Hubby's AHI sucks...

[Debjax]

Hubby's AHI numbers are horrible, and he's having apnea clusters ranging from 10 - 18 seconds. He's on the ResMed Elite II at a pressure of 10, using a Quattro FFM. One problem is we have the hose hung, and last night I caught it blocking the exhaust on his mask a couple of times as the hose was "going up the mask" and he was on his back. The times I noticed this and moved the hose correlate to his apneas.

Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping the hose from blocking the exhaust on the mask?

I'm printing the reports now, our DME is brining my new machine to my office tomorrow, I'm giving her the reports to review see what she says also...but right now his AHI is about 8.5, last night it was 10.1.

[Goofproof]

What I don't understand is why you as a family would have two different brand machines, I wouldn't unless I hated the orgional brand "KISS", that rule always works the best for me. Jim

[Debjax]

What I don't understand is why you as a family would have two different brand machines, I wouldn't unless I hated the orgional brand "KISS", that rule always works the best for me. Jim

I got my machine in early December, and at the time the DME did not have any ResMed's in stock unti the following week, so I got the M Series Pro. Hubby got his machine about two weeks ago, and he got the ResMed since both the doctor and the DME prefer that machine. My DME is brining me a new ResMed Elite II to match hubby's tomorrow and is swapping my machine out, so by tomorrow night we should be on the same machine. She gave me the option to keep the one I have or swap out, I told her I liked the ResMed better...so she's taking care of me.

[Goofproof]

Boy is she! In the meantime why not change with the hubby and see if their's a difference. Jim

[hummer3d]

Hubby's AHI numbers are horrible, and he's having apnea clusters ranging from 10 - 18 seconds. He's on the ResMed Elite II at a pressure of 10


Debjax how do you get this info? is this something you need the software and card to access this info? I too have an elite II but haven't ever seen any of this info on the display screen. By the way you hubby is getting better ahi #s than i am. Im usually in the range from 11 to 15 .

[ozij]

Hubby's AHI numbers are horrible, and he's having apnea clusters ranging from 10 - 18 seconds. He's on the ResMed Elite II at a pressure of 10, using a Quattro FFM. One problem is we have the hose hung, and last night I caught it blocking the exhaust on his mask a couple of times as the hose was "going up the mask" and he was on his back. The times I noticed this and moved the hose correlate to his apneas.

Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping the hose from blocking the exhaust on the mask?

I'm printing the reports now, our DME is brining my new machine to my office tomorrow, I'm giving her the reports to review see what she says also...but right now his AHI is about 8.5, last night it was 10.1.

The only, rather oblivious things I can think of are giving the hose slightly less play, so it can never drop enough to curve on the mask, or try it with a plant hanger, that will push the dangling part of the hose away from the wall and keep it more vertical, and therefor less apt to block the vent.

O.

[rested gal]

his AHI is about 8.5, last night it was 10.1.

Deb, how do those two nights break down as to AI (apnea index) and HI (hypopnea index)?

[Debjax]

Boy is she! In the meantime why not change with the hubby and see if their's a difference. Jim

Don't need to now, she brought my new machine to the office today. I also gave her the report I printed on hubby last night, she looked at them and said she needed to call the doctor and discuss it with him, since the AHI is too high, and to probably expect a call from her or the doctor to have his pressure adjusted.

I have a DME who not only knows I'm reading the data, but will actually use it! Told her that if she needed reports down the road, just let me konw I'd get them to her...she said she'd keep that in mind. Told her that hubby woke me up last night when he heard my mask leaking, she just stopped, looked at me and told me that we were her favorite patients becuase we're taking such an interest in our own and each other's therapy.

I am SOOOO blessed!

[Debjax]

Hubby's AHI numbers are horrible, and he's having apnea clusters ranging from 10 - 18 seconds. He's on the ResMed Elite II at a pressure of 10


Debjax how do you get this info? is this something you need the software and card to access this info? I too have an elite II but haven't ever seen any of this info on the display screen. By the way you hubby is getting better ahi #s than i am. Im usually in the range from 11 to 15 .

Hummer, go to the user profile and post your equipment....also, I bought the software and card reader to be able to read the data card on my PC.

[Debjax]

his AHI is about 8.5, last night it was 10.1.

Deb, how do those two nights break down as to AI (apnea index) and HI (hypopnea index)?

The 14th was a hypopnea of 8.6 with an apnea of 1.5, but according to the reports, he had betwen 30 and 35 events / hour between 4 and 5 am. Night before there were three clusters with between 10 and 15 events / hour. The night before was AHI of 7 (one of the nights last week was 8.5), with a hypopnea of 6.2 with an apnea of .8....

Not having much luck getting an image posted, they're all too small.I really need to get snagit.

