Significance of AHI number

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Suneesh S
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Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:27 pm

Hi,

I am new to CPAP. I am using S9 autoset with swift FX softgel mask. I have been using the machine for the last 2 weeks and my AHI numbers is showing less than 5. Is the AHI numbers alone a good enough indicator.

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Bill44133
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Bill44133 » Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:29 pm

It also goes by how you feel when you are done sleeping.. That is very important also..


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zoocrewphoto
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by zoocrewphoto » Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:53 am

It also depends on how long the events are. My mom had an ahi of 3.4 when I let her use my machine with full data. I checked the graph and found a cluster of events longer than 30 seconds each, and one of them over a minute long.

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Suneesh S
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:07 am

Thanks to all for helping me understand. Yes thats what my problem is. I have been using for 2 weeks. For the first 11 days I was full of energy and felt so refreshed but for the past 3 days I dont feel the same. I changed the mask from small to medium since I felt uncomfortable with small mask. Leak status is showing as 29. I am desperate to have the same feeling I had few days back. I felt wonderful for the first time in my life.

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zoocrewphoto
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by zoocrewphoto » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:30 am

Suneesh S wrote:Thanks to all for helping me understand. Yes thats what my problem is. I have been using for 2 weeks. For the first 11 days I was full of energy and felt so refreshed but for the past 3 days I dont feel the same. I changed the mask from small to medium since I felt uncomfortable with small mask. Leak status is showing as 29. I am desperate to have the same feeling I had few days back. I felt wonderful for the first time in my life.

Add your machine model, mask, and pressure settings to your profile. That will people offer advice.

Are you sleeping through the night with the machine, using the machine part of the night, waking up a lot, etc? Tell us how it is going.

I feel great if I get 7 or more hours with the machine with only one or two wakeups. Awesome if I sleep 7+ hours straight, though that is rare. More typical for me is 3 or 4 hours, a bathroom trip, and and a couple more hours.

Fortunately, even a bad night these days is better than a good night pre-cpap.

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Suneesh S
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Thu Apr 17, 2014 2:29 am

Please let me know how to add the Machine and Mask details. Also regarding the pressure settings,I use a S9 Autoset and the pressure readings are 11. Will this be my pressure range.

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Julie
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Julie » Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:45 am

Click on User Control Panel (tiny blue writing!) under the top Cpaptalk logo, then go to Profile and fill in the blanks... using text please, not icons.

Suneesh S
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:01 am

Thanks. I have updated my profile

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Pugsy
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Pugsy » Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:18 am

Your leak number of 29 that you mentioned...where are you getting that number? Off the machine's LCD display or software reports.
If off the machine then that is a 95% number meaning for 95% of the night you were at OR below that number and for real in depth evaluation we need to see the software leak graph.
Your leak number to avoid is 24 L/min...so you are pushing it but we don't know how much of the night you might have been below 24 L/min.

So leaks may be impacting therapy...either by the machine not sensing the events or responding or even if little maybe they are disturbing sleep.

So there's more to evaluating your therapy than just the AHI number. Leaks are very important...general sleep quality is very important....hours of sleep is very important.
Feeling better isn't guaranteed by even AHI of 0.0.

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Suneesh S
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:07 am

Hi Pugsy. Thanks for your information. The number shown is from the LCD screen. Should this leak number be on a higher side or a lower side. I am reading your tutorial on sleepyhead and once i download the software I will show my report.

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Pugsy
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Pugsy » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:22 am

For your S9 AutoSet machine you want to stay below 24 L/min leak number...24 L/min is where ResMed says that they can't compensate for leaks and the higher it goes the harder it gets.

The number reported on the LCD screen sometimes makes things look worse than it is though...so that's why I like to see the graphs.
Maybe you only spent 30 minutes above 24 L/min and the rest of the night things were below 24 L/min.
It all depends on how far you went and for how long as to whether it seriously impacts therapy.
30 minutes out of 8 hours is not the end of the world...half the night above 24 L/min..might be a different story.
It depends on if it was 26 L/min or 36 L/min.

The 95% number just means you were AT OR BELOW that number for 95% of the time...people seem to forget the or below part of the definition and panic sometimes.
Of course it also means for 5% of the time you were above 24 L/min but I don't worry about 5% of the time.
The 95% number is easily skewed to make it initially look worse than it really is so that's why I always look at the actual leak graphs when 95% number is over 24 L/min.
If it is below 24 L/min I automatically know that for the bulk of the night leaks were acceptable and within machine's ability to compensate. It's only when it is above 24 L/min that I want to look more closely before I hit the panic button.

I have an example of this somewhere in my SleepyHead tutorial I think. I am short on time at the moment but will try to find it. I had a 95% number of 27 L/min but actual time spent above 24 L/min really wasn't all that horrible...leak like was still ugly but only really bad for a short period of time.

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OboeVet
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Significance of AHI number

Post by OboeVet » Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:13 am

Welcome! My sleep doc looked at first 3 months of data and reduced my max pressure since AHI went up over 14 cm H2O. She also raised my minimum to 10 cm H2O so I don't feel suffocation if automatic adjustments or me hitting "ramp" reduce pressure too far.

You will notice some in this group who are really into data analysis & worry if their AHI varies above 0.5. My doc says it is very normal to have variations night-to-night. So I only look at the little screen on my machine (no software, no charts & graphs) and only look at AHI, PERIODIC % and 90% pressure.

As others will point out, the most important metric us YOU: how do you feel. You said you are looking to re-gain the good sleep. Don't give up! Pressure settings, different masks, general health and environment issues all play a part if overall sleep.

Best wishes. Don

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Suneesh S
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:05 am

Is the high leak also an indication of mouth breathing

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Pugsy
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Pugsy » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:19 am

Suneesh S wrote:Is the high leak also an indication of mouth breathing
It can be a sign of mouth breathing/leaking but it might also be a poorly fitted mask.
Though mouth opening is usually the first suspect because we often sleep through that and we don't always sleep through big mask leaks.

If mouth is dry...and big leaks are showing on the leak graph...mouth breathing/leaking/opening is pretty much the first suspect.

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Suneesh S
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Re: Significance of AHI number

Post by Suneesh S » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:38 am

Hi. Thanks to tutorial I have downloaded the sleepy head and also my report. How can I attach it in this forum. I am not able to take the screen shot.