Variance in AHI readings

[sleeptiger]

Hi,

I've been on the S9 Elite cpap for over 2 months now. The cpap pressure is set to 9.0 and over the past 10 days, my AHI has ranged from 3.8 to 10.5. Leakage varies from 2.4 to 4.8. Can anyone tell me why I'm experiencing this range in AHI and whether if this is normal.

Regards,
Sleeptiger

[Pugsy]

Do you have the software so that you can see the reports to see what is going on?

The range you describe is not normal and is not what the medical community states is satisfactory therapy.
The general consensus is an AHI of less than 5 but we often get lower. Your 3.8 is fine but anything above 5 isn't so good.
If leaks aren't a problem then best look at the reports and see what is going on.

Do you use EPR? If so at what setting?

[sleeptiger]

I have the Resscan 3.12 software and have downloaded the reports but I'm not sure what I should be looking for. Could use some advice in this area.
Yes I use EPR, it's set at 3.0

[Pugsy]

You can post the reports here for member input and you can ask questions about what you see and members can clarify things.
It helps if we see what you see.

How to insert image/report


Open the image to full size so it is easily read.
I use Vista snipping tool to create a screen shot and crop the image at the same time.
Prt/scr key will also take a screen shot if using XP. If laptop is used sometimes the Fn key has to be pushed at the same time as the prt/scr key
I think windows 7 has the snipping tool.
Once the screen shot is created save it in jpg format.
Upload the image to a host site. I use Photobucket it is free, there are others.
Once the image is uploaded then copy the ENTIRE IMG address. Be sure to include the opening and closing IMG in brackets. Paste that copied address into a post here.
Use the preview button. If you can't see the image try again because if you can't see it we can't.

[sleeptiger]

Thanks Pugsy.....I'll attach the reports when I get home later.

[Twentysix]

Hi,

I've been on the S9 Elite cpap for over 2 months now. The cpap pressure is set to 9.0 and over the past 10 days, my AHI has ranged from 3.8 to 10.5. Leakage varies from 2.4 to 4.8. Can anyone tell me why I'm experiencing this range in AHI and whether if this is normal.

Regards,
Sleeptiger

Hi, can I ask where you can read your leakage rates? Not on the machine, or can you?

[sleeptiger]

Yes you can read Leakage off the LCD screen. To do this you have to press on both the info and setup buttons for 3 seconds, then you can access the sleep report and read the leakage there.

[sleeptiger]

[img][/[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... essure.jpg[/img]/img]
[img][[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... report.jpg[/img]/img]
[img][[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... lation.jpg[/img]/img]
[img][[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... s/flow.jpg[/img]/img]
[img][/[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... tation.jpg[/img]img]
[img][[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... ts/AHI.jpg[/img]/img]
[img][[IMG]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... /snore.jpg[/img]/img]

Shown above are my latest readings from the S9. Can someone tell me what I'm not setting right to get the AHI readings down?
Thanks in advance,

[sleeptiger]

Hi,
Attached are my sleep results from last night, much appreciated if someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong here and how I can get the AHI lower. Thanks in advance,

[sleeptiger]

Oops, forgot to attach the events graph, here it is......

[Samba]

What were the results of your sleep test ?

[Pugsy]

Did anyone mention centrals during sleep study or the titration study?

If most nights were like the one you posted....obviously not so good. Though you did report one night with 3.8 AHI

Straight cpap at 9 cm with EPR set at 3. With the few centrals showing until I knew more about them I wouldn't go overboard with changes. Since EPR of 3 effectively lowers the pressure by 3 cm while exhaling it sort of overall lowers the effective pressure.
Can you get by with less EPR? That would be what I would try first to see if it help address those events better.
Could these be positional? Did your sleep study comment about number of events while on your back? If so, maybe experiment to see if you can stay off your back??? Did sleep study mention REM events being worse?

[sleeptiger]

Thanks Pugsy...I might try lowering the EPR to 1 or 2 tonight.
Last night AHI was 5.5 on same pressure settings (9.0), EPR 3.0.
There was no mention of centrals when I did the sleep study. The sleep report is shown below.
What are centrals and how serious are they?

[Pugsy]

There was no mention of centrals when I did the sleep study. The sleep report is shown below.
What are centrals and how serious are they?

Hmm, no mention of centrals but no mention of the normal Obstructive Apneas or Hyponeas either.. Must have been on something other than the summary page you have.

Centrals are clear airway obstructions. So not the typical obstructive airway event where the tissues collapse and block the airway.
Clear airway obstruction is like when we stop breathing and the airway is still open. Any number of reasons can cause them. Some are normal and some can be indicators of something more serious. Sometimes cpap pressure can trigger these CA events.
While you don't seem to have an unusual number of them, you do seem to have them and since we don't know why, it is best to be cautious and not go increasing pressure willy nilly just in case pressure makes them worse.

EPR is a comfort feature and reducing EPR will only make a small change in overall effective pressure, so it is safer right now to try that instead of automatically increasing your cpap pressure. If no centrals were present, then yeah, might increase the pressure.

While these could be nothing more than turning over in bed type of things, best to discuss with doctor if they persist before making major changes. If no other pages of the sleep study is available, maybe a phone call to ask specifically the breakdown for events during the regular sleep study and the titration sleep study. Normally it is documented somewhere no centrals or x number of centrals along with Obstructive events and Hyponeas.

Cpap pressure will NOT eliminate a central and in fact the machine in APAP mode (if you had one) wouldn't even try.
Let's see if we can eliminate a few of the regular events, then you can have an idea what is going on with the centrals.

Usually people with a more serious problem with centrals will have many, many more than you are showing. So don't panic if you google central sleep apnea and see all the bad stuff. This number might not even concern the doctor but if they remain pretty constant, probably should talk with doctor about them.

[avi123]

Hi, your Events are almost like my. Also the variation of AHI from day to day from 8 to 15. But your flow limitation and snore graphs are more profound and cyclic.

Do you have any other ailments besides the OSA? I am asking it b/c the "cyclic obstructive events" that you had thru the night per your sleep study?

When I entered the above sentence from your study- test in Google I got this past post on this discussion forum:

viewtopic/t6600/Irregular-Heartbeat-wOSA.html

Has any physician ever mentioned any thing about your heart?

Also, is it possible to know your age?

I would not give you any "advice" about setting your machine as some posters might.