[Gerryk]

I know everyone says go cheap if you don't need to spend money and hang the hose over the headboard. That sounds like what you have done. But with two of you their is more to get caught up. I have a hose holder that fits between the mattress and boxspring and I also have a portable one that is for travel. The portable one is actually a little better because it is somewhat springy. Look online for a hose holder and that should solve his problem. Some of them get expensive close to 60-80 bucks but if it works it's well worth it. Remember something.
Let us know what you did and how it worked out.
Gerry

[Debjax]

I know everyone says go cheap if you don't need to spend money and hang the hose over the headboard. That sounds like what you have done. But with two of you their is more to get caught up. I have a hose holder that fits between the mattress and boxspring and I also have a portable one that is for travel. The portable one is actually a little better because it is somewhat springy. Look online for a hose holder and that should solve his problem. Some of them get expensive close to 60-80 bucks but if it works it's well worth it. Remember something.
Let us know what you did and how it worked out.
Gerry

Hubby made hose hangers out of plant hangers (swivel arm). I had a loop of plastic flexible plumbing, we swapped it out for scrunchies, but going back to the plastic tube hung from the hanger, that allowed the hose to slide back and forth so the excess would slide back when there was slack. I bought the collapsible hose hangers for travel, can't remember the name, but they ran about 25.00 each, and worked great when I went to Michigan to see my granddaughter.

I shortened up the slack last night, he didn't seem to have the problem but also it was tugging and his leaks were up. Going to put the hose tube on his tonight and see if the slack will flex with him.

[rested gal]

his AHI is about 8.5, last night it was 10.1.

Deb, how do those two nights break down as to AI (apnea index) and HI (hypopnea index)?

The 14th was a hypopnea of 8.6 with an apnea of 1.5, but according to the reports, he had betwen 30 and 35 events / hour between 4 and 5 am. Night before there were three clusters with between 10 and 15 events / hour. The night before was AHI of 7 (one of the nights last week was 8.5), with a hypopnea of 6.2 with an apnea of .8....

Not having much luck getting an image posted, they're all too small.I really need to get snagit.

Deb, I'm not trying to minimize any of your concern and the wonderfully good work you're doing to help your husband. But here's a thought. I really think that with a ResMed S8 machine, the AI (not the AHI or the HI) is what to pay the most attention to. His AI of 1.5 on one night, and AI of .8 on another night look quite good.

I truly think ResMed S8 machines report more flow limitations as "hypopnea" than other brands do. That doesn't mean ResMed is better at "seeing" hyponeas than other brands. Nor does it mean ResMed "over-reports" hypopneas. It's just a difference in the way the different manufacturers define "hypopnea" in the design of their machines. No manufacturer uses the definition of hypopnea that sleep labs use, anyway. There is no monitoring of O2 drops with our machines, and that is a part of how hypopneas are identified in a sleep study. Nor do our machines see "arousals."

As far as our machines go, a hypopnea is a certain amount and duration of "flow limitation." The arbitrary line drawn in the sand by each manufacturer about when to stop calling a flow limitation "flow limitation" and start calling it a "hypopnea" differs from one manufacturer to the other, as I understand it.

We keep seeing on the message board that people's AHI should be under 5.0. But the reports from ResMed S8 machines with their lower threshold for calling something a "hypopnea" means that a lot of people who are getting very good treatment from their ResMed machine are going to be unnecessarily alarmed (imho) by the overall AHI reported by a ResMed S8 machine. Simply because the HI (hypopnea index) ran up higher than another brand of machine would have reported it for that very same person, very same night, and of course the higher "HI" gets added in to come up with the overall "AHI."

When I alternated night after night between a ResMed S8 machine, a Respironics machine, and a Puritan Bennett machine, I felt exactly the same each morning...very rested... but consistently the ResMed S8 machine was reporting AHI's for me ranging from AHI 6 to AHI 10...while the other machines were reporting AHI down in the ones and twos. When I looked at the breakdown of hypopneas vs apneas on the ResMed machine, by far the bulk of what was making up my "higher" AHI were "hypopneas." The AI from any of them was about the same -- quite low. If I mentally cut the ResMed S8 HI in half, my ResMed AHI was almost exactly the same as my AHI from the other two brands of machines...very low.

I stopped worrying at all about the overall "AHI" when I use a ResMed S8 machine. If the AI is nice and low, and if mentally cutting the HI in half makes the overall AHI well under 5.0, I figured the treatment is going fine.

I do think you are doing a wonderful job helping your husband -- and he, you. Just wanted to mention my thoughts about ResMed S8 "HI" reporting. Your husband actually may be getting a much better AHI than it appears.

I'm not a doctor, though. But I'll bet neither the doctor nor the DME are aware that the HI reports from ResMed S8 machines just might...might...be a bit misleading. Only way to know, for sure, of course, would be for a person to be hooked up to a full PSG while using their machine, and see what an experienced sleep tech scores, compared to what the machine "scores."

My edit: Added "S8" to all my references to ResMed machines in this old post, since the definition of hypopnea was changed by ResMed in the later S9 series machines.

[Debjax]

Thanks rested gal...that sets my mind to rest on the hypopneas, but the apneas have both me and the RT concerned...there are clusters of 10 - 20 seconds each, with 15 or more in an hour....they woke me up the other morning...he has a bad heart, when he starts choking or his breathing gets flaky, I'm awake like a shot....that's how I got the cardiologist to get him in to the study to begin with...they sent me first, I called the doc and said "wait a minute, HE has apnea and has for years, send him too." Didn't hear from the cardiologists office, but got the call from the sleep center within days for his study. If we can lose the apnea clusters, I'll be much happier.