I was waking up 174 times an hour

[youregettingsleepy]

I finally had a sleep study done and the doctor, who has been in the sleep study business for over 30 years, said mine was the worst case he'd ever seen. Is it true? Am I a freak?

I haven't found much online to compare to except an article last week in the WSJ or NYTimes that said people can wake up from apnea "up to 40 times an hour". 40??

Anyone else out there with high numbers like me or should I submit myself to the Smithsonian?

(also, I've been on CPAP for three weeks and I wake up so stiff and sore it takes me a while to move and my back hurts a lot... I'm going to search for some more ideas about this now, but feel free to advise me!)
Thanks!
j.

[jdm2857]

An AHI of 174 means that you were having an apnea or hypopnea almost 3 times per minute. It's hard to believe that the number could get much higher than that.

[mhurley3]

An AHI of 174? Wow, that's the highest I've heard. A freak is a little strong, however an call to the Smithsonian might be appropriate.

[ww]

Hi j. You may want to register, log in and post your equipment. A high AHI means you need a CPAP to improve your sleep. Many here can offer suggestions that may help you to get a better understanding of your therapy and help you to improve it.

[Muse-Inc]

Well, I couldn't sustain normal breathing a single minute during my Sleep Study...not a single minute...no wonder I was exhausted! I'd been that way for years and my old doctor never recognized it as sign on possible apnea, he said I was just stressed, well, duh, you work in high tech, you're stressed, so I just lived with it. I changed doctors and the new one took one look at me, listened to my tale of symptoms re breathing issues (I thought I had a return of adult asthma & allergies, never mentioned exhaustion), asked me if after sleeping 12-14 hrs if I woke up exhausted, to which I replied, "oh yes" surprised. He suggested that I might have apnea giving me just the briefest of explanations and sent me to a Sleep Center for a sleep study. Took me months to get the study done. Reading about it on the net was scary; I bought a baby "room monitor" so that someone could listen to me and come wake me up if I quit breathing; luckily, that didn't happen too often as I have extreme narrowing but few complete airpassage blockages...still, my saturated oxygen levels weren't good. When I saw the brain wave results, if the restful sleep using CPAP during the the Sleep Study hadn't already made a believer out of me, the sight of those panic-driven brain wave patterns would have done it.

My high number is probably why I am dedicated to using my CPAP when I sleep and sensitive to others' talk that suggests they might have apnea. Some might find me a bit too much, but a few have thanked me for urging them to get checked out for apnea as they have it too.

"Freak" no, but you definitely have 'it'

[Thanks for the feedback!]

Yes, I've been having great luck with CPAP for about three weeks now -- felt better initially, now I'm experiencing the aches of not moving all night, so I'm scanning this site and finding lots of help! I'm registered as youregettingsleepier, so I'll go update that with details --
see you on the board!
Thanks again -
j.

[sagesteve]

I was high too...105. I've been on CPAP now for a year and 3 months. Like you, I now know that I've had this all my life. Get on CPAP as soon as you can and STUDY this site. Everything I know I've learned here. Losing weight is a BIG plus ( CPAP will help you in that department too!). I'll be 62 in August. When I started CPAP I was 262 pounds (I'm 5' 11 1/4"). With diet ( no exercise) and a good nights sleep, I'm down to 235 and dropping. My numbers started at an AHI of 17 and a pressure of 11. I'm now down to a pressure of 9.5 and an AHI of 0.02 to an 0.06! Hang in there, YOU CAN DO THIS...just keep solving the problems that WILL come up.

[youregettingsleepier]

Thanks! I needed the pep talk!

I'm now on here as youregettingsleepier -- and here are my stats (I hope they're below).

SO glad I found you all!
j.

[spitintheocean]

Sorry, your stats never made it onto your posting. You might want to try that again.

I was diagnosed with SA in February and thought my lab results were bad at 121 AHI's per hour but you beat that hands down. I hope that you weren't driving much with numbers like that, and I'm guessing that you needed more than a few bathroom visits during the night.

I haven't had an AI event in weeks and my AHI numbers are now averaging between 2.5 and 3 events per hour. My blood oxygen levels never fall below 95% which is an impressive improvement from my sleep lab when the lowest recorded O2 number was 53%. This therapy will work if you give it half a chance; it's certainly changed my life for the better.

[nate fry]

Turns out your lucky. You found out. Now you have to put being healthy on the top on the list. There are several options to look at. You need a good doctor that deals with sleep apnea and maybe a ent doc. You may have some defects that can be repaired.A cpap in the meantime should help protect you some till you figure it out.