is AHI under 15 a reasonable goal?

[lorenadam]

my AHI is very rarely below 5 which I understand to be the goal, I notice when I check my results every morning that when I get an AHI greater than 5 such as 14.2 last night, that the res med formula gives me an AHI score of 2 out of 5; this leads me to conclude the goal o a 5 AHI might be the gold standard, but that an AHI under 15 or ok?

[TedVPAP]

my AHI is very rarely below 5 which I understand to be the goal, I notice when I check my results every morning that when I get an AHI greater than 5 such as 14.2 last night, that the res med formula gives me an AHI score of 2 out of 5; this leads me to conclude the goal o a 5 AHI might be the gold standard, but that an AHI under 15 or ok?

Welcome to the forum. Below 5 is considered by the medical community to be adequate. I feel best when my AHI is below 2. My average is ~0.5. How do you feel?
Add your equipment description to your profile. If you machine is data capable, the three links below will show you how to examine your raw data and share it so knowledgeable people can help guide you to better treatment.

[Julie]

No, it's not ok. You may be having large leak or other problems, but without more to go on, it's hard to say. What is your equipment (specific if possible) and your pressure settings?

[kteague]

No, an AHI of under 15 is not a reasonable goal. Please do as has been suggested regarding getting the software to check your data so you can get some direction on how to improve your treatment. Any number of things cound be going on. If I mask up then end up in a conversation, it will show up as clusters of events. If you're awake a lot it could affect your data. Leaks can too. For some people the treatment triggers centrals. It would be in your best interest to use the data to hone it on how to imrove your treatment. My first inclination was to say increase your pressure, till I thought about centrals need to be ruled out first. Until you can access the data, is there any more info on your machine's screen? Good luck with sorting things out and getting on to successful treatment. It may turn out a small tweak in your settings is all you need.

[Goofproof]

Only if you don't like a better life, by this time you should no about sleep apnea, under 5 AHI is the government goal under 2 AHI is what we strive for. Jim

[Bill44133]

NO that is NOT reasonable. remember that means you stopped breathing for 10 seconds or longer. Not good.

Take 15 minutes and review this youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gie2dhqP2c

Then you will understand why you don't want 15 AHI.

I wish you weil

[zoocrewphoto]

An ahi of 5 means that you average a breathing problem every 12 minutes. With 8 hours of sleep, that's 40 disturbances a night! Doesn't sound too good, huh? And that is what the doctors want us to aim for. Most people feel better at 2 or under, and that is quite reasonable to expect with optimized settings. I rarely go over 1.5.

Thinking you are okay by getting below 15 is dooming yourself to still crappy sleep. An ahi of 14 is still being disturbed every 4 minutes. All night long.

That may be much better than untreated sleep apnea, but it is still crap, and it will still cause damage and make you feel like crap.

Let us help you optimize your settings. Tell us your machine (brand AND model name). Also, what are your current pressure settings? Have you heard about sleeyhead? It is a free software that you can use to see tour machine's data. If you post some graphs of a typical night, we can help you dial in on better settings.

[49er]

NO that is NOT reasonable. remember that means you stopped breathing for 10 seconds or longer. Not good.

Take 15 minutes and review this youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gie2dhqP2c

Then you will understand why you don't want 15 AHI.

I wish you weil

========

not true

it includes hypops
that are just reduced airflow for ten seconds

desats and RDI mean a lