Six months of treatment

Andy1254 · Post by **Andy1254** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:52 am

Hello all.
According to the recorded stats on my Resmed S8 Autoset It’s been six months since I started my treatment.

My average stats for the 6 months are:
Pressure 10
Leak rate .16
AHI 4.4
AI .6
HI 3.8

Last month stats:
Pressure 10
Leak rate .30
AHI 3.8
AI .4
HI 3.4

Min pressure setting 6.4
Max pressure setting 15

My leak rate has crept upwards over the last month but I believe it is still in the acceptable zone. I have used a chin strap but this does not improve the leak rate.

I use a Puritan Bennett Breeze with nasal pillows, which I find very comfortable and no humidifier.
I still feel my figures could be better in view of those posted by some members on this forum even though I have recorded 0 AI’s on a few occasions(but also a few .9 and 1's) and have read that anything under .5 is acceptable.
Should I be contented with these results or do I need to tweak my pressures and/or consider a different mask to get better figures?
As I am not due to report to my sleep centre until December comments from any members would be most helpful.

Best regards
Andy

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:17 am

You seem to be doing OK.

Your leak has crept up a bit but still not a disaster or anything like that.

Your 95% value of 10 cm indicates you may do better raising that min pressure to around 8 cm ... however that may (or may not) make your leaks worse.

So try bumping up your pressure but also make sure you keep that leak rate down.

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:28 pm

Any AHI under 5.0 is acceptable or at least considered normal. For leaks, anything under .40 on your machine is OK. Of course the lower the leaks the better.

Brenda

Gerald · Post by **Gerald** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:56 pm

Brenda...........

Based on testing of myself and my lady, I'll have to respectfully disagree with the idea that an AHI of 5.0 is "normal" or "acceptable".

The whole reason for CPAP therapy is to get O2 blood saturation levels up to 93% or better all night....every night.

What I've found is that we (my lady and I) have to stay below an AHI of 2.5 to achieve 93% or higher O2 levels....continually.

Unless one is testing with a recording oximeter, a person doesn't know for sure if the O2 levels are OK.

If possible, measuring AHI and O2 levels is the best method to determine if therapy is effective or not.

Gerald

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:58 pm

[quote="Gerald"]Brenda...........

Based on testing of myself and my lady, I'll have to respectfully disagree with the idea that an AHI of 5.0 is "normal" or "acceptable".

The whole reason for CPAP therapy is to get O2 blood saturation levels up to 93% or better all night....every night.

What I've found is that we (my lady and I) have to stay below an AHI of 2.5 to achieve 93% or higher O2 levels....continually.

Unless one is testing with a recording oximeter, a person doesn't know for sure if the O2 levels are OK.

If possible, measuring AHI and O2 levels is the best method to determine if therapy is effective or not.

Gerald

bigk · Post by **bigk** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:05 am

My AHI after 6 months is around 5 but can be as high as 6.

The AHI on a Resmed is always higher than other brands.

My SPO7500 shows I never have any desats below 95% so I'm very happy I'm getting good therapy even though in truth I feel no different to pre-CPAP.

My leak rate has also been higher the last few months - I've been wondering if I should change my mask cushion.

bigk · Post by **bigk** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:07 am

Oh my AI, a more sugnificant number is 0 or 0.1 at worst.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:13 am

Snoredog wrote:
Gerald wrote:Brenda...........

Based on testing of myself and my lady, I'll have to respectfully disagree with the idea that an AHI of 5.0 is "normal" or "acceptable".

The whole reason for CPAP therapy is to get O2 blood saturation levels up to 93% or better all night....every night.

What I've found is that we (my lady and I) have to stay below an AHI of 2.5 to achieve 93% or higher O2 levels....continually.

Unless one is testing with a recording oximeter, a person doesn't know for sure if the O2 levels are OK.

If possible, measuring AHI and O2 levels is the best method to determine if therapy is effective or not.

Gerald

do what works for you, but AHI=<5 IS considered "Normal" or about the number of apnea a healthy person would have.

AHI/RAI** Scale =<5 events /hour = (none); 5-15 events/hour = (mild); 15-30 events/hour = (moderate); >30 events/hour = (severe)

If you want to argue the point, argue it with the AASM/ABSM.

Normal for what? Perhpas for treating daytime sleepiness and snoring? Hypoxemic hypoxia ... who knows? Besides, I understand from dogs ahead of the science that those AASM/ABSM certified docs don't always know what they are talking about

Normal is a very relative term and we humans are a very diverse group which complicates what normal really is. What is normal for one person may not be for another. What is mild for one may be severe for another and visa versa.

So yes I very much agree with the part "do what works for you".

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:16 am

The whole reason for CPAP therapy is to get O2 blood saturation levels up to 93% or better all night....every night.

The reason for CPAP is to keep the airway open so you are able to sleep and reach all phases of sleep, waking refreshed and not falling asleep all day. OSA is not the only cause of low O2 sats.

Brenda

Gerald · Post by **Gerald** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:28 am

Snoredog....

I always respect your opinion....but, the medical/insurance complex (sort of like the military/industrial complex) is interested mostly in extracting as much as possible from us peasants.

They aren't always "right"......an example being the wrong ideas they had about stomach ulcers. It took about 10-years before it became common knowledge that a germ casused ulcers....not "stress" or spicy foods.

I agree all of us are different......and we should do what works for each of us.

Adding to what Dreamstalker says, I think it comes down to "measurement"......and the more gauges we have on ourselves (within reason), the better. Using a data-capable CPAP machine along with a recording Oximeter is a good way to cross-check results so that we know "where we are" therapy-wise.

Gerald

Andy1254 · Post by **Andy1254** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:05 pm

Thank you all for your responses to my first post. I think the message is, a small amount of experimenting with my pressures and trying to lower the leak rate is called for.
Thanks again
Andy

Mask	Humidifier

Additional Comments: S9 Autoset, H5i, Resmed Swift FX, Resscan 3.10