Shouldn't the APAP avoid my H(Apneas) ?

[danyg]

Hi,

I've been using the Autoset II APAP for 1 week.

But one question :
Why do the equipment shows that I had 10 AH and 2IH (for exemple), if it should exactly avoid it.
I read the pressure and it shows, 9.6 for example...

Should I conclude that the APAP isn't smart enough to avoid the h(apneas) ?
Should I set by myself the pressure, higher until i get Zeros ?

Thanks for the help,
Dany.

[dave21]

Hi and Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately when you see the AI and HI figures (AHI=AI+HI) on your APAP (and CPAP) display, these aren't the ones it could avoid. There's no way the machine can tell which ones you did avoid. So these are the ones it couldn't treat. APAP and CPAP won't fully eradicate them, there will be times when it can't throughout the night. If you suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea more, than upping the pressure little by little you may find will reduce these.

Put it another way, if you stopped using APAP/CPAP (which I wouldn't recommend) you'll see these figures jump massively upwards. So the machine is doing it's job it's just not a miracle cure.

You'll also find some days figures are lower and some are higher. What can bring on Obstructive Apneas and Hypopneas more are things like sleeping on your back, alcohol, medication.

Apneas are full upper airway blockages (e.g. your throat closing up to a point where you physically cannot breath / suffocation) and Hypopneas are partial blockages. An Apnea and Hypopnea have to last for at least 10 seconds for it to be counted as one.

Hope that answers your questions.

Thanks
Dave

[Wulfman]

Hi,

I've been using the Autoset II APAP for 1 week.

But one question :
Why do the equipment shows that I had 10 AH and 2IH (for exemple), if it should exactly avoid it.
I read the pressure and it shows, 9.6 for example...

Should I conclude that the APAP isn't smart enough to avoid the h(apneas) ?
Should I set by myself the pressure, higher until i get Zeros ?

Thanks for the help,
Dany.

Welcome to the forum.

I think what you meant, instead of "avoid", was "eliminate".

You didn't say what your pressure settings were, but if you want to get better numbers, you're probably going to need to move your minimum pressure higher......closer to what your 95% pressure number is showing (the 9.6 you used for an example).

You may not actually get to "Zeros", but you will probably get much closer.


Den