AHI Levels

[vlad2075]

When I did my sleep study, my doctor told me I was at a sever level of AHI (Around 70).

When I started therapy, I was hovering around 8-10 which is still considered moderate sleep apnea.

After a few tweaks of the mask and machine, I'm now around 1.8 - 3! I would have to imagine that this is a massive improvement for the better?

Is it unrealistic to think it could be 0? Honestly, my goal was to keep it under 5 and I seem to be doing that that last 4-5 nights.

[Pugsy]

Is it unrealistic to think it could be 0?

Pretty much unrealistic IMHO.
There's an apnea event called sleep onset central which will get flagged and there's nothing we can do about them nor do we need to unless they are present in numbers large enough to be a problem.
There's also the fact that these machines will often flag awake or semi awake breathing irregularities as some sort of apnea event and they aren't "real".

[vlad2075]

Is it unrealistic to think it could be 0?

Pretty much unrealistic IMHO.
There's an apnea event called sleep onset central which will get flagged and there's nothing we can do about them nor do we need to unless they are present in numbers large enough to be a problem.
There's also the fact that these machines will often flag awake or semi awake breathing irregularities as some sort of apnea event and they aren't "real".

Wow, you know your stuff You've been a huge help! So basically where I'm at now is pretty much as good as its going to get?

Am I right in my thinking that as long as I keep it under 5 it should be good?

[Pugsy]

Don't get me wrong...getting a nice 0.0 is a huge boost to the morale but while it's nice to be able to pat yourself on the back with it ...it doesn't guarantee that you will feel awesome or anything like that.
I used to joke that the only way I would get AHI 0.0 would be if I never slept. It was elusive for sure.

There are some people who say they notice a difference in how they feel with say an AHI of 4.0 which is technically acceptable and an AHI of say less than 2.0 and I am not going to argue with them because it's entirely possible and if that's the case then by all means target the AHI that lets them feel better and sleep better

I personally can't tell much difference in AHI and how I feel. Heck one of my best days in terms of how I felt and slept followed a night with AHI of 10.3...go figure that one.

I don't worry about the AHI all by itself because all by itself it really is nothing more than a number.
Getting an AHI of so and so isn't the primary goal in my book. My primary goal has always been to get a good night's sleep and feel decent during the day and if the AHI is low..great but if it is barely "acceptable" then I don't really care as long as I still feel good and sleep good.

We don't get extra points for a perfect match score and AHI of 0.0 doesn't mean squat if we feel like crap during the day and/or sleep horribly.
But it seems that we, as humans, tend to want to measure things in numbers...we do it with blood sugars and other labs and we seem to have a desire that if 3.0 is good then 1.0 is better and that's not necessarily the case.

So I might watch the AHI but I don't dwell on it as long as I am sleeping decently and feeling decently during the day.
Some of my worst feeling days with crappy sleep have followed really low AHI numbers because I didn't get much REM sleep (where my OSA is worse) because I slept poorly for some reason (usually unrelated to OSA too).

So...AHI is nice to get so we can pat ourselves on the back but it doesn't guarantee anything but a good math score.
If you discover you can notice a marked difference in how you feel between a really low AHI and the "acceptable" 5.0 then by all means you will want to try to go with whatever lets you feel the best because that's the most important thing about all this therapy...sleeping better and feeling better.

[palerider]

Is it unrealistic to think it could be 0?

Pretty much unrealistic IMHO.
There's an apnea event called sleep onset central which will get flagged and there's nothing we can do about them nor do we need to unless they are present in numbers large enough to be a problem.
There's also the fact that these machines will often flag awake or semi awake breathing irregularities as some sort of apnea event and they aren't "real".

Wow, you know your stuff You've been a huge help! So basically where I'm at now is pretty much as good as its going to get?

Am I right in my thinking that as long as I keep it under 5 it should be good?

5 is pretty crap, if mine isn't under 2, I feel it.. usually mine's under 1.

5 is just the arbitrary line that the medical community settled on.

[vlad2075]

Is it unrealistic to think it could be 0?

Pretty much unrealistic IMHO.
There's an apnea event called sleep onset central which will get flagged and there's nothing we can do about them nor do we need to unless they are present in numbers large enough to be a problem.
There's also the fact that these machines will often flag awake or semi awake breathing irregularities as some sort of apnea event and they aren't "real".

Wow, you know your stuff You've been a huge help! So basically where I'm at now is pretty much as good as its going to get?

Am I right in my thinking that as long as I keep it under 5 it should be good?

5 is pretty crap, if mine isn't under 2, I feel it.. usually mine's under 1.

5 is just the arbitrary line that the medical community settled on.

It's funny, last night I had 3 and this morning I felt a little foggy. Not tired per say, but just a little "out of it". I felt like I could have used another hour of sleep.

On a side note, the morning headaches seem to be gone since I started even when my AHI was 10.