Prescribed pressure

[Driver1814]

Sleep Doc prescribed 5/15 for my mild sleep apnea (12 sleep study score). Problem is when I set machine to 5/15 all my #'s get worse and my quality of sleep suffers. 5/8 pressure seems to be my sweet spot. Lower #s and quality of sleep improves close to pre cpap days. Pre sleep CPAP never felt tired etc during the day only doing CPAP because afibb doc highly encouraged me to.

Has anyone ran into better #'s and quality of sleep at lower then prescribed #'s?

I'm sure sleep Doc is well meaning but I highly doubt she even knows much about actually cpap therapy other then prescribing and releying the data.

[SleepGeek]

Are you using Oscar to keep an eye on your events? It may take some time to get used to the higher pressure.

[Driver1814]

Not using oscar, I can sleep with higher pressure but event are higher, leakage is higher and quality sleep isn't as good.

[Pugsy]

Did you have a sleep study done in a lab with a tech in attendance using cpap to figure out the pressures needed?

Or did you have the diagnostic sleep study only and the doctor prescribe apap machine set to a common range and the idea to let the machine sort out the pressure needs?

Even if you did have an in lab titration sleep study (with cpap to figure out pressure needs) it doesn't always work out that the prescribed pressures for THAT night end up being what you need when sleeping at home. Sleep varies from night to night anyway even at home.
I wouldn't put much thought in it. Most of the time the range that doctors give are just to let the machine sort it out or worst case scenario kind of things. Sometimes letting the machine go higher ends up causing more sleep disruption (which it sounds like this is what is happening in your case) and when that happens sometimes it's better to restrict that maximum a bit.
If your AHI is low, you are sleeping good and feeling good...don't worry about it.

As for your question as to whether anyone has ever actually found they did better with lower...Probably but in my situation I did have an in lab titration sleep study and I ended up needing MORE pressure than what was prescribed.

Now if your doctor didn't do the titration study and just gave you the machine set to a range of pressures it was with the idea the machine would sort it out. He might or might not have planned to narrow the range later based on the results of some time with the range.

These machines won't go higher without a good reason though...or what the machine thinks is a good reason. Sometimes the reason it wants to go higher ends up being less of a problem than the actual going higher causes a problem. So people have to make a compromise. Good sleep and feeling good is always my primary goal.

[Miss Emerita]

How low are your numbers with min 5 and max 8? And do you know the breakdown (obstructive, hypopnea, central)?

[Driver1814]

5/8 pressure

AHI .4
Total AI .2
Central .2
Leak 18L
Pressure 7.1

Don't wake up besides to go poddy

That's all I have now hopefully I'll have oscar running soon

How low are your numbers with min 5 and max 8? And do you know the breakdown (obstructive, hypopnea, central)?

[Miss Emerita]

Oh, those are excellent numbers! It'll be good to see your Oscar chart; I'm glad you're going to pursue that.

[Driver1814]

Sleep study was done in home. Actually sleep Doc is having me do another study with a "new" sleep device. From my understanding it doesn't attach to your nose it monitors through chest and finger??? Could be wrong on that:)

[Pugsy]

Okay...home study only for diagnostic purposes and prescribed apap with pretty much usual range of pressures and let the machine sort it out.
Fairly common.

Here's the deal...the pressure you might actually need tonight might be different from the pressure you might need tomorrow night.
We don't sleep the same each night. We don't sleep in the same position for one thing and some nights we have different amounts of REM sleep and both REM and sleeping position can affect pressure needs. So needs can vary. That's why auto adjusting ranges are most often used especially when no in lab titration study is done. The work well in most situations for most people as well.

I have no idea what other kind of sleep device your doctor is wanting you to try....nor do I know the why he wants it unless it is maybe a pulse oximetry test to see if cpap is working and keeping the oxygen levels from dropping. That's a common test to do once cpap has been initiated and it's done just to make sure things are working properly and O2 drops aren't happening.

[Miss Emerita]

Sleep study was done in home. Actually sleep Doc is having me do another study with a "new" sleep device. From my understanding it doesn't attach to your nose it monitors through chest and finger??? Could be wrong on that:)

Why is the doctor ordering a new study?