"please keep me updated about oximeters "
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Change in respiration rate
When I first started using my Resmed VPAP auto 25, the efficacy date reflected a respiration rate that typically lay in the range of 15 to 21 breaths per minute. It would occasionally spike -- every once in awhile it would read 15-40. I thought that those rates were an artifact -- based on conversations with the DME provider and with the Sleep Fellow (an MD -Sleep Doctor in Training rotating through the medical clinic).
More recently, the usual reading is 15-40 with 15-21 being the exception. My Sleep Doctor (whom I've known for more than a decade) says that he thinks the spikes are associated with dream activity.
I'd love to think that was the explanation -- if it is, it suggests I'm getting more consistent REM sleep. My Doc says I'm an XPAP superstar -- I've missed one night out of nearly 500 and average better than seven hours of usage, so, as one would expect, both my AHI and AI have fallen very nicely -- the one year levels are under 2 and 0 respectively, although higher on occasion.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with respiration rate? Is there reason to be concerned (other than latent hypochondria)? Has anyone heard a different explanation for the variations? Can anyone shed light on why the respiration rate is in the data tracked? I would guess that too low a respiration rate might trigger arousals but that's only a guess.
Views: 34
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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Respiratory is a a little more unstable or erratic in REM than in other stages.Your doc's explanation makes sense to me.
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what about Bpap jnk? setting up the proper respiration rate could be the key to continued therapy.
j n k said:The respiration rate is not relevant information for an OSA patient, really, as I understand it. It is a carryover from the ventilators that are the bilevels' great-grandfathers, if you will, from what I've read and been told.
Patients with other respiratory issues (like obesity-hypoventilation syndrome, or something) might benefit from the information, but we plain-vanilla OSA patients don't need to bother ourselves with it, other than maybe to glance at it once in while to see if there is some sudden change that might be a hint that something rare and unrelated is amiss.
-jeff
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Permalink Reply by Clueless in Redwood Shores on
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Thanks Jeff and Rock for helping me to understand better . Just as an aside, Jeff, I had tweaked my machine to allow for slower cycling to EPAP. My Sleep Doctor said that adaptation is only necessary for people suffering from other diseases impairing their breathing and set it back to the default. This supports your observation that respiration rate is not generally a relevant detail for therapy. It took at most a night or two to get accustomed to the change incidentally,
j n k said:Yes, setting up some machines requires rate information--either to set the window of opportunity for cycling to exhale pressure (Respironics BiPAP Autos are fully automatic with that, if I remember, but ResMed's VPAPs require setting up a window of opportunity for exhale) or for setting a backup rate in machines designed for that. But other than that, the RR information is not genrally used for evaluating therapy for the average OSA patient, as I understand it.
Rock Hinkle said:what about Bpap jnk? setting up the proper respiration rate could be the key to continued therapy.
j n k said:The respiration rate is not relevant information for an OSA patient, really, as I understand it. It is a carryover from the ventilators that are the bilevels' great-grandfathers, if you will, from what I've read and been told.
Patients with other respiratory issues (like obesity-hypoventilation syndrome, or something) might benefit from the information, but we plain-vanilla OSA patients don't need to bother ourselves with it, other than maybe to glance at it once in while to see if there is some sudden change that might be a hint that something rare and unrelated is amiss.
-jeff
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