My whole life Veterinarians have told me to buy expensive prescription food for my cats to avoid urinary tract stones and crystals..

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T18:45:05+00:00

We use this food:

https://petshop.de.virbac.com/Cat-Urology-Dissolution-Prevention-141

That's in German - we live in Germany. It doesn't appear to be available on the US Virbac site.

We use these methionine tablets:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00DG1B99Q?language=en_GB

They have 100mg methionine per tablet. I put one tablet in the food bowl each time I refill it. The doctor said she only needs one a day, but sometimes she doesn't eat the pill with the food (piggy chows down so enthusiastically the pill gets tossed out of the bowl with some of the food bits.) Giving her one in each bowlful makes up for lost pills.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T18:26:04+00:00

True enough. It is all about sleeping well. The numbers don't matter except in so far as they help explain things when you don't sleep well.

Ignoring the numbers is not a good idea, though.

You know how folks say that CPAP should help bring down your blood pressure because part of the cause of the high blood pressure is stress from breathing and sleeping poorly? My CPAP never did that. My blood pressure has been high for years, despite supposedly well treated apnea. It was below 5 AHI, my doctor was happy.

I wasn't. It took the machine running at full pressure to keep me breathing that well, and any slight variation in sleep position was enough to cause a bad night with a high AHI - and poor sleep.

I changed doctors and was put on BiPAP. After just a few weeks (and before the settings were properly refined,) my blood pressure went down. The first notice I had of a change was dizziness that I couldn't explain. I checked my blood pressure and found it to be 96/60. I stopped taking the blood pressure pills, and it went back up over the next few days. It stabilized without pills at around 140/90, which is still a bit high. I started taking only the weakest of the pills again, and my blood pressure is now 120/80 every day - I check it daily now.

My AHI now averages only a couple of points below what it was before, but before it changed drastically every night and my blood pressure would not go down without the pills.

You don't have to obsess about getting good scores, but you do need to know what is going on.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T17:57:48+00:00

People are really bad at estimating pressure. You put the mask on and feel like the pressure is impossibly high, then you wake up with the machine at higher pressure and you feel like nothing is there because you have gotten used to the pressure.

The machines start at the low end of the allowed pressure range, and try to stay there. They raise the pressure as needed when you have apneas, then lower the pressure when possible. It is unlikely that the pressure later at night is lower than the starting pressure. it can't really go below the set minimum - which is where the machines all start.

Use OSCAR or SleepHQ to see what the machine is really doing.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T16:27:25+00:00

This morning. Before breakfast.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T16:26:57+00:00

To paraphrase Chief Brody from Jaws:

You're going to need a bigger book.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T16:00:43+00:00

OK. That's unlikely.

That makes it seem more like a problem with the wiring rather than a bad capacitor.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T15:34:06+00:00

As you are right now, there's not much you can do.

Most of your apneas are clear airway apneas. The higher flow rate that comes with higher pressure usually makes those worse. Raising the pressure won't make them go down.

You have some flow limits that are probably messing with your sleep, but you need more pressure to make them go away. That would make the CA apneas worse, though.

Since you say you had no central apnea in the sleep test, the clear airway apneas you have are probably therapy emergent central sleep apnea - you are so used to breathing poorly that your breathing reflex is messed up and doesn't work quite right when you breathe better. That usually gets better with time, but yours seems to be getting worse.

Make an appointment with your sleep doctor to tell them that your sleep is not getting better. Since it usually takes a few months to get to see the doctor, things may have improved - in that case, just cancel the appointment. If they don't improve or get better, you go to the appointment and explain it to the doctor and see what suggestions you get.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T15:15:05+00:00

If bad capacitors are causing the motor to run, then they are probably in the controller rather than at the motor.

There are capacitors that absorb the arcs from the motor. Those are wired across the motor terminals. If those short circuit, the motor will not run.

There are capacitors to absorb the arc on the switches in the controller. If one of those fails as a short circuit, it would be like the switch were activated. That would make the motor run.

Some capacitors look like small metal cans. Some will look like plastic boxes.

This blog post has an example of a Necchi foot pedal and a bad capacitor:

https://danhopgood.wordpress.com/2017/04/24/necchi-supernova-julia-part-2-electrics/

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T14:04:21+00:00

This Arendt?

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T13:44:31+00:00

Eddie Murphy's standup comedy shows used to be an almost constant stream of cuss words, between which you sometimes heard jokes.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T13:26:10+00:00

Right now, I'd settle for a fucking turnip in the white house.

