AHI adjustment or not?

[Pesser]

A month ago I took the machine home to find out if I have a sleeping problem. I needed to do this because I have had insomnia all my life. I stayed in bed for 7 hours but only slept 4 ½. My reading was AHI=3.8. The next day I stayed in bed for 6.5 hours and slept for 5. My first two weeks were pretty much like this! The service provider told me that the machine knows that I wasn’t sleeping and no adjustments to the AHI is necessary. Is this true?

[Bill44133]

Your AHI should be 5 or less is the standard.

[Pesser]

This is what I mean: 3.8*7=26.6; if the machine doesn’t know that I am awake then my real AHI is 26.6/5=5.32(AHI). Am I right?

[LSAT]

When you are in bed with your machine and mask on the machine does not know if you are sleeping or not. Your breathing is different when you are awake and may cause your AHI to be higher than it would be if you were sleeping straight through. If your AHI was 3.8 when you are only sleeping part of the night, it would most likely be lower if you slept all night. AHI is measured per hour. If you have 5 or less per hour that equates to 30-40 per night. That is considered treated.

PS. If your service providor told you that the machine knows when you are awake...he doesn't know what he is talking about. (Only Santa knows when you are sleeping and when you are awake )

[Guest]

This is what I mean: 3.8*7=26.6; if the machine doesn’t know that I am awake then my real AHI is 26.6/5=5.32(AHI). Am I right?

without knowing what these numbers stand for how could anyone say?

[patrick_a]

When you are in bed with your machine and mask on the machine does not know if you are sleeping or not. Your breathing is different when you are awake and may cause your AHI to be higher than it would be if you were sleeping straight through. If your AHI was 3.8 when you are only sleeping part of the night, it would most likely be lower if you slept all night. AHI is measured per hour. If you have 5 or less per hour that equates to 30-40 per night. That is considered treated.

PS. If your service providor told you that the machine knows when you are awake...he doesn't know what he is talking about. (Only Santa knows when you are sleeping and when you are awake )

It's virtually impossible to trigger an event while awake. During my recent testing of my machine, and after several false attempts to trick it, I learned this. So, while his provider's comment might not be 100% accurate, they are effectively true.

[LSAT]

When you are in bed with your machine and mask on the machine does not know if you are sleeping or not. Your breathing is different when you are awake and may cause your AHI to be higher than it would be if you were sleeping straight through. If your AHI was 3.8 when you are only sleeping part of the night, it would most likely be lower if you slept all night. AHI is measured per hour. If you have 5 or less per hour that equates to 30-40 per night. That is considered treated.

PS. If your service providor told you that the machine knows when you are awake...he doesn't know what he is talking about. (Only Santa knows when you are sleeping and when you are awake )

It's virtually impossible to trigger an event while awake. During my recent testing of my machine, and after several false attempts to trick it, I learned this. So, while his provider's comment might not be 100% accurate, they are effectively true.

While you are trying to fall asleep or as you wake up, most people will trigger central apneas (CA). While you are awake you breathe differently and still can trigger HA's as well as CA's.

[Pesser]

I certainly appreciate all the post. Please keep helping! The thing is that I was always sleeping 5 hours. Fully awake I stay in bed trying to get used to the gear. That is the tube, sound of the machine etc… My breathing was very calm. At that point my AHI would have been 5.32. And not 3.8 after two further hours without having any events. This is very important to me. I have insomnia and want to give myself the best chance of good sleep. The question is to what extent my sleep will improve over time. I already have more energy and my AHI is now 1.2.

[kteague]

If you're so inclined you could delve into the details of your data. If your awake time is in the beginning of the night or you have some idea of when you were asleep, you could get an idea how your events look during time slept. Did you already have a diagnostic study and this is for finding your best pressure? Reason I ask is, if you are on a machine with pressure you will only get a treated AHI which is in no way indicative of the untreated AHI or the severity of ones condition. At any rate, hope you find the machine enables you to begin getting the sleep you need.

[Pesser]

If you're so inclined you could delve into the details of your data. If your awake time is in the beginning of the night or you have some idea of when you were asleep, you could get an idea how your events look during time slept. Did you already have a diagnostic study and this is for finding your best pressure? Reason I ask is, if you are on a machine with pressure you will only get a treated AHI which is in no way indicative of the untreated AHI or the severity of ones condition. At any rate, hope you find the machine enables you to begin getting the sleep you need.

Thank you!

Having insomnia since childhood I was hoping I had real bad apnea. That way I could set about to solve my problem. At least I would have something to fight with. However, with only AHI to work with at the start of the treatment (that data is now gone), I was left puzzled by the low AHI. I am now looking to see if other graphs on SleepyHead can give me an indication of at least part of my problem. If I have an apnea related problem mixed in with insomnia, then I am left with hope that with machine use I will eventually sleep more and better. I am already sleeping better but not more.

[robysue]

A month ago I took the machine home to find out if I have a sleeping problem. I needed to do this because I have had insomnia all my life. I stayed in bed for 7 hours but only slept 4 ½. My reading was AHI=3.8. The next day I stayed in bed for 6.5 hours and slept for 5.

Are you talking about a home sleep study where you wore a bunch of wires and a whole lot of data was gathered?

Or are you talking about using an APAP where there's nothing attached to you except for the CPAP mask?

[Pesser]

APAP only!

[kteague]

Ok, since you are doing this without a diagnostic study, your goal will be to get your AHI as low as possible, but unless you do something more than this, you will not know exactly how your untreated apnea looks. If it is important to you to know that, a diagnostic study without a machine would be the way to find out. If you can get effective treatment and go forward from here, you may decide the "knowing" isn't that important. However, if after some time of optimizing your treatment in all the ways you can you still find your AHI unsatisfactory, sleep not improved, or daytime symptoms still problematic, you may want to rethink if this approach is adequate.

[Pesser]

Hi kteague:

Thanks for this!!!