changed my pressure settings

[Miscanthus]

I lowered my Max pressure to 17 and had a great night with no leaks waking me up. However my AHI increased. Should I increase the pressure to 18 and try that? What about the min pressure?
Thanks

[LSAT]

Increase max to 20....

[Wulfman...]

I think you may need to be on a bilevel machine. And, with all of those "Centrals", maybe an ASV type of machine.
I believe a review of your sleep study to see if Centrals were noted on it and then a consultation with your doctor would be in order.


Den

.

[blownaway]

How any nights are you basing this increased AHI on? I would wait a week or so before drawing any conclusions.

[Miscanthus]

I think you may need to be on a bilevel machine. And, with all of those "Centrals", maybe an ASV type of machine.
I believe a review of your sleep study to see if Centrals were noted on it and then a consultation with your doctor would be in order.


Den

.

I did have centrals as well during my sleep study

[Miscanthus]

My sleep study showed centrals as well as OSA at 22 AHI's. She put me on straight CPAP at pressure 16. I never could get my AHI's down.
With advice from this site I switched to pressure min 15 max 20 but the high pressure was causing my mask to leak.

[Miscanthus]

[quote="Wulfman..."]I think you may need to be on a bilevel machine. And, with all of those "Centrals", maybe an ASV type of machine.
I believe a review of your sleep study to see if Centrals were noted on it and then a consultation with your doctor would be in order.


Den

.[/quote
Can you explain the differences in those machines to me please?

[Miscanthus]

How any nights are you basing this increased AHI on? I would wait a week or so before drawing any conclusions.

One night

[Miscanthus]

Could someone explain the EPR level. Right now mine is set at 2.
Thanks

[Wulfman...]

I think you may need to be on a bilevel machine. And, with all of those "Centrals", maybe an ASV type of machine.
I believe a review of your sleep study to see if Centrals were noted on it and then a consultation with your doctor would be in order.


Den

.

Can you explain the differences in those machines to me please?

I'll let some others explain it better.

viewtopic/t105182/BiLevel-vs-BiLevel-ST ... Gurus.html

http://www.alaskasleep.com/blog/adaptiv ... leep-apnea

http://cpap.1800cpap.com/blog/differenc ... -machines/


EPR is Expiratory Pressure Relief (sometimes called Exhale Pressure Relief)

http://www.resmed.com/int/patients_and_ ... c=patients


Den

.

[RogerSC]

Could someone explain the EPR level. Right now mine is set at 2.
Thanks

Exhilation Pressure Relief...The number is the number of cm of pressure that the pressure is lowered when you exhale. For example, if you are at 10cm pressure, and you have EPR at 2, the exhilation pressure would be (10 - 2) or 8cm. If you raised the EPR to 3, your exhilation pressure would be (10 - 3) or 7cm. I have my EPR at 3, and it hasn't made any difference in my AHI, just more comfortable for me. This can be personal, though, I've heard some people say that their AHI is higher with a higher EPR. So you can try varying it and see what happens.

One thing though, when you vary things, you should only vary one thing at a time. If you're going to change the EPR, then don't change the overall pressure as well. Changing only one thing at a time means that you'll be able to attribute any changes in AHI or how you feel to the only thing that you changed. The other thing is to leave things alone for a few days after making a change. One or two nights isn't enough to get a real feel for the effects of a change. We have anomalous nights occasionally, and having one or two of those can mislead you to attributing the anomaly to the change that you made.

[Jay Aitchsee]

I lowered my Max pressure to 17 and had a great night with no leaks waking me up. However my AHI increased. Should I increase the pressure to 18 and try that? What about the min pressure?

AHI is made up of OAI + CAI + HI. What exactly increased?
Your report shows 1.16 OAI, 4.06 CAI and 2.03 HI.
Increasing the pressure will have not improve your CAI and could make it worse. Your OAI and HI are acceptable. I would not increase above 17. In fact, you might even be able to lower it a bit if your OAI and HI remain acceptable.
Sometimes, CAI improves with CPAP use, sometimes it get worse. If it does not improve, as Den said above, you will need to talk to your doctor.
EDIT: Slow Down!
I see you've only been using your machine a short while and you've made a significant number of changes. Straight to Auto, changes in pressure, changes in EPR, etc.
As a couple of posters above have said, one night is not significant. After any change, you need to let your body adjust for several nights before determining if the change has been good or bad. 3 nights minimum, 5 would be better. And, as Roger says, only change ONE thing at a time.
You need to get comfortable with the treatment. Make sure your mask fits correctly and leaks are under control, stop chasing the AHI number especially if you don't fully understand the therapy and the reasoning behind making changes. Take it slow, be methodical. Learn all you can about the therapy and then make changes based on what you know in a logical manner.