Ahi and pressure . What is therapeutic range

Hi, my wife was just diagnosed. Her original pressure was a 6. 2 or something ridiculously low. I was so jealous. And her AHI was an average of 1.2
But when she went to see the doctor for her first visit he raised her pressure to 7 and to,d her she was not getting any therapeutic help from her cpap. Thus he raised the pressure. Note: her pressure originally came from her sleep study and original visit to his office.
Now her AHI is around 2.5 and she is having trouble getting sound sleep
I have the same doc. And I'm not impressed. Seems he wants everyone to see him 2-4 times a year. When my wife said she was told she wasn't getting any therapeutic aide I was shocked. I never get AHI averages that low. My pressure is now around 10 max but it was much higher and my ahi was higher too back then.
So, what is this doctor thinking. Of course she now needs to go back for another appointment. New masks, ect....

Is it possible the MD raised the EPR (exhalation pressure relief feature) along with the reg. pressure? That can make AHI go up a bit, but unless she complained of a problem he shouldn't have done it of course. Otherwise, if she does well on the lower setting, just change it back until such time as you see other problems. You don't have to tell the doctor - it's her therapy, so as long as you keep an eye on it (hopefully with Sleepyhead or something like it) and things look to be ok (AHI isn't everything) I wouldn't worry.

Tangos, Therapeutic range is whatever pressure number provides an open airway and decreases obstructions. If you would register as a member and file in the equipment profile we could tell you how to get the Clinical manual of you machine and software to see how the machine is doing that.

Tangos wrote:I have the same doc. And I'm not impressed. Seems he wants everyone to see him 2-4 times a year. When my wife said she was told she wasn't getting any therapeutic aide I was shocked.

All of us regulars in the forum and many that are not regulars control our own therapy, analyzing the results and setting the machine pressures and other features.

I see my sleep doc once per year, and it seems like a social visit - "How are you doing? How is your compliance and AHI? Have you changed your machine settings since last year? Good, keep on doing what you are doing."

This once per year visit is necessary for 1. Confirmation to insurance that I still have sleep apnea and am compliant with CPAP. 2. Issuing a new CPAP script because insurance requires one once per year.

Take control.

Could someone please explain what the AHI is and stands for.

Roger

K5MOW wrote:Could someone please explain what the AHI is and stands for.

wiki/index.php/AHI

wiki, read it, search it.

Apnea/Hypopnea index. It is the average number of Apnea/Hypopnea events per hour.

Apnea - Breathing stops for 10 seconds or more, resulting in a certain Oxygen de-saturation. On a CPAP, Oxygen is not measured, so it is breathing stops for 10 seconds or more.
Hypopnea - Breathing flow rate is reduced by 50% for 10 seconds or more, resulting in a certain Oxygen de-saturation. Same goes for the modified criteria on the CPAP.

I am actually not quite sure about the exact percentage required to qualify a hypopnea.

Thank you so very much for the explanation. I have been on CPAP now about six years and I am just now trying to learn more and watch my therapy.

Roger

K5MOW wrote:trying to learn more and watch my therapy

WindCpap wrote:Apnea/Hypopnea index. It is the average number of Apnea/Hypopnea events per hour.

Apnea - Breathing stops for 10 seconds or more, resulting in a certain Oxygen de-saturation. On a CPAP, Oxygen is not measured, so it is breathing stops for 10 seconds or more.
Hypopnea - Breathing flow rate is reduced by 50% for 10 seconds or more, resulting in a certain Oxygen de-saturation. Same goes for the modified criteria on the CPAP.

I am actually not quite sure about the exact percentage required to qualify a hypopnea.

"Tell a man one definition, and he learns one thing. Lead a man to the definition wiki, and he will learn many things."