At what AHI did you start feeling great?

[reinvigorated]

Hi all,

At what AHI did you start feeling great? How long did it take you to get there? Thanks!

[LSAT]

Everyone is different. Some people feel a change immediately...others take months. Personally, I didn't feel bad to begin with...it was only the snoring that got me to a sleep study. I really didn't notice any change except that my wife stopped complaining about the snoring.

[ChicagoGranny]

Hi all,

At what AHI did you start feeling great? How long did it take you to get there? Thanks!

AHI is about breathing. To feel great, you also have to sleep well.

[Eureka]

I felt better the first month. Don't know if that qualifies as "great" or not, but much improved. And that was with a temporary setting of 8 from the sleep doctor. After titration it moved to 11. Many factors are involved. Hope you find good results sooner rather than later.

[Eureka]

That is a neat list. I may be having a visit to "hotel oregon" soon, so I printed this list for reference. Thanks.

[Goofproof]

Let's be Honest, XPAP isn't going to make us reborn, we are old and getting older by the day, nothing can undo time and the damage we have done to our bodies. The best we can hope for is a few more days on this Earth, hopefully with a few happy days thrown in. Anything we can do to help it happen is good, the body can repair some problems, it tries, but often it's a loosing battle, one we must deal with daily, unless we are in De-Nile, and don't fight to make life better. I choose to fight! 12 years, still fighting! Jim

AHI less than 2.0 now 12 years running, missed 3 nights in 12 years. Pressure 14.5 to 15 cm.

[Doublev]

AHI under 1 for a week and I feel great. If i touch the settings or change mask (I am relatively new to xpap) and go 2 days with AHI of 2 or 3 then I dont feel so good. There is a direct correlation for me between ahi and how I feel.

[Arlene1963]

AHI was always under 5 for me right from the start, but as an indicator of how I'm doing ... well some nights my AHI might be 0.3 and I feel as if my sleep has been the pits, other nights my AHI might be 2.5 and I feel great.

My breakthrough came with using EPR at 3. I suspect that I have a UARS component along with OSA and the pressure relief provides help for me in this regard. From reading your posts I believe you don't have OSA so much as UARS?

My AHI always nudges up a bit with EPR set higher, and almost always all "centrals". Fortunately most nights my AHI is 1.3 or lower. Without EPR it is closer to 0.3 but my sleep quality is not good and I feel better with EPR at 3 despite the higher AHI.

To answer your question regarding how long it took: many months of tweaking settings, getting used to sleeping with a mask on all night, and overcoming some insomnia issues so a longish time in my case, and sometimes I feel as if it is still a work in progress. But it gets better and better.

[Okie bipap]

When I first started, my AHI stayed around 2.5, and I didn't notice any immediate change. It took about three months before I noticed changes in my life like being able to stay awake while watching TV, etc. When my wife started, her AHI stayed around 15 while they slowly brought her pressure up to the prescribed level. Even with that high number, she noticed an immediate improvement in how she felt and her energy level.

[reinvigorated]

Thank you all for your responses, it's very interesting! Look like the effects are highly individual and they take a while to manifest.

My breakthrough came with using EPR at 3. I suspect that I have a UARS component along with OSA and the pressure relief provides help for me in this regard. From reading your posts I believe you don't have OSA so much as UARS?

That's right. My AHI in sleep studies was super low, 0.2. However, I had a very high RERA index. I've just completed a 12 day trial of a CPAP machine at home. The machine/SleepyHead data actually contradicted the studies (probably machine tracking is not as accurate). Interestingly, according to the SleepHead data I hardly had any RERAs but quite a few hypopneas and even apneas. AHI averaged a little bit over 3.3 over the course of 12 days, ranging from 1 to 5.

I haven't seen a major improvement in the daytime drowsiness (severe fatigue was the problem that initially brought me to the sleep lab) or in the amount of sleep I need (I seem to need 9+ hours and I'm much more likely to have a great day if I get 10+ though it's not guaranteed). But 12 days is too short to say for sure as some weeks are much better than others. I also wonder if pressure settings played a role: my machine was set to the default of 4 and it rarely went above 6. Yesterday I returned the machine and was prescribed the pressure of 4-9 by a Respiratory Care Practitioner.

Now I need to decide whether I want to buy a machine and keep trying for a longer period of time. I'm also consulting my doctor tomorrow, really curious to hear his opinion.

[chunkyfrog]

Since my AHI is consistently under 2, I have learned to consider other reasons why I may not always feel GREAT.
Being old comes up rather frequently.

[Goofproof]

Since my AHI is consistently under 2, I have learned to consider other reasons why I may not always feel GREAT.
Being old comes up rather frequently.

Looks in the Mirror, Are these Age Spots, Or Beauty Marks! Jim

My Mirror never lies, Beauty Marks of Course!

[emma_chase]

AHI isn't everything. You can be below 1.0 and still sleep poorly, IME.

[D.H.]

There's no magic number, but the lower the better! Also, since you have accumulated many years of sleep debt, you might not feel much better until you pay some of it back.

Also, if SDB is not the only reason that you're feeling tired, then the other reasons are still present!

[RobertS975]

Ever since starting CPAP three and a half years ago, it is rare for me to ever have an AHI over 1. I cannot say that I feel "great:, but almost immediately, I noticed that I wasn't drifting off to sleep while watching the early evening news. I am also completely alert while driving as opposed to what I was before starting treatment. But "great"? I wouldn't go that far!