How "Perfect" does ones AHI need to be?

[fredn]

Hi .....

I've done a few experiments and tweaks on my VPAP Auto Machine .... I've gotten my AHI to being under 5 every night .... I still wake up 2-3 times to hit the bathroom but when I look at the graphs those times ARE NOT either OSA or CSA related .... I'm feeling great. I have energy like I've haven't had for years and years .... I think I driving everyone nuts by how much I talk lately ..... I'm trying to decide whether or not I should tweak some more ..... what do you people do ..... should I be happy just feeling great .... or is there something more to gain by tweaking some more hoping to get to "0"

Fred

[DreamStalker]

Feeling great is job one.

The rest is just icing on the proverbial cake.

Maybe have your prostate checked for the bathroom trips just don't let the docs tell you what your options are without doing your own research.

[LSAT]

I agree 100% with DS. IMO..Even <5 is arbitrary. If your AHI is within reason and you feel good...don't worry about it. Healthy people that don't use CPAP have several apneas when they sleep.

[Suddenly Worn Out]

Anything under 4.0 and the sleep docs write you off as "successfully treated" as long as your compliance is good. Thats here in the USA. I have no idea what it is like overseas. And dont much care, either.

Eric

[DavidCarolina]

IMHO not enough attention is placed on oximetry and bad events.

You can have good AHI averages but one bad apnea event for whatever cause, at least for me, such as snoring, or whatever,
can really ruin me.

If my 02 plunges significantly only once during the night, its not good at all, even if the apap is preventing
all kinds of other problems.

[cosmo]

z

[fredn]

I'm going to have some more prostrate work done ..... I get routine PSA Tests plus a yearly digital (ain't that a fun word ) exam ...... no problems from what has been found.

I also have a CMS-50F Pulse Oxymeter on order .... my OSA/CSA are usually 10-20 seconds .... but I DO want to make sure the O2 levels are ok ...

Fred

[fredr500]

[quote="fredn"
I also have a CMS-50F Pulse Oxymeter on order .... my OSA/CSA are usually 10-20 seconds .... but I DO want to make sure the O2 levels are ok ...

Fred[/quote]

Did you check out all of the models that CPAP.com has? The CMS series has several models from about $100 to the $159 model you have on order. What features of the 50F sold you?
Thanks.

[fredn]

Main thing I liked about the F was the fact that it attaches to your wrist with a very light weight and soft finger sensor

Fred

[Denial Dave]

my personal goals are to maintain an AHI under 2.0 and to keep my 95% leak levels below 10.

I only started to feel improvements after I was able to get my AHI under 2.

my sleep doc considers getting my AHI under 5 to be a success.

Dave

[quietmorning]

I feel my best when I'm under AHI 1.5. If I'm under 1 I usually feel very good. I found that I tend to cluster a lot - so I'll have a few clusters during the night - my AHI for the NIGHT may be less than two, but during the time of the cluster, the AHI has been as much as 12 - the higher my AHI in that specific cluster hour the lower my oxygen saturation is. It's gotten pretty dangerously low - but neither are truly reflected in the entire night data.

So, my goal is to get my overall AHI less than 1.5, keep my oxygen above 90 and if I'm going to have a cluster, have a very very very SHORT one.

With this said, I feel absolutely miserable tired when I have a night where my O2 gets too low, so the 'how you feel' really does say a lot.

[DreamStalker]

I'm going to have some more prostrate work done ..... I get routine PSA Tests plus a yearly digital (ain't that a fun word ) exam ...... no problems from what has been found.

I also have a CMS-50F Pulse Oxymeter on order .... my OSA/CSA are usually 10-20 seconds .... but I DO want to make sure the O2 levels are ok ...

Fred

My doc told me a joke as he perfomed the exam ...

Guy turns fifty and is told by his doc he needs to have digital prostate exam.
Doc tells guy to bend over and spread his cheeks.
Doc puts left hand on guy's left shoulder and says just relax and it will all be over before you know it.
Doc then puts right hand on guy's right shoulder and asks if everything is ok.
Guy looks over to left shoulder and then to right shoulder with eyes wide-open.

[DavidCarolina]

Exactly------its the stupid clusters for a lot of us, not the average AHI. """"""" the AHI has been as much as 12 - the higher my AHI in that specific cluster hour the lower my oxygen saturation is. It's gotten pretty dangerously low - but neither are truly reflected in the entire night data.

[Suddenly Worn Out]

Honestly, I can tell if my OSA is flared up by symptoms coming back alone. Here are my specific symptoms that come back:

1) GERD comes back
2) general fatigue comes back and is very SEVERE fatigue
3) bad irritability
4) have to urinate constantly at night
5) EYES GET SEVERELY BLOODSHOT...cardinal sign
6) morning headaches come back
7) blood pressure goes up
get some significant shortness of breath and chest tightness (respiratory distress that is pretty severe)

I dont need an AHI or a sleep doctor to tell me when my OSA is flaring, Ive been doing this so long now I can go by symptoms.

Eric

[Sir NoddinOff]

My feeling about AHI statistics in general is that for people who fall asleep quickly, sleep soundly all night and then wake up and get out of bed promptly, AHI is probably a good indicator of their night's sleep.

Then there's people like me who are difficult sleepers with lots of SWJ (Sleep Wake Junk). It takes me anywhere from ten to sixty minutes to get to sleep on any given night. I usually wake up at least once, sometimes twice a night and therefore it can take me another ten to sixty minutes to get back to sleep. To complicate matters, I sometimes lie in bed after I wake up in the morning while ruminating over my upcoming day... that can take up to an half an hour. This sort of behavior wrecks one's overall AHI. What I'm trying to say is that in terms of total hours, my AHI can look somewhat high, however if I zoom in to those times that I was truly asleep, my AHI is actually very low, ie. always below the gold standard of < 5. Here's a reference to how I determine when I'm actually asleep, this allows me to calculate my true AHI for any given night. Check out this easy technique: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=85120&p=774084&hilit=+tidal#p774084