing effects.
- cpuguy83 3y ago
  Have you analyzed the data from your cpap to see if it's doing what it needs to do? It has the data for your apnea events, sleep time, all kinds of interesting things. Check for leaks. Make sure your mask is actually comfortable, I'd recommend trying multiple if you haven't already.
- manmal 3y ago
  Maybe you need a BIPAP.
- hnlmorg 3y ago
  I was around 79 events and my CPAP was also life changing. But they’re not easy to get right. First you need a mask that fits the profile of your face and the severity of your condition. There are a lot of different shapes and designs. Having tried a few, some were completely useless for me. Only one actually worked. Facial hair also affects the performance of the mask too. I don’t know if this is something you need to be concerned about or not, but if you have a beard and wear a full mouth and nose mask, then you might want to consider a change of appearance. Then you have the configuration of the CPAP machine itself: + how much pressure to apply? + what, if any, ramp up period to use before deep sleep pressure is applied? Those two metrics took a bit of tuning before I found something I was comfortable with. I was lucky that I had (and still have) an excellent doctor to guide me through all of this. Free from the UK NHS too. I can’t imagine having to navigate all of these caveats on my own. Good luck with the CPAP machine. Not getting enough quality sleep can be debilitating. I’ve been in the same situation as you so understand how horrible life was before my CPAP machine.
  - tibbydudeza 3y ago
    I unlocked the machine by pressing two buttons and rebooting it and changed the ramping algorithm to less aggressive and increased the start pressure as it felt I was breathing from a straw when I tried to sleep. I use a nasal mask (not the pillows) since I am not a mouth breather - for me the Fisher & Paykel Eson 2 (L) was just the right fit - took about two different masks before I settled on it.

cpuguy83 3y ago

https://home.sleephq.com/ https://home.sleephq.com/ does a good job of processing this data if they support your machine.

TheCapeGreek 3y ago
Interesting, first time I've had a website break on Firefox like this. The CSS & JS are being blocked for tracking on Unbounce.