Average nightly XPAP pressure

[Perrybucsdad]

I was in a conversation with someone at work today and they had stated that most people don't need a CPAP pressure above 8cm... this was not a doctor or medical professional that I was talking to just a person who also suffers from Apnea's and was trying to tell me that there was no need for people to have higher pressure, and that if they did, they were either not using their XPAP correctly, or they needed surgery. I don't buy any of that.

Sure, some of us (like me) who is new to CPAP are still learning, and I might not know what is my ideal pressure just yet, but making a blanket statement like they did AND then just saying that these people need surgery to correct their apnea I think is patently wrong.

So, I was just curious what peoples AVERAGE Nightly pressure is. I know, some of you use APAP's and have a range, some use BI-PAP, and some use the more advanced XPAP (which I can't think of right this minute), but what is the AVERAGE that the machine works at each night.

Thanks,

John

[Lizistired]

BS. Pressure is an individual thing. That's why a titration is done. What information do you expect to gain form this poll?

[robysue]

Liz,

I think he's looking for data to wave in the other person's face and prove to the person that the statement "most people on xPAP don't need more than an average of 8cm of pressure" is just plain wrong.

And I say this as someone who clearly does NOT need more than average of 8cm of pressure: Judging from the folks posting here, it seems like there are lots of people who need around 8-12cm of pressure. And then there are the folks like me who need less (in my case, much less) and other folks who need more.

I chose 4--7.9cm since my max IPAP = 8cm and at this point, my 90% IPAP is often between 7.5 and 7.9. If "average" means "mathematical mean", then I clearly have an average pressure just below 6cm when both my IPAP and EPAP numbers are taken into account.

[JohnBFisher]

And my "average" proves that an "average" number is just that ... average!

My "average" pressure is about 12.5cm H2O. But my low is 10cm H2O and my high is 25cm H2O. Of course, some days (bad days) my average bounces over 13cm H2O. But as you are probably aware, I use an ASV, so to keep me breathing during a the central apnea (or central hypopnea) events, my machine switches to ventilator mode and ramps up the pressure.

But in general, from what I've seen in this forum, I think you are spot on that the average is higher than 8cm H2O. I would say it is more normal to see it in the 10 to 13cm H2O range than at 8cm H2O.

Still, as someone pointed out, who cares what "average" is ... what works for me is what is of primary importance.

[Coffeelover]

Everybody has an opinion. You have to go with what is right for you, and this should be decided by you and your doctor.

[LSAT]

Haven't we done this several times before? I'll bet the new poll curve will closely match the previous polls.

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