AHI and what it means

[Wulfman...]

Went from 10.5 to 13. AHI dropped to 2.5 with 90% 12. May try a little bit higher?


Burner

So, what are your pressure settings now?
It's completely logical/typical that as the pressure ranges are increased, the 90% numbers will, too.
Are you looking at the reports yet? You need to know what events are occurring and what is driving the pressure increases.

And, try to be aware of your sleeping quality in the process. AHI alone isn't the best yardstick to use. Far too many folks have reported they had been using ranges of pressures for months and years and even though they reported very low AHIs, they still felt unrested.

Just sayin'......


Den

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[tiredandscared]

That discourages people from getting treatment.

No it does not. I explicitly tell people to get their OSA treated. But someone who gets an oxygen saturation that lasts 30% of their sleep time, below 90% with a nadir below 85%, urgently need to get themselves treated because of the risk of death, comorbid conditions, epileptic seizures, brain damage, stroke, silent ischemic episodes. Someone who spends their sleeping time with oxygen desaturations 1% of the time below 90% and a oxygen nadir 86 and above, while severely affected. Is not going to accrue the same damage as someone who fits the former clinical profile. Even if it does severely affect their quality of life. I'm not saying this to discourage people from getting CPAP. I'm just saying, desaturations are one of the most important predictors of health-outcomes for OSA.

[zoocrewphoto]

That discourages people from getting treatment.

No it does not. I explicitly tell people to get their OSA treated. But someone who gets and oxygen saturation 30% below 90% with a nadir below 85% urgently needs to get themselves treated, because of the risk of death, comorbid conditions, epileptic seizures, brain damage, stroke, silent ischemic episodes. Someone with oxygen desaturations 1% below 90% and a oxygen nadir 86 and above, while severely affected. Is not going to accrue the same damage as the former profile. Even if it does severely affect their quality of life. I'm not saying this to discourage people from getting CPAP. I'm just saying, desaturations are one of the most important predictors of health-outcomes.

My doctor was warning my that I was at high risk for a stroke due to high blood pressure that wasn't responding well to medication. I was finally tested for sleep apnea, and found to be severe. My lowest desat was 84%, and I was below 90% only 13% of the time. Yet I was high risk of a stroke. Why? Because of YEARS of damage. It takes longer, but pretending it is not a big deal (like I did) was not a good thing for my health.

[tiredandscared]

That discourages people from getting treatment.

No it does not. I explicitly tell people to get their OSA treated. But someone who gets and oxygen saturation 30% below 90% with a nadir below 85% urgently needs to get themselves treated, because of the risk of death, comorbid conditions, epileptic seizures, brain damage, stroke, silent ischemic episodes. Someone with oxygen desaturations 1% below 90% and a oxygen nadir 86 and above, while severely affected. Is not going to accrue the same damage as the former profile. Even if it does severely affect their quality of life. I'm not saying this to discourage people from getting CPAP. I'm just saying, desaturations are one of the most important predictors of health-outcomes.

13% is very bad. No wonder your blood pressure was high. Anything above 2-3% is bad. Even a level of 5.5% gives symptoms. There is a linear increase in stroke risk, which incrementally increases with each percent spent in low oxygen conditions(% of time spent >90 )

[zoocrewphoto]

That discourages people from getting treatment.

No it does not. I explicitly tell people to get their OSA treated. But someone who gets and oxygen saturation 30% below 90% with a nadir below 85% urgently needs to get themselves treated, because of the risk of death, comorbid conditions, epileptic seizures, brain damage, stroke, silent ischemic episodes. Someone with oxygen desaturations 1% below 90% and a oxygen nadir 86 and above, while severely affected. Is not going to accrue the same damage as the former profile. Even if it does severely affect their quality of life. I'm not saying this to discourage people from getting CPAP. I'm just saying, desaturations are one of the most important predictors of health-outcomes.

13% is bad. No wonder your blood pressure was high. Anything above 2-3% is bad. Even 5.5% gives symptoms. There is a linear increase in stroke risk based on each percent spent in low oxygen conditions.

Well, without all your definitions of what you think is good or bad, your posts certainly sounded like my sleep apnea really wasn't a big deal. People looking for an excuse to quit would accept anything that makes them sound like it doesn't matter so much.

