AHI and new machine

[tye]

I recently had a knee replacement and am on tramadol,gabapentin, and meloxican and also have gotten a new resmed
Aircurve 10 vauto. My AHI has went from under 3 to in the 20's. I have no mask leak and am wondering if the meds are affecting the AHI that much. Any help would be appreciated.

[robysue]

I recently had a knee replacement and am on tramadol,gabapentin, and meloxican and also have gotten a new resmed
Aircurve 10 vauto. My AHI has went from under 3 to in the 20's. I have no mask leak and am wondering if the meds are affecting the AHI that much. Any help would be appreciated.

If the medication is new and/or if you are still dealing with pain from the knee replacement surgery, that could explain the rise in AHI.

It would help us help you if we saw some detailed data from your machine. In particular, we need to know what the breakdown of the AHI is in terms of OAI, CAI, and HI. Detailed data would also let us see when those events are happening.

[Pugsy]

It's not unusual for any number of reasons to have a marked change in the AHI following a major surgery especially if pain and pain meds are involved.
I agree with RobySue...
We need to see more details and also need to know if you are awake very much during the night.

[TangledHose]

My AHI always increases substantially whenever I take any opiate based med like Tramadol (synthetic opiate) or Vicodin or any other of that type of pain killer. Those meds supress your breathing and I'll hazard a guess that the increase in your AHI is primarily "central" although you might have an increase in obstructive too due to more muscle relaxing in your throat. But when I check my numbers it's usually a large increase in central apneas due to the opiate based pain killers messing with my brain's suppressed breathing response.

P.S. I had my knee replaced a year ago and it was no fun........had to take lots of pain killers.......hope it goes better for you!

[Pugsy]

Meds can do it but also simply being awake and tossing and turning can also increase the AHI and it's usually CAs/centrals that get flagged. Not always but usually.

[TangledHose]

Pugsy has a great point about the tossing and turning.

This is from a drug description site warning of side effects:

"For people with breathing problems: Tramadol may slow your breathing and cause shallow breathing. Shallow breathing means you take small, short breaths. If you already have a breathing problem, such as asthma, talk with your doctor about whether this drug is safe for you."

So between the drugs effects on your breathing and the tossing and turning, and maybe sleeping on your back because of the knee, you could experience a marked increase in reported AHI -- mine sure went way up under the same circumstances!

[Pugsy]

I take Tramadol for arthritis. I can't take it at night and not because it does anything to my breathing but because it causes insomnia (despite that may cause drowsiness sticker) in some people.