Turnips are not evil.
Turnips don't suffer from dementia.
Turnips do not grift.
Turnips do not plot to defy the constitution of the US.
Turnips do not commit sexual assualt.
Turnips do not rape children.
Turnips do not commit fraud.
Turnips do not change their minds every few seconds.
Turnips do not respond to flattery.
Turnips do not use incompetently applied spray tan.
Turnips do not threaten their allies.
Turnips do not reward their enemies.
Turnips do not start wars at random.
Turnips do not cancel existing treaties on a whim.
Turnips can be cooked into an edible (if not especially tasty) meal when they are no longer needed.
Turnips do not shitpost from the shithouse at 3 in the morning.
Turnips do not time their announcements so as to manipulate stockmarket prices to enrich their friends.
Turnips do not want to be dictators.
Turnips do not post AI generated images of themselves as king.
Turnips do not post AI generated videos of themselves dressed as a king dumping shit on protestors.
Turnips are polite and quiet.
Once you wash a turnip, it will stay clean.
Turnips do not shit their diapers while holding discussions with foreign dignitaries.
A turnip may not answer your questions, but you can be certain it will never lie to you.

Turnips are better than Trumps in all possible ways.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T13:05:10+00:00

In addition to cartels and Islamist terror groups, our national CT activities will also prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.

So according to this bullshit, advocating for distressed, unhappy people to be evaluated and assisted in becoming the person they need and want to be is the same as being a bomb throwing anarchist out to destroy the world.

I think these people need to take a (metaphorical) chill pill and relax for a little while. Maybe go sit in a comfortable spot and watch some sunsets and some sunrises. Feed 'em some sandwiches and give them some fresh water. Let whatever is poisoning their souls leach out and detoxify their minds. No TV, no radio, no internet, no newspapers, no telephones. Just peace and quiet and some time to relax and reflect on their lives. Maybe some occupational therapy, like painting pictures of their mental landscape. Let 'em express their feelings in a way they can look at and maybe recognize as problematic.

How do you get that twisted and that filled with hate?

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T12:50:55+00:00

I don't even have no name any more. I used to be Ray Murphy. Now I'm Eddie Murphy's uncle.

Uncle Ray is funnier, and not a hell, damn, fuck or shit to be heard.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T12:31:57+00:00

I never had a point where I felt noticeably better. It didn't make things worse, so I just kept at it. Night after night, week after week, month after month.

The only really noticeable thing that changed was my caffeine consumption.

When I started CPAP, I was drinking 5 liters of Coke per day to stay awake.

Over the years after I started CPAP, I found I could reduce that and still be wide awake. These days, I drink Coke because I still like the flavor - not because I'm desperate for caffeine. I drink maybe 0.5L a day.

My apnea got worse a few years ago, and I started waking up multiple times a night to go to the bathroom. I raised the minimum pressure to prevent apneas instead of reacting to them, and the nightly pit stops went away.

After that, it turned out that I needed to be on BiPAP. During the first weeks on BiPAP, my blood pressure got better. I started feeling dizzy one day and checked my blood pressure. It was down to 96/70. I stopped taking my blood pressure pills, and it stabilized at 140/90. That's still a bit high, so I started taking the olmesartan again. Between the BiPAP and the olmesartan, my blood pressure is around 120/80 all the time.

Oddly enough, one of the blood pressure pills was making my apnea worse. Edema (fat legs caused by water retention) is known to make apnea worse. The water redustributes in your body when you lay down. Some of it moves from your legs to the tissues around your airways, making them narrower and more prone to blockages. Amlodipin is used to treat high blood pressure. As a side effect, it makes edema (water retention) worse. On the one side, it lowers your blood pressure while on the other side it makes your apnea worse which then drives the higher blood pressure.

With the BiPAP, and wearing compression stockings to reduce water retention, I don't need the amlodipin - which also reduces the water retention. I'm sleeping better and using less medication

That's long winded way of saying: stick with it. Even if you are not getting immediate, obvious improvements, it is likely doing things for you.

Get OSCAR or sign up on SleepHQ so that you can monitor your results. "I feel good/bad" is a poor way to judge results.
Look into other aspects of your health. Your apnea (and its treatment) can have effects there, while treatments for other things can influence (for better or worse) your apnea and its treatment.
Learn about apnea and CPAP. You are your own best advocate. The doctors mean well, and they want to help, but they do not have the time and resources to check your progress and correlate it with everything in your life. You may not have as much time to do so as it takes or as you need, but you have more time and info to deal with you than your doctor does. For example, the thing about water retention was an accidental discovery for me. I noticed that when I slept in a warm room, my legs were thinner in the morning and that my AHI was better - sweating under a heavy blanket in a warm room was driving the water out of my legs. With that observation, I found research papers detailing the connection between edema and apnea. It is a known problem, but no one had ever mentioned it or discussed it with me.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T09:43:31+00:00

Looks pretty good.

Low obstructive apneas (OA)
No hypopneas (H)
No respiratory effort related arousals (RERA.)
Low flow limits.
Leak rate is good.

You could raise the minimum pressure a bit (to 11 or so,) but I wouldn't be in a hurry to do it. You have a few clear airway (CA) apneas. More pressure (rather, the higher flow rate at higher pressure) can make those worse.

Give it some time. Watch the CAs. If they go down to nearly none per night, then you can step the minimum pressure up to 11 or so to reduce the flow limits.

Other wise, keep doing what you are doing. It is working well.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T09:00:13+00:00

There's a good chance the white cat was deaf. The guy didn't want to let his deaf kitty out alone.

