"please keep me updated about oximeters "
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Encore Viewer questions
And I've been using it:
It's hard to believe that some doctors could hide vital information from their patients but in the world of sleep apnea, this is what I've experienced. The doctors I've gone to either aren't set up to read a Respironics Bpap auto or told me that all they can read (a lie of course) is the compliance data and despite my written request, all my DME sent back to me when I sent my smart card was compliance data so I figured I had to buy the Encore Viewer and card reader if I wanted to know how my therapy was going, of course its crucial to know what's going on at night while sleeping and using the machine.
In general I'm pleased with the ability of the Viewer to tell me how well I am (or aren't) doing but questions come up being that I'm not as informed about apnea as I need to be, seems like questions always come up regarding apnea results, apnea treatment.
Lately I haven't been sleeping well, I've had the Viewer around two weeks now, at first I was sleeping soundly, last four or five nights I've been finding it hard to fall asleep and been waking up every hour after sleeping for about two-three hours straight and then either getting up for awhile or falling asleep right away and sleeping for another hour and repeating the process. My AHIs have been varying, they had dropped last month according to the Viewer from an average of about 3 to an average of about 2 and some nights were under 2 and even a couple of nights under 1............now they are varying with the last three nights showing 4.0, 1.5, 3.8.
Actually due to my work schedule I'm not a "night" sleeper but I'm a morning sleeper; I usually sleep or try to sleep from around 4-5 AM to after noon. My next question is that I wanted to know if my card might be defective or if my hours (reset time being 12 noon on Respironics) were messing my data up. My Viewer report is showing a missing Feb 25 on the weekly summary chart but the report for Feb 25 is in the daily reports however Feb 26 shows up on the weekly summary report while the daily report for Feb 26 is missing (although I did see it when I first downloaded the data)..........also I'm seeing data indicating that I only used the machine for 00:9 and for 1:57 on two days when I turned off the machine respectively at 12:09 PM and 1:57 PM but I think that these data straighten out after awhile since the daily reports show the full seven or eight hours of use for those days.
I also wanted to know exactly what Average Non Responsive Apnea/Hypopnea Index indicated.........It's usually 0 on my report or very low as my weekly summary was 0.8, also exactly what daily Obstructive Apnea Index, Hypopnea Index, AHI indicated.............Isn't Obstructive Apnea the same as AHI? Numbers are different.
Other things I wanted to know the exact meaning of and what exactly they indicated were Average Flow Limitation Index, Average Vibratory Snore, Average Max Leak, Average Leak, Average Large Leak.
And one question which really puzzles me: What does "Average Time In Apnea Per Day" indicate? I take it that it indicates (or hope it indicates) the total amount of time on average each night that I have episodes and not the average amount of time that EACH apnea episode last for as my average is 2 mins 24 seconds!
Thanks all that answer.
It's hard to believe that some doctors could hide vital information from their patients but in the world of sleep apnea, this is what I've experienced. The doctors I've gone to either aren't set up to read a Respironics Bpap auto or told me that all they can read (a lie of course) is the compliance data and despite my written request, all my DME sent back to me when I sent my smart card was compliance data so I figured I had to buy the Encore Viewer and card reader if I wanted to know how my therapy was going, of course its crucial to know what's going on at night while sleeping and using the machine.
In general I'm pleased with the ability of the Viewer to tell me how well I am (or aren't) doing but questions come up being that I'm not as informed about apnea as I need to be, seems like questions always come up regarding apnea results, apnea treatment.
Lately I haven't been sleeping well, I've had the Viewer around two weeks now, at first I was sleeping soundly, last four or five nights I've been finding it hard to fall asleep and been waking up every hour after sleeping for about two-three hours straight and then either getting up for awhile or falling asleep right away and sleeping for another hour and repeating the process. My AHIs have been varying, they had dropped last month according to the Viewer from an average of about 3 to an average of about 2 and some nights were under 2 and even a couple of nights under 1............now they are varying with the last three nights showing 4.0, 1.5, 3.8.
