New CPAP user! But, AHI is high...

[jddqr]

Hi everyone! I'm John, a brand new CPAP user. I was diagnosed with mild-to-moderate sleep apnea, and after two sleep studies I was prescribed with an 8 cm CPAP machine. I've been on it for two nights now. The first night I was able to sleep with it for 4 hours, the second night for 6. (I'm using a S8 Elite with a comfort gel mask.)

My concern is that the AHI numbers seem to be really high. For example this is what I had last night.

Avg pressure: 8.2
Leak: 0.10L/s
AHI: 15.6
AI: 6.5
HI: 9.1

The leaks seem (?) to be minimal so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.

Any advice? Thanks!!
-John

[Wulfman]

It would appear that your pressure is too low. AHI should be less than 5.0.

In the first few nights, it's typical that the numbers may be somewhat higher, however, you probably need to bump it up to 10 and see how that works.

Den

[RipVW]

Hello & Welcome, John! Like you, my sleep study (July 2006) set my pressure very low. After more than a year of really not feeling any positive results, I found this forum, learned about data, discovered that my AHI was high (9.5), increased my pressure, and now my AHI averages 0.9. Unlike you, it took me over a year to find the forum. Glad you found it so soon!

"You are getting sleepy . . ."

[rwalther]

I agree with Wuff-Man !!!

Your pressure is pretty low.

I'm in the same category, my average pressure on my Auto-CPAP fluctuates between 10 and 13 (high is set to 14), and my AHI is around 5.0 over the past month. Depending on a lot of facors, it fluctuate between 1.0 and 8.0.

You're is too high ... IMHO.

Hope you get it sorted out. I'm lucky, in that I'm allowed to change all of my own settings, so I'm not dependant upon anyone else. I watch all of my data, and tweak it on my own. I think I've gotten it to a set of settings that work very well.

Rusty

[Wulfman]

And, if you want to change your own settings......and don't have the instructions......just ask. They've been posted many, many times on these forum pages.

Den

[jddqr]

Thanks for the warm welcome and feedback everyone

I took a nap today with a pressure of 10 and still, the same results

Pressure: 10.2
Leak: 0.06L/s
AHI: 15.5
AI: 5.7
HI: 9.8

Gah!!

Please don't tell me I need to push it above 10... I can't believe my prescription would be THAT far off.

Any other advice??

Thanks all!!!

[Wulfman]

Thanks for the warm welcome and feedback everyone

I took a nap today with a pressure of 10 and still, the same results

Pressure: 10.2
Leak: 0.06L/s
AHI: 15.5
AI: 5.7
HI: 9.8

Gah!!

Please don't tell me I need to push it above 10... I can't believe my prescription would be THAT far off.

Any other advice??

Thanks all!!!

WHY NOT? I was prescibed a pressure of 18 cm and ended up between 10 and 12. That's a lot farther off than yours may be. I've seen others like that on the forum, too.

It happens.

Den

[goose]

....Gah!!

Please don't tell me I need to push it above 10... I can't believe my prescription would be THAT far off.

Mine was the opposite from Wulfman.
I was titrated at 5cm and I'm now at 10. I couldn't breathe at 5cm so set it to 7cm. After a while at that, I asked for and got an Auto CPAP but the range was set from 8-15. The higher pressures caused centrals, so it was backed off. After about 4 months of experimentation with different settings I've settled in at 10 (in CPAP mode) with an average AHI of 2.5 (it's really about 1.2/1.3 over the past month or two, but it's averaged in with my old data).....

So as you can see, the prescriptions are not an exact science. If you change your pressures you should leave it for at least a week (I go for 3-4 weeks) to see what the data shows. If the trend is downward, leave it for another week and check again. It takes some time to zero in on your "magic" number.
Your leak numbers look pretty good....Too many AI's and HI's though....

Fill in your profile so we can see what you're using -- it's easier to help if we know what you've got.
If you don't have one, ask for a data capable machine so you can keep an eye on all the data.

Keep at it -- you'll nail it down in time.
Good luck -- take care
cheers
goose

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): auto cpap, CPAP, AHI, Prescription

[RipVW]

Please don't tell me I need to push it above 10... I can't believe my prescription would be THAT far off.

My titration pressure was 6.0, though I actually need around 12.0 to get good results.

[jddqr]

Thanks all, being new to all this is a bit overwhelming, but I'll try a pressure of 12 tonight and see if it makes a difference or not.

Thanks again!

[ozij]

You should definitely use the machine and mask for naps - but don't make and decisions based on nap data. Napping is not normal sleep, and can't tell you much about night needs.

Good luck.
O.

[ColinP]

Personally, I'd be hesitant to make changes based on one night's sleep too - I've been trying CPAP at 10cm for over a mointh now, and have had AHI reading varying from 7.5 to 30.9, but the trend is still slowly coming down - I assume it's as I adjust to things. (the first week the average was 22.1, last week it was 11.6) I'm planning to stay at those settings until the figurs stabilise.

Colin

[jddqr]

Yep, I think ColinP is right. Last night I was at 12 and guess what? no changes. In fact I had some pain in my chest, presumably from the greater pressure.

I'm going back to 8 and am going to stick with it for a few weeks to see what happens.

Thanks for the advice everyone

[Wulfman]

Yep, I think ColinP is right. Last night I was at 12 and guess what? no changes. In fact I had some pain in my chest, presumably from the greater pressure.

I'm going back to 8 and am going to stick with it for a few weeks to see what happens.

Thanks for the advice everyone

One night may not necessarily show significant results. It's also advantageous to make smller adjustments for longer periods of time. You should monitor the results over a week or longer. Were you looking at one night's data or averages?

Den

[Guest]

Generally, one night's data.

I'll stick with the 8 for a week and see if the AHI's (especially the AI's) go down or not...