Questioning my OSA diagnosis

[slowmo2000]

Hi all,

Total newbie here. I posted a question yesterday about my CPAP therapy (just started this week) but am now rethinking my diagnosis. I've pasted below the information I received from my in-clinic visit. I realize my Arousal Index is about double what the "normal" is and my RDI (9.9) puts me in the mild category, but my 02 never really desaturated and my AHI is only 5.6 (only .6 above normal). Finally, there were no obstructive apneas found. Everything was a Hypopnea or a RERA.

I read the AASM manual for diagnosing and it states the following:

The third edition of the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3) defines OSA as a PSG-determined obstructive respiratory disturbance index (RDI) ≥ 5 events/h associated with the typical symptoms of OSA (e.g.,unrefreshing sleep, daytime sleepiness, fatigue or insomnia, awakening with a gasping or choking sensation, loudsnoring, or witnessed apneas), or an obstructive RDI ≥ 15 events/h (even in the absence of symptoms).

While my RDI is above 5, I have very mild daytime sleepiness and not really any of the other symptoms. I'm generally healthy (weight, blood pressure, etc), so I don't think technically I'm diagnosed with sleep apnea based on the definition above.

I guess I'm just questioning whether CPAP therapy is really going to improve my health or make me feel better. I'm much more inclined to try other treatments (side sleeping exclusively, iNap, allergy treatments, etc). My plan is to do a few more nights on CPAP (I'm in my first week) and use the data to see what my breathing, etc looks like. I've been using an 02 ring for many months and don't generally decomp below 90% on most nights. I'll also ask the clinic for my raw sleep study data. Would appreciate any thoughts/inputs from this group.


Stage N1 Sleep (min, % of TST): 62 minutes, 17.8%
Stage N2 Sleep (min, % of TST): 241 minutes, 68.7%
Stage N3 Sleep (min, % of TST): 00 minutes, 0.0%
Stage R Sleep (min, % of TST): 47 minutes, 13.5%
Supine Sleep: 154 minutes
Arousal Index: 26.5

RESPIRATORY ANALYSIS: (Index = Avg # of events per hour)
Apnea/Hypopnea Index (AHI): 5.6
AHI w/ 4% criteria: 0.9
NREM AHI: 4.5
REM AHI: 12.6
Non-Supine AHI: 2.4
Supine AHI: 9.7

Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI): 9.9
NREM RDI: 8.9
REM RDI: 16.4

Apneas (#, index): 1, 0.2
Obstructive Apneas (#, index): 0, 0.0
Mixed Apneas (#, index): 0, 0.0
Central Apneas (#, index): 1, 0.2
Hypopneas (#, index): 32, 5.5
RERAs (#, index): 25, 4.3

Mean Wake SpO2: 98.0%
Mean Sleep SpO2: 97.0%
Minimum Sleep SpO2: 93.0%
Sleep Time with SpO2 < 88% (min, % of TST): 0.0, 0.0%

Cheyne Stokes breathing: No
Snoring: Yes

CARDIAC ANALYSIS:
Mean Awake HR: 52 bpm
Mean Sleep HR: 51 bpm
Highest Sleep HR: 70 bpm

[ozij]

See my response to this in your first thread, here:
viewtopic/t187670/Airsense-11-Central-AI-Question.html
You can edit the heading there to add your doubts.