Actually due to my work schedule I'm not a "night" sleeper but I'm a morning sleeper; I usually sleep or try to sleep from around 4-5 AM to after noon. My next question is that I wanted to know if my card might be defective or if my hours (reset time being 12 noon on Respironics) were messing my data up. My Viewer report is showing a missing Feb 25 on the weekly summary chart but the report for Feb 25 is in the daily reports however Feb 26 shows up on the weekly summary report while the daily report for Feb 26 is missing (although I did see it when I first downloaded the data)..........also I'm seeing data indicating that I only used the machine for 00:9 and for 1:57 on two days when I turned off the machine respectively at 12:09 PM and 1:57 PM but I think that these data straighten out after awhile since the daily reports show the full seven or eight hours of use for those days.
I also wanted to know exactly what Average Non Responsive Apnea/Hypopnea Index indicated.........It's usually 0 on my report or very low as my weekly summary was 0.8, also exactly what daily Obstructive Apnea Index, Hypopnea Index, AHI indicated.............Isn't Obstructive Apnea the same as AHI? Numbers are different.
Other things I wanted to know the exact meaning of and what exactly they indicated were Average Flow Limitation Index, Average Vibratory Snore, Average Max Leak, Average Leak, Average Large Leak.
And one question which really puzzles me: What does "Average Time In Apnea Per Day" indicate? I take it that it indicates (or hope it indicates) the total amount of time on average each night that I have episodes and not the average amount of time that EACH apnea episode last for as my average is 2 mins 24 seconds!
Thanks all that answer.
Views: 154
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on
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Unfortunately, the M series machines "loose" data. Many users find that out of a week session they maybe missing one or two nights. Some have contacted Respironics over this and have not really received any concrete answers on why this happens or if they intend to correct it, to my knowledge.
The AHI is an index of apnea and hyponea incidents. An AHI of less than 5 is considered normal and a target that doctors hope to obtain. Many find that with an AHI of 5, they still don't feel as rested and try to obtain better numbers by tweaking their therapy. Usually this involved monitoring your therapy and fixing problems, such as leaks, and being proactive. I consistently have an AHI of less than 1. It took some time and patiences to get there and, in my opinion, well worth it.
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Permalink Reply by BPLink on
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Thanks for replying. I really apprciate it.
Lots of things that I'd like to know. I don't feel rested when i wake up, my leaks are kind of high, I have the Mirage Quattro FF and my leaks average around the mid to high 40's, I'm at 16 I 14 E and i go up to 19/17 but my leaks might be high and I was wondering if this could be skewering my data. I also do watch my nightly data and I would "skewer" my pressure as my doctor (any doctor I had) doesn't care about anything except compliance...shocking but true so I guess I need to become informed and to take control of my own health.
If I lose data and Respironics doesn't help then what's the alternative? At least its only compliance data and I'm not that sure that my insurance company cares about compliance although I use the machine every night.
Wondering why I might be doing worse in AHIs lately? Any cause for concern or its probably just a fluctuation?
I especially wanted to know about the column on the Encore Viewer for "Average Time In Apnea Per Day" regarding what this means!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm showing an average last week for example of 2 minutes 24 seconds (or was it 2 minutes 30 seconds?) and I wanted to be sure that this meant the average daily total of apnea events each night and not the average time of EACH apnea event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for caring.
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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Average Non Responsive Apnea/Hypopnea Index is Respironics-speak for Central Sleep Apnea. Central Sleep Apnea is something you don't hear about too often from doctors or anyone else because nobody knows what causes it or how to fix it. Central Sleep Apnea is a neurological problem where the brain does not send a signal to the lungs to breathe. Obstructive Sleep Apnea, on the other hand, is a physical problem caused by something physically blocking the airway, usually the tongue, tonsils, other tissue in the throat, but could also be obstruction in the nose. make sense?
I also wanted to know exactly what Average Non Responsive Apnea/Hypopnea Index indicated.........It's usually 0 on my report or very low as my weekly summary was 0.8, also exactly what daily Obstructive Apnea Index, Hypopnea Index, AHI indicated.............Isn't Obstructive Apnea the same as AHI? Numbers are different.
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Wanted to thank all of you who answered.
This forum is setting a very high standard of helpfulness and members here should be commended for this.
Thank You!
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very welcome. glad we could help. please tell others with Sleep Apnea about the site. the more members, the more effective the forum will be.
BPLink said:Wanted to thank all of you who answered.
This forum is setting a very high standard of helpfulness and members here should be commended for this.
Thank You!
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