[Susie Kay]

Well, without all your definitions of what you think is good or bad, your posts certainly sounded like my sleep apnea really wasn't a big deal. People looking for an excuse to quit would accept anything that makes them sound like it doesn't matter so much.

+1

My desats weren't bad at all, but boy did I feel bad. Life is so much better with CPAP.

[OSAHell]

Went from 10.5 to 13. AHI dropped to 2.5 with 90% 12. May try a little bit higher?

Hi keroseneburner,

Glad to see that your AHI came back to what it was with your old machine. What are your pressure setting now? Since you saw better AHI by increasing the pressure you can try adding +1 to EPAP min and +1 to EPAP max and see how your AHI goes. Personnaly, I that point, I would try to keep the same pressure setting for 4-5 days before making an other change. Do you to feel more refresh when you wake up now?

I did use a pulse ox meter for a couple of week and there is no desat. 93% is the lowest it dropped and that was momentary. I had thought of lowering pressure range from 6-10 and see what happens. I am ready to wake up refreshed again. Would too high pressure cause tiredness also?

I read all the posts in your thread here and nobody seem to have ask you if you were using your CPAP when you used a pulse oximeter for a couple of weeks, so were you using it? If you were, it's pretty normal that you didn't have desat...

[keroseneburner]

I always use my cpap. I upoed the pressure to 11-14 and the ahi dropped to 1.5 so I upped 11.5-14 and ahi went to 6.5 I may have had a mouth leak as my mouth was very dry. Going to stick with 11-14 for a few days and see what happens.

[Krelvin]

I always use my cpap. I upoed the pressure to 11-14 and the ahi dropped to 1.5 so I upped 11.5-14 and ahi went to 6.5 I may have had a mouth leak as my mouth was very dry. Going to stick with 11-14 for a few days and see what happens.

11 to 11.5 is not much of a change. It is possible you just had one of those nights...

when making changes (whatever changes you make), you should always use the same settings for a few days to see how it works over a couple days to get a better idea of how it will work.

A one night test is not normally good enough.

[tedburnsIII]

I always use my cpap. I upoed the pressure to 11-14 and the ahi dropped to 1.5 so I upped 11.5-14 and ahi went to 6.5 I may have had a mouth leak as my mouth was very dry. Going to stick with 11-14 for a few days and see what happens.

11 to 11.5 is not much of a change. It is possible you just had one of those nights...

when making changes (whatever changes you make), you should always use the same settings for a few days to see how it works over a couple days to get a better idea of how it will work.

A one night test is not normally good enough.

Would wholeheartedly agree.

[keroseneburner]

I am now learning how to use the reader and software, will post results ASAP

thanks nanwilson, you rock! I hope to one day be able to pay it forward.

Burner

[keroseneburner]

If you get a card reader I can help you get the software that works with the M series machine.
SleepyHead won't work at all but Encore will and as long as you have a Windows computer you can use Encore.

got the software, got the data downloaded, now how do I interpret what I am seeing? is there a breakdown of how to read it?

Burner

[Pugsy]

Take a look at the SleepyHead tutorial in the top section of the Announcements.
The data means the same from the Respironics machines no matter which software is presenting it.
I think I might have an Encore example or 2 up there.

If not this might help a little but it is for a different machine than yours so it shows a lot of data that your machine doesn't gather.
http://www.healthcare.philips.com/pwc_h ... _Guide.pdf

[keroseneburner]

I got the data, now what does it mean? this is for the last 2 nights




thanks
Burner

[Pugsy]

What part do you not understand? It's easier if we answer direct questions because we don't know what you are wondering about.
If you don't understand the terminology then the glossary will help
SleepyHead Glossary http://sleepyhead.sourceforge.net/wiki/ ... p/Glossary
The terms mean the same no matter which software is reporting them.

It's a good looking report. Large leaks were minimal. Overall leak line is a bit ragged looking but within the machines ability to compensate so unless leaks were causing wake ups I wouldn't worry about them being a bit ugly looking in general.
AHI is below 5 which is considered acceptable but if it were me I would probably consider maybe trying just a little more pressure and/or a little bit wider range just to see if reducing it anymore made any difference in how I felt or slept....but that's just me.
There's no urgent need to change anything or do anything differently.