AHI of 39.9 and officially OFF CPAP

[SolisQuaesitor71]

Hello, not being a regular contributor here but gaining lots of support and advice i thought it may be helpful to others.
I began CPAP therapy in November 2017 after being diagnosed with Apnea and an AHI of 39.9. By no means was it as i expected, i found it hard to adapt to but the figures spoke for themselves when the AHI on some nights would be as low as 3. Checkups at the hospital would offer the thumbs up however i went through every mask conceivable and tried many things including information and suggestions put forth on this forum but the best i could get on with was the Quattro full face. Doctors when asked would tell me that once on CPAP it's for life unless i 'become an olympic athelete'.. hardly what anyone wants to hear.. at 47 and 13stone in weight it's unlikely.
Then in July a massive change in my life lead me to decide to ditch alcohol and start going to the Gym. This was and still is to keep me occupied and see what happens. I'd take my time, started relatively light on weight machines only for about 25mins afterwhich i went on the treadmill, set a steep incline and walked at what speed i could manage to get my heart working a bit.
Now 5 months on how things have changed (sadly my head's still screwed up but hey). My Blood Pressure medication has been reduced Twice and my cholestrol has dropped. My weight has now dropped to exactly 11stone.
I haven't been getting on well with my machine for the last two to three weeks.. i've been waking about an hour after going to sleep feeling like i'm suffocating, even though the settings haven't been changed. As a result i've spent the rest of the night sleeping without it. Worrying about this and curious as to whether my health has affected my AHI the hospital kindly let me use their Konica 300i Oxygen machine over the last weekend so that they could reassess.. The resulting visit yesterday with the sleep clinic blew me away.. my AHI without the CPAP is now between 9 and 10.9 which is considered to be 'mild' by my hospitals guidance. So i had the choice, stay on CPAP or leave it there. I chose the latter.

I wouldn't normally have written this as technically speaking this forum at the moment has served its purpose and supported me where necessary.. however everybody is different but i was painted many a picture of being stuck on CPAP for good which isn't very encouraging. If when i began treatment the doctors and healthcare professionals had told me that if i went to the gym, built my fitness up a bit and dropped a bit of weight i could be off the machine i'd have done it much sooner.

Many people like their machine.. mine saved my life and it's something that i'm extremely grateful for, in fact the first nights without it seemed eerily quiet without hearing it. But for now at least i'm off treatment and have been discharged from CPAP.

The only thing that i'm on the hunt for now is a reasonably priced all night fingertip Oxygen saturation monitor that i can track if my apnea is returning (the Konica is £550 eek)

[Goofproof]

You can go off XPAP, but that doesn't mean your Sleep Apnea is gone, it only means you don't care about your health enough to make it better. Jim

AHI of under 2, and officially on XPAP. Measuring Pulse O2 isn't a reliable way to check for Sleep Apnea.

[kteague]

Congratulations on the lifestyle changes that are leading you to better health. Just a bit envious in that regard. I do hope you are going to look into ways to manage that remaining AHI. It would be a shame to find you feeling so bad living with that and lacking the energy to maintain your current activity level. Have you thought about how a lot of people first get diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and were referred for a sleep study because it was adversely affecting their health and well being? My first inclination is to say don't stop what has brought you this far. If you are determined to stop using your CPAP, maybe you could look into this deeper. First, see if any prior sleep study indicates that your events are primarily positional. If so, taking steps to assure side sleeping only could get you down to a more acceptable level. Maybe a cervical collar. Maybe a dental device. Just don't expect too much from sleeping with a AHI of 9. I would be a basket case in a few weeks of that. Best wishes on making decisions that continue you on your path to better health.

[zonker]

Then in July a massive change in my life lead me to decide to ditch alcohol and start going to the Gym.

THIS-Hands.jpg

i've found out just how much alcohol (in my case, wine) can impact my sleep particularly fragmenting it. i've cut back drastically and the result has been amazing. still not ready yet to cut it out altogether.

the rest of what you say isn't for me. but i'm glad you've found a path that suits you.

good luck!

[greatunclebill]

make an appointment with a board certified pulmonologist sleep doctor and he will tell you the same thing i say. if a real doctor told you that you don't need a cpap for ahi 10, he is a 100% quack. if you let someone other than a real doctor tell you ahi 10 is ok you're the fool.

[palerider]

my AHI without the CPAP is now between 9 and 10.9 which is considered to be 'mild' by my hospitals guidance. So i had the choice, stay on CPAP or leave it there. I chose the latter.

We'll see you when you come back...

an AHI of 9-10.9 means you're being waked up every 5 minutes, all night long... whether or not your oxygen drops has nothing to do with the fact that you're not going to be getting any effective rest.

[D.H.]

Sleep Apnea is dangerous because of fragmented sleep and because of oxygen desaturation (and perhaps for other reasons). If the oxygen is good, it doesn't mean that your sleep is not fragmented.

[SolisQuaesitor71]

It is very confusing and I guess the UK is different than other parts of the world with their guidelines but I'm really not certain.
The clinicians at my hospital said at the start that mild apnea didn't put me in the category of CPAP, raster a dental piece and headstrap as someone mentioned although these aren't supplied through hospitals in the UK unlike CPAP.

I'm going to try to stay optimistic as I didn't think I'd get this far tbh. The ahi is still there yes, maybe another 4 hard months in the gym may hopefully improve it further.
However I accept that I may be back on a more permanent basis again

[greatunclebill]

remember, you had apnea before you were diagnosed, you had it while being treated and you still have it. apnea is physical, not a disease that will just go away. mild and severe are just made up cut off lines for number of events per hour. they have nothing to do with how strong the events are and how much pressure it takes to treat them. at 10 ahi, you are stopping breathing an average of once every 6 minutes all night long.

[D.H.]

I do not believe that an AHI that high is acceptable in the U.K. or anywhere else. In the U.S., Sleep Apnea is diagnosed if your AHI is 5 or higher. Remember that 5 means an event every twelve minutes (on average), which I think is far from optimal. Certainly 39.9 - which means an even every ninety seconds is not acceptable in the U.K. or anywhere else!

A CPAP will function exactly the same in the U.K. as in the U.S., even though the incoming voltage is different. The only physical difference is the configuration of the plug that goes into the wall.

[Goofproof]

It is very confusing and I guess the UK is different than other parts of the world with their guidelines but I'm really not certain.
The clinicians at my hospital said at the start that mild apnea didn't put me in the category of CPAP, raster a dental piece and headstrap as someone mentioned although these aren't supplied through hospitals in the UK unlike CPAP.

I'm going to try to stay optimistic as I didn't think I'd get this far tbh. The ahi is still there yes, maybe another 4 hard months in the gym may hopefully improve it further.
However I accept that I may be back on a more permanent basis again

If you trigger a heart attack at the gym, you won't die from untreated sleep apnea, what a way for a cure. Jim