Does snoring = horrible numbers?

Is snoring something you are or have been accustomed to prior to hosing, or is this something new that started after you started hosing? Is it the snoring itself that's waking you because it's something new, or are there other circumstances that are adding to your wakefulness?

If you think about it, snoring happens when you're really relaxed, right? So if it's new, it may be an indicator that your body is learning how to relax with the mask on.

Snoring cannot always be equated with sleep apnea, nor can it necessarily be the best indicator of how well you're sleeping. (I have sleep apnea, and I don't snore. Likewise, some people snore even with the mask on and have otherwise reasonable numbers like AHI and leak rate, so the snoring is not necessarily hampering their sleep.) If you're having leak trouble, the most likely problem is that air is escaping between your face and the seal. As your facial and neck muscles relax during the onset of sleep, depending on how your body is arranged, for instance on your side, the mask can press one side heavily against your pillow or mattress, leaving the other side freer to move around. Then your mask can torque away from your face, allowing the seal between your face and the mask to become compromised.

Keep in mind that there are two different kinds of leakage: the kind that's expected, coming out of the vents in the mask, and the kind that's discouraged - coming from gaps between your face and the mask seal. The vents allow for continuous air flow to prevent asphyxiation. Facial-seal gap leaks, however, may create so much leakage that the machine can no longer compensate to provide your necessary pressure. The pressure acts like an aerial 'stent' to keep your airway open. If the pressure isn't there, you could be snoring because the aerial stent is compromised from large gap leaks.

If you have large enough gap leaks, you're not getting the right pressure - hence, your not getting therapy. The bigger the leaks the worse your headache will likely be in the morning. While you're having large leaks, AHI will not as reliable an indicator of how well you're sleeping. (Escaping air and compromised pressure mean the machine may be missing or miss-evaluating these kinds of numbers. At that point it's better first to pay closer attention to the leak numbers.) It's only when your leak numbers are relatively continually within expected ranges for your mask that AHI, Apnea and Hypopnea numbers will become reliably useful.

I suspect your best efforts would be to concentrate on ways to reduce leakage, including exploring a chin-strap that works for you. There is an also an ideal tautness to mask straps - neither too tight nor too loose. You could experiment with that.

I hope this helps.

Portageegal wrote:My numbers are horrible. Played around with changes, but still not good. Last night I woke myself up snoring 3 or 4 times. This is the first time I have done it since I started hosing it in Oct. My pressure usually is somewhere between 11 and 13 and my AHI last night was 20.8. AI was 7.5 and the HI was 13.3. The lowest my AI has ever been was3.2, but HI is always high.
I use the Resmed auto II with humidifier and a Quattro FFM. The last 3 nights I have had leak trouble, also. (The mask, not me).
So, whattaya thing ... can it be the snoring screwing up the numbers?

If it was me, I'd solve the leak problem first and then see what my numbers were at straight 13 (or set my minimum at 13) for a week or so. I would ignore HI and AHI and snores until I got my AI as low as I could get it on that ResMed, hopefully below 1. Then I would think about addressing other things.

You may have reasons for taking a different approach, though, so I'm just saying what approach I would take in my personal health circumstances.

jeff

Todays #'s

Pressure 13.6
Leaks 0.0
AHI 19.1
AI 7.5
HI 11.6

HELP !!!!!!!

Two thoughts:
A. Do you have the software?

B. What is your humidity heat set to? If it's really high, it could be causing problems. Many people can get away with unheated (passover) humiification when it's not cold. Too much heat can cause stuffy blockage, and that might be causing a higher AHI.

Portageegal wrote:Todays #'s

Pressure 13.6
Leaks 0.0
AHI 19.1
AI 7.5
HI 11.6

HELP !!!!!!!

Did your doc prescribe an upper limit, a maximum, to how high that APAP can go, due to your hiatal hernia surgeries, or anything, or is that APAP's upper limit unlimited all the way to 20? Are you still having trouble with aerophagia?

I would check with my doctors to make sure it was OK for me to take my pressure higher by raising the minimum to closer to what I needed to lessen the number of events. If I was given the OK to raise my pressures and I found I needed more than 15 cm to get my AHI down, or if I was having aerophagia trouble at the pressures needed to get my AHI down, I might ask about being titrated for bilevel, arguing that my condition meant that I had "failed" CPAP in my current situation.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

jeff