How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
SarahB
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How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by SarahB » Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:46 pm

And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
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rick blaine
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by rick blaine » Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:53 pm

Hi SarahB,

Ouch. Ten months is a long wait. Which hospital and sleep medicine department are you going to? (I'm curious - because the waiting time varies across the NHS, and what you tell me helps me help others).

As to how low? - my local chief sleep physiologist said she had an elderly woman patient with an AHI of 70. The physio considered it a result to get it down to 10. And you can still find an AHI of 10 as the target figure in some of the older text books.

But most UK sleep medicine departments have moved on since then, and the widely-used target is now under 5.

With good management and support, that should be quite possible. :)

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TASmart
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by TASmart » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:04 pm

SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
45 is way too high. You should start by including your equipment make and model and facemask and settings in your profile. Then if possible you should get sleepyhead (see apenaboard.com for a copy) download it and get some data posted to see. But at 45 you are far beyond untreated.
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by LSAT » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:15 pm

TASmart wrote:
SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
45 is way too high. You should start by including your equipment make and model and facemask and settings in your profile. Then if possible you should get sleepyhead (see apenaboard.com for a copy) download it and get some data posted to see. But at 45 you are far beyond untreated.


She said she is waiting to get started...she has no equipment

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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by USMCVet » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:23 pm

My initial sleep study said my AHI was around 35 overall. 3 while on side and in 70's while on my back.

I average less then 1 now and still sleep a good amount on my back.

Honestly though I think it all depends on the person though. Under 5 should definitely be attainable.

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ShinRyoku
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by ShinRyoku » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:42 pm

It varies a lot. While there is a loose correlation between baseline severity and on-treatment AHI, there are plenty of people who go from an AHI above 50 to an AHI less than 1 right away after starting CPAP.

I am not one of those people, sadly. I started with an AHI of 48, and on CPAP, I'm at 3 or 4. But I feel very well, and that's one of the most important things, right?

Best wishes. I hope you get started soon on treatment!
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SarahB
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by SarahB » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:46 pm

TASmart wrote:
SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
45 is way too high. You should start by including your equipment make and model and facemask and settings in your profile. Then if possible you should get sleepyhead (see apenaboard.com for a copy) download it and get some data posted to see. But at 45 you are far beyond untreated.
Thanks, that's helpful. As for the 10 months, I first went to the doctor towards the end of March last year and after some initial blood tests which were done almost immediately and came back normal, she referred me to the sleep clinic in Aberdeen, so that was probably early April. I was given an appointment in June and sent home with equipment to record my sleep. I didn't manage to sleep at all that night so I was given another appointment to do it all over again in October. I had to change the appointment to November as we were away on holiday. In December they told me to stop driving as I probably had severe obstructive sleep apnoea and I was referred for an urgent appointment with the consultant in January. At that appointment he told me I would get a date to come in for a CPAP machine. That appointment was on Thursday although it should have been the previous week but I couldn't make it.

So one or two delays caused by me not managing to sleep and also altering a couple of appointments. I do actually have the equipment but found I couldn't manage with the nasal mask so left a message next morning asking if I could have the full face mask which I had also had fitted the day before. I'm just waiting for them to get back to me now. I suppose I'm just getting a bit impatient because I was so near to the solution and now there's another delay.
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by USMCVet » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:51 pm

What machine do you have? What nasal mask do you have? What issues were you having with it?

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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by Goofproof » Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:09 pm

TASmart wrote:
SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
45 is way too high. You should start by including your equipment make and model and facemask and settings in your profile. Then if possible you should get sleepyhead (see apenaboard.com for a copy) download it and get some data posted to see. But at 45 you are far beyond untreated.
BUT FIRST, it would be good to be given the XPAP and Mask!!! Jim
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by Goofproof » Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:23 pm

LSAT wrote:
TASmart wrote:
SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
45 is way too high. You should start by including your equipment make and model and facemask and settings in your profile. Then if possible you should get sleepyhead (see apenaboard.com for a copy) download it and get some data posted to see. But at 45 you are far beyond untreated.


She said she is waiting to get started...she has no equipment
Being able to read doesn't mean you can't post on the internet. :roll: Jim
Use data to optimize your xPAP treatment!

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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by chunkyfrog » Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:43 pm

Jim:
So I have noticed . . .

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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by palerider » Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:05 pm

SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
It'll go as low as it goes, the better your treatment is optimized, the lower it'll go.

in other words... no.

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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by palerider » Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:07 pm

LSAT wrote:
TASmart wrote:
SarahB wrote:And does it depend on how severe it is to begin with? In other words, are you likely to have a lower score if you started out with mild sleep apnoea than if you are classed as severe or does it make no difference?

Just random thoughts as I wait to get started with CPAP. It's been 10 months since I was referred to the sleep clinic and I'm just getting a bit impatient to start. My AHI is 45 by the way.
45 is way too high. You should start by including your equipment make and model and facemask and settings in your profile. Then if possible you should get sleepyhead (see apenaboard.com for a copy) download it and get some data posted to see. But at 45 you are far beyond untreated.


She said she is waiting to get started...she has no equipment
It's much easier to make a quick 'smart looking' comment if one doesn't bother to actually READ the question...

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bigdave36
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by bigdave36 » Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:08 pm

My sleep study showed an ahi of 21. After about 6 months, 3 different masks, and several pressure adjustments, my ahi runs around a 2. Anything less is just showing off :D

rick blaine
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Re: How low can I expect AHI to go when I start using CPAP?

Post by rick blaine » Sat Feb 10, 2018 9:15 pm

Hello again SarahB,

Yes, they've given you a machine and one kind of mask. What the people here are hoping or expecting to be told is what make and model of machine. Ie, "It's a Ford (make). A Ford Escort (model)."

Knowing these details helps shape the advice people can give you.

If you go up to the top left-hand corner of the page, there's 'User Control Panel'. If you click on that, it opens up so you can add equipment details to your profile. The way you can see I've done below (The machine I use isn't on the 'pick from' list, so I've typed it in, in the space for additional comments.)

If you're not sure what make and model you've got, turn the machine upside down (removing any humidifier first :D ) and look on the bottom. Especially look for a box with REF inside it. The number next to that box is the model number.

Most of the NHS has standardised on either Philips Respironics (make) or ResMed (make) with just a few hospitals using other brands.

Same with the mask. There should be something on the mask itself and on the straps ('the headgear') which lets us all know what we're dealing with.

Ta. :D
Last edited by rick blaine on Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:16 am, edited 1 time in total.