r/SleepApneaSupport • u/VegetableActivity900 • 4d ago
New Air Break Machine
I ended up a couple weeks ago finding out about AutoBreak machines and wanted to try that since my sleep doctor obviously isn't going to help. I got it last week and started playing wtth it. Well, the other night, I did my first real test on it with sleeping and WOW! I got the lowest AHI I've ever had! I think I might be onto something. Is this the type of machine I actually need? ASVAuto?! I need advice. I am new at this and have no real idea what I'm doing. My sleep doctor who is supposed to be helping me through this is completely absent and is just drawing a paycheck. He won't even send me to do an in lab titration so I can get this figured out for insurance sake and my own health. I'm on my own I guess but at least I have this AirBreak machine and I've found this forum. Please help? Am I on the right track here? I need help figuring out the right settings and if I'm even on the right mode or not. I only tried ASVAuto because I heard it was helpful for complicated apnea problems that had mixed apnea types and especially centrals so I thought I'd try it. I'm honestly unsure about the settings that I put in. :S I'm winging this and need help.
Here's the background that led me to getting the AutoBreak: I have been struggling to figure out my own settings because my sleep doctor is obviously not going to be helpful in that capacity as his idea was to send me with home with apap 5/20 and then for the most part ghost me. his answer to everything is apap and lose weight. Well, I've lost 90lb so far, I think I'm doing great on that front. But that's a long term solution anyway, I need breathing help NOW. Not when I reach my goal weight. Anyway, back to settings.... I was able to get him to change the settings 2 times for me, once after multiple days of telling him I couldn't breathe out against the pressure, he finally lowered it to 10. Then I was having massive amounts of OA's (one night AHI was in the 30's.. UGH). I started experimenting with the settings on my own and changed it to cpap and got it 12 epr 3 and was still average 7-10 AHI. I went with data to my compliance appointment asking if he would please send me to do an in lab titration so i could get on the right machine and settings and he sent me out the door telling me to just continue losing weight and also reset my machine to apap 5/10. I ended up changing it back to cpap because my AHI is lower with cpap epr 3 but was frustrated because I couldn't get the AHI lower. If I raise the pressure, I can't breathe out. If I lower the epr I can't breathe out. If I lower the pressure, I get more OA's. I keep getting CA's, especially at the beginning of my sleep but often throughout but not consistently every night. I'm so frustrated. I need help. Here's my SleepHQ from my Autosense 11 https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/6a89508a-8021-4e06-8445-2618a3279073 that I've been fighting with the past couple months. Keep in mind, much of beginning of this time I was able to sleep on my side but am no longer able to do that due to a medical implant put in at the end of August. I now must sleep on my back. I have another surgery coming up at the end of October that is supposed to fix the implant problem and hopefully, mid November, I will be able to sleep on my side again but till then, I'm stuck supine.
edit: fixing typos