help with newbie interpreting machine numbers

[Mr. Fp]

Hello everyone, i have been going on almost a month with my cpap. alot has been going on, some good and some not so pleasant. i wanted to asked you wonderful people about my numbers and maybe get some answers to what is really going on. first off, i do apologize for not having any fancy software, which i have read is so very vital. funds are not so plentlyful so at this time, i just have what my machine is storing.

in the beggining, my cpap was set at 16, which was very tough to adjust to. since then, my dr. has changed it to 12, then most recently, changed my settings to "auto", and a range of 9 to 18. i also changed masks due to having my quattro mask not adjusted correctly by the tech that came to my house and i seriously damaged the top of my nose in 4 days time. now i have been using a mirage liberty, well, it was supposed to be just a quick fix until i was able to either use my new forma mask or go back to the quattro. i really really like the liberty. it seems to be working excellent for me, and i think i have found the right mask for my face. they have added a chin strap to my head gear and it seems to have helped with my dry mouth and i have reduced my humidifier setting down to 2 (it was set all the way up to 5, and still having terribily dry mouth every morning). i am still not 100 percent sure the chin strap is needed but so far, i think it is.
anyway, so i have been looking daily at my "ahi" numbers, and they have been dropping everyday. just alittle like by .5 or so, but it has been dropping. this morning it went to an all time low of 3.6 and for the past 5 days has been under 5. my large leak percent has been 0 ever since i switched to the liberty mask, and my pressure on the auto setting avg. is 12.8. so from what i have read, my numbers look great. from what i have read on here, anything under 5 on my AHI is good.
so my question is... if my numbers are that good, why am i still so so tired during the day? is it because i have gone so long untreated? and my body still is adjusting? i am not sure how long i have had this but my wife and i both suspect it have been many many years.

thank you for your time and i look forward to your input.

[Pugsy]

if my numbers are that good, why am i still so so tired during the day? is it because i have gone so long untreated? and my body still is adjusting? i am not sure how long i have had this but my wife and i both suspect it have been many many years.

It could be for the reasons you mention above. It could be from other factors that affect quality of sleep. It could be from the number of hours asleep. It could be just that you need more time for any improvement to show up. Unfortunately there is no hard fast clear cut explanation. I am 58 yrs old. Been on the machine nearly 2 years now. I still have times where I get tired during the day. I still sometimes want to nap. It is much less than it was when I first started the cpap. I guess I wanted to feel like I was 35 again then someone told me that even without OSA I couldn't recapture that age again. Darn it.

Take some time here and read some of the other threads. There are many that are having the same feelings you are having and there are some that are even having a worse time.

If you want the software, speak up. Santa might come early.

[rested gal]

if my numbers are that good, why am i still so so tired during the day? is it because i have gone so long untreated? and my body still is adjusting? i am not sure how long i have had this but my wife and i both suspect it have been many many years.

It could be for the reasons you mention above. It could be from other factors that affect quality of sleep. It could be from the number of hours asleep. It could be just that you need more time for any improvement to show up. Unfortunately there is no hard fast clear cut explanation. I am 58 yrs old. Been on the machine nearly 2 years now. I still have times where I get tired during the day. I still sometimes want to nap. It is much less than it was when I first started the cpap. I guess I wanted to feel like I was 35 again then someone told me that even without OSA I couldn't recapture that age again. Darn it.

Pugsy is so right. Even if cpap is doing its part of the job wonderfully well -- keeping the airway open nicely for easy breathing during sleep -- there could be any number of other reasons why a person still feels tired. Could be health reasons (thyroid problem, for example) or acid reflux causing arousals a person isn't even aware of during sleep, side effects of meds if on any, pain (like arthritis) causing arousals. Perhaps needing a good vitamin/mineral supplement. The list could go on and on.

[SleepyCPAP]

Mr. Fp

first off, i do apologize for not having any fancy software, which i have read is so very vital. funds are not so plentlyful so at this time, i just have what my machine is storing.

I am a fan of cpapdork's work to provide a web-based program for accessing the data from the machines. The end of this thread provides that info (and is also about the EncorePro version access):
viewtopic/t60536/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48 ... rk#p563727

Ditto what Pugsy and rested gal wrote. I'm realizing the machine does a lot, I'm further along in the process, but I'm still sleepy and need to explore sleep hygene, mattress, digestion, exercise and other aspects of the total picture. As you are doing a good job one month into therapy, I hope you don't get discouraged that the difficulties of adjusting to xPAP may do a lot, but not all of what you need. Keeping up your mask/machine discipline will still make a difference: you are still having enough events that you may be breaking up your sleep, or being kicked out of restorative deep sleep. Your trend shows improvement is still happening on the machine, and that is commendable (and should give you encouragement that more good things are to come!), in part the improving numbers means those Apena/Hypopnea types of interruption in sleep are likely being taken out of the mix, little by little!