Help understanding some AHI fluctuation

[Sluggish]

Never ending quest to dial it in etc...

Currently floating between .08 and 6.0 AHI and trying to understand what might cause such fluctuations from night to night.
Maybe it's my imagination but it seems like all the mornings that I wake up and see a higher AHI are also the times I had trouble falling asleep the previous night.

Does this make any sense? Is the machine counting events during my wake time and skewing the actual numbers??

[palerider]

Is the machine counting events during my wake time

Of course... it doesn't know when you're awake, though some machines are starting to guess at times.

[NanTastic]

I know my machine counts it when I’m awake because so far I haven’t been asleep AT ALL with it on.


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[clenchingtobreathe]

I know my machine counts it when I’m awake because so far I haven’t been asleep AT ALL with it on.


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My sympathies! Sometimes, I feel the same way! I even like to trick my machine when I'm awake. One night I held my breath for 12 seconds and a minute later held it again for 15 seconds. It read one as a CA and one as an OA!!! HA! I'm learning to look at every flagged event with a jaundiced eye.....

[Sluggish]

I know my machine counts it when I’m awake because so far I haven’t been asleep AT ALL with it on.


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I'm not sure how far along you are in your journey but I know it took me about 6 months (and still counting really) to get things dialed in. My issue was mostly with leaks. I tried about 5 or 6 different masks from cpap.com and Amazon. I really had to pay attention to what was waking me up every night. I am a back and side sleeper so for me the exhaust ports were a major problem. Also mouth leaks. Also hose management. Keep trying.

[NanTastic]

Thanks Sluggish! I’ve had my machine for 9 days. The last 2 nights I finally SLEPT with the mask and woke up this morning feeling rested and NO headache! I may make it yet!!!

However my AHI was 17 last night.

[Sluggish]

Laid here for nearly 2 hours trying to fall asleep until I eventually gave up. My machine said 6.5 AHI when I’m pretty sure I didn’t have a single one (considering I was awake)
I don’t understand why the machine counts more events when I’m awake.

[Pugsy]

I don’t understand why the machine counts more events when I’m awake.

The machine has zero idea as to whether you are awake or asleep.
All it can measure is air flow and our awake breathing is very irregular compared to asleep breathing and the machine sees "irregular" and thinks it is from some sore of flow variations related to the airway.
In the meantime you are laying there frustrated and tossing and turning and big sighs and breath pauses and such...and confusing the machine even more.
It just flags what it senses....
Not long ago I had a night with AHI of 3 something which is high for me. I looked at the events up close and every single one of the events was flagged when it was very obvious I wasn't asleep. I had centrals, OAs and hyponeas and not one was real.
What I did have that night was a night where the back pain was really bad and I didn't sleep well and I know I did a lot of tossing and turning.
The machine didn't have any idea I was awake tossing and turning. All it knew was that my breathing wasn't what it expected.
It flags the unexpected if the unexpected meets criteria for some sort of apnea event.

[Sluggish]

I don’t understand why the machine counts more events when I’m awake.

The machine has zero idea as to whether you are awake or asleep.
All it can measure is air flow and our awake breathing is very irregular compared to asleep breathing and the machine sees "irregular" and thinks it is from some sore of flow variations related to the airway.
In the meantime you are laying there frustrated and tossing and turning and big sighs and breath pauses and such...and confusing the machine even more.
It just flags what it senses....
Not long ago I had a night with AHI of 3 something which is high for me. I looked at the events up close and every single one of the events was flagged when it was very obvious I wasn't asleep. I had centrals, OAs and hyponeas and not one was real.
What I did have that night was a night where the back pain was really bad and I didn't sleep well and I know I did a lot of tossing and turning.
The machine didn't have any idea I was awake tossing and turning. All it knew was that my breathing wasn't what it expected.
It flags the unexpected if the unexpected meets criteria for some sort of apnea event.

Beautiful! Thank you.
Too bad there’s no way to make a break in the data (off/on) just before I fall asleep so the number in the morning was more accurate.

[zonker]

Beautiful! Thank you.
Too bad there’s no way to make a break in the data (off/on) just before I fall asleep so the number in the morning was more accurate.

there is! it will require some guesswork on your part, but it can be done. in your recent example, you say you stayed awake for two hours. then gave up. if you hadn't given up and fell asleep shortly after, you'd have some rough idea as to when you fell asleep.

so lets say, just for an example, you figure you feel asleep at two hours. so, you bring up your sleepyhead chart for that night. point your mouse at the time you fell asleep. going by MY sleep routine, that would be 1:30 am. so, i point the mouse at 1:30 am. i then left click,hold and drag the mouse right across the chart until the time i woke up. this will highlight that section of the chart.

right below the event flag portion of the chart it will say, as an example "Duration 06:48:07 AHI 0.88 Flow Rate: 0.00"

i can't TELL you how many mornings seeing that lesser ahi has made me feel so much better!

[palerider]

I don’t understand why the machine counts more events when I’m awake.

Because you breathe poorly while you're awake. just zoom in on the flow chart.