AHI has jumped like crazy over past month

[SleepingBetterCPAP]

My AHIs were normally under 2 or 1 and all of the sudden they have jumped in the neighborhood of 7 or 8 some nights. No idea what exactly could be causing this.

Here's my sleephead overview.



I'm self-directed with therapy. Don't have insurance that covers this equipment and paying out of pocket for everything (and those pockets are rather empty). Any ideas what to do?

[Julie]

Apart from anything else (like new meds of any kind) have you gained even a little weight? It's amazing how much difference 5-10 lbs can make!

[SleepingBetterCPAP]

Weight gain + med change (anti-depressant)

[Julie]

Well there you go, if not happy. Is there a way to rejig the meds, e.g. take them at an earlier time, change doses, sub for similar-but-better ones? Is there a way to deal with the weight and still be ... not more unhappy?

[Pugsy]

Maybe a little more minimum and open up the max from 19 to 20 just in case it wants/needs to go higher and higher helps.

[nicholasjh1]

Also, not that this is the case here... Sometimes higher numbers actually mean falling into a deeper sleep.. If you are getting used to your mask/ found the right mask, it can actually up your AHI because you're getting into a more relaxed sleep pattern for longer... But it doesn't really matter except to say not to worry about the higher number... either way the solution is the same - a higher starting pressure.

[nicholasjh1]

I would also agree with Pugsy, the fact that you always hit the max of your range during the month isn't the best - opening it up could help.

[SleepingBetterCPAP]

So I did as suggested an opened up the min max a little bit. I hit 20 last night so it's kind of concerning to me. The AHI also has not really gone down back to where it used to be. Any ideas? Should I not be concerned about a 6.55 AHI?

[Pugsy]

You could try more minimum and see if it helps very much or not. Worth trying though since you have some room to still increase the minimum.

It's possible that whatever has happened to cause you to need more pressure can't be resolved with more minimum pressure with this machine and you might be needing pressures that are greater than what this machine can provide....so maybe you need a bilevel machine because they can go to 25 cm.

How are you feeling and sleeping? I wouldn't be happy if I saw AHI of 6 every night.
While this is just one night...I doubt that it's a one off fluke bad night.

[SleepingBetterCPAP]

I don't exactly feel worse than I did at the beginning of the month when my AHI was at its normal level. It really has me wondering if the machine is just having some sort of weird readings or its crapping out. It's got a lot of hours on it. I went ahead and ordered a new mask (going back to the nasal hybrid) and seeing if that helps at all. Can't afford a new machine at this point in time so I can only do so much.

Two thoughts I wanted to rule out:

A few weeks ago I had an episode where I got hot sauce caught in my throat and it sort of had me choking for a few minutes. Was finally able to get it to calm down after drinking some milk. Could this cause inflammation to the point that my throat is affected? I am not experiencing any soreness in my throat at the present time.

Also, could a mattress or pillow affect airway? My mattress is pretty busted up and It sort of caves in the middle. My pillows are also sort of funky and might cause my head to elevate in a high angle. Are either of these things something to consider with sleep apnea?

[Jay Aitchsee]

Sleeping B, I'm pretty sure this is not your problem, but I thought I would mention it in this thread in case it applies to someone else. Sometime after changing to standard time, I noticed my AHI had increased. It went from below 1.0 to about 2.0 and sometimes a little higher. Now, I didn't think too much about it, but I did notice my AHI had about doubled, though still not too high. After looking into it for a bit, I discovered SleepyHead was recording multiple instances of the same sleep session. The start and stop times of the sessions differed by a few seconds. All other information was the same, including the events and the times of events. This resulted in SleepyHead counting each event more than once. Two session over the same time period resulting in double the AHI. Multiple events were not apparent looking at the graphics because they were happening at the same time and superimposed. However, multiple events of the same time were listed under Events in the daily sidebar section and the multiple sessions were listed under Session Information at the bottom of the sidebar. My fix was to rebuild the cpap data and reformat the SD card. I don't know if my problem had anything to do with the seasonal time change (I didn't change my machine), could have been just coincidence.

As I said, I doubt this applies to you since it looks like your machine is trying to compensate for your increased events. I would be suspicious of the meds, if, in fact, your AHI went up when you changed, and I would be looking for any other changes that happened around the time of the increase in AHI. If the hot sauce was a factor, and I think it could be, but probably not, then your AHI should go back down as you heal. A change in masks could do it as well. If the increase happened when you changed masks, it would be suspicious.

I think your bedding could affect your sleep and therapy, but it seems that would be a rather gradual change. Having your head tilted forward will tend to close your airway and could be influencing your AHI. New pillows don't cost much and could be worth a try. Also you could try a soft cervical collar which will help to keep your chin up and your airway open. Here's a link provided by ChicagoGranny https://www.walmart.com/ip/DMI-Universa ... e/23057188