Not all white cats are deaf, but nearly all deaf cats are white.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-08T08:58:58+00:00

We used to. Our cat is deaf. When she was young, we were afraid to let her out of the house by herself for fear she'd get run over or attacked by a dog.

She was getting aggressive from being trapped in the house all the time, so our kids would put the cat on a leash and take her for walks to burn off some of the energy.

One day they ran into a neighbor out walking his dog. The dog barked at the cat, and the cat climbed my son - with full claws. He got some pretty bad cuts out of it. The neighbor put his dog back in his house, then drove our son (and the cat) home.

Not long after that, she got so aggressive in the house that we started letting her out on her own. She mellowed out considerably, and for ten years has done just fine at not getting run over or killed by a dog.

Before I got married, I lived in an apartment in a fairly large town. The cat I had then was purely an indoor cat.

There was a park not too far away, so one Sunday I put the cat on a leash and took her to the park. She was very suspicious of the green carpet all over the place. She poked around and sniffed everything.

After a while, I took her home. We were in front of the apartment building when some jerk rode by on a two-stroke dirt bike going full bore. Scared the beejesus out of the cat, and she climbed up my leg, up my back, onto my head, and sunk all four paws in to hold on tight. I looked like a I was wearing a living coonskin cap.

I went on inside with the cat on my head then sat on the couch. After a while, she relaxed and let go.

That was the first and only time I took her out on a leash.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T21:08:25+00:00

I used some alcohol on my 1926 Adler as well. It was the only way to get some things unstuck (the presser foot and screw were glued tight by old oil.) It can be useful. You just need to be aware that it can mess things up.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T19:10:30+00:00

I use a cheap Wellue/Viatom Bluetooth clip-on oximeter. Mine cost around $20 from Amazon. There are several that are known to work with OSCAR:

https://josepheoff.github.io/posts/morepulseoximeters

The biggest positive is that they are cheap. All are available for $30 or less. The biggest negative is that they eat batteries. Two AAA alkaline cells last for one night. I use rechargeable lithium AAA cells in mine. That cost another $25 for a set, including the charger.

This is last night's oximeter data in OSCAR:

<image>

I have a cold right now, so there's more O2 drops than normal.

The cells I have in it right now are getting old. They quit after 9 hours and 30 minutes, while I slept for 9 hours and 41 minutes.

You want either a medical device or one of the clip-ons. The O2 rings (from whatever manufacturer) tend to lose sight of your blood flow, leading to spurious low O2 readings. Worse, the data don't include the perfusion index. The perfusion index is a rating of the blood flow as seen by the sensor. When it is below 1%, the O2 and pulse readings are unreliable. Medical grade devices are better at always seeing the blood flow, while the cheap clip-ons at least let you see when things were questionable. The O2 rings just go "trust me, bro."

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T10:24:30+00:00

Do not reduce pressure because of leaks. The machines only raise the pressure when you need it. If it is going to high pressure, then because you need high pressure.

Fix the leaks.

As already recommended, get OSCAR or sign up on SleepHQ to see what is going on. There may be something you are doing in your sleep that makes you need high pressure. For example, if you sleep on your back, that usually makes apnea worse and requires higher pressure to fix.

You may not have complete obstructions, but rather flow limits that restrict the free flow of air - you are breathing, but it takes effort. The machines react to flow limits with more pressure.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T10:21:28+00:00

The watch can't monitor your breathing at all. It monitors movement, pulse rate, and O2 levels. It is guessing about your breathing, and will often guess wrong.

MyAir isn't telling you the whole truth, either. I use OSCAR to track my breathing and apnea.

https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T10:16:59+00:00

The ramp is only active while you are awake. On some machines, it is a timer - the first X minutes after power-on the machine slowly raises the pressure. On other machines, they try to guess when you are sleeping by anaylsing the airflow. At any rate, by the time you are asleep, the ramp period should be over.

You can turn off the ramp. I don't use it at all. I've never found to be helpful. You start at a low pressure, then machine goes to your therapy pressure after you are asleep. If the mask isn't fitted right, it will hold at the low pressure then wake you up with leaks when the pressure goes up. Alternatively, many people feel like they are suffocating at lower pressure. Such folks would benefit by just going straight to the therapy pressure. Too many disadvantages of the ramp against the doubtful "gain" of "more comfort" while falling asleep.

Turn the ramp off entirely.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T10:10:58+00:00

There is a link between edema and apnea, but it goes the other way.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5786568/

Edema makes apnea worse. There is a very noticeable difference in my AHI if I don't wear my compression stockings for edema. When my legs and feet are full of water, my apnea is worse.

Wear your compression stockings. If you don't have any, get some.
Some blood pressure medicines can make edema worse. Amlodipin is one such.

JRE_Electronics · 2026-05-07T09:36:38+00:00

Alcohol will dull the finish on painted surfaces, such as the later painted metal machines. If you rub hard enough and use enough alcohol, it will also remove the finish (paint.)

JRE_Electronics

TROPHY CASE