how do you lower you AHI

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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RAMBLINMAN
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how do you lower you AHI

Post by RAMBLINMAN » Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:06 pm

Hi all,

I'm using a Remstar Auto w/Cflex....and been using it on like a regular cpap ( meaning non-auto)

I have a setting of 7 which was from my doctor......and for the most part it's working.....( no more waking up groggy and headaces)

Now I have tried to change setting alittle.....working it with auto setting from 7 to 13....etc etc.

Now I don't want to get hung up on the numbers but I downloaded data from 8/15/06 - 10/5/06 with Encore Pro and on average my numbers for

Average Obstruction Apnea - 4.4
Average Hypopnea Index - 7.3
Average AHI - 11.7

if I understand correctly that a good numbers for AHI should be under 5.0, how could I get my AHI to better levels than 11.7....?


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oldgearhead
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Post by oldgearhead » Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:19 pm

I would run it in auto mode (8-12) for a week and see where your average and 90% pressures are.

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Snoredog
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Post by Snoredog » Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:13 pm

AHI is the SUM of both Hypopnea + Apnea.

I would expect your OA (Obstructive Apnea) indice to be lower than 4.4 for the reporting period especially if machine was running in one of the autopap modes. My AHI is nearly always below 2 most of the time below 1.

But there may be reasons unbeknownst to me why you are on straight cpap, with the pressure only being 7.0cm that could be why.

Ideally if you could switch to autopap mode for a few days to see if 7.0cm is still adequate, that would be the best way to find out, then use those findings to reset your pressure in the cpap mode.

If not autopap mode, I would try increasing to 7.5cm. I would ignore the HI indice for the time being, go by how you feel.