There is no such thing.Tahera11979 wrote:Would you know by any chance in what range it is normal for a 6.1 ft average weighing person? Is there such thing?
Also the pressures needed have nothing at all to do with the level of severity of the OSA (high vs low diagnostic AHI).
It all has to do with the patency of the tissues in the airway and nothing to do with how short or tall or skinny or fat or how severe the AHI is or isn't.
Some people just have airway tissues that need more pressure and some don't.
I have seen people with a diagnostic AHI of 80 plus get by with 6 cm pressure and I have seen people with AHI of 15 need 20 cm.
When we sleep on our backs the airway tissues tend to collapse more easily and be harder to keep open...hence the need for more pressure when on our backs.
Same thing can happen in REM sleep.
Now not everyone will have a marked difference in pressure needs with supine sleeping or REM sleep but it's very common if they do.
My OSA is 5 times worse in REM. Documented on my sleep studies and sometimes in REM I have some fairly significant changes in pressure needs. What works in non REM doesn't always work so great in REM.
I did do some experimenting to see if supine sleeping made a difference with my pressure needs and it didn't seem to. For some people it can be a significant difference. I built a wall that forced me to stay on my side with no chance of rolling over onto my back and I still saw the higher pressures in apap mode when what was probably REM sleep. So I said to heck with it and I sleep in whatever position I want and let the machine sort it out.
So your husband's snores increasing when he is on his back isn't unusual at all. The pressure just isn't doing a good enough job when he is on his back. Now how much more he might need...we don't know yet.
If it is a lot more he would be a good candidate for an apap capable machine. His DreamStation Pro will do limited APAP but not full time forever apap. Using apap mode might help figure out what he needs when he is on his back though.
Finally...some people will just say "sleep only on your side" and that's all well and good but much easier said than done. Once we are asleep we tend to toss and turn and end up on our backs despite our good intentions.
Plus there are people who can't stay on their side for any number of reasons..like maybe they have pain when on their side that is relieved when they are on their back. I am of the opinion that unless someone just wants to try to stay on their side and they can do it...sleep in whatever position you want and let the machine do its job.
With optimal pressure settings the airway can still be held open when on our backs...just gotta figure out what those settings are and do we want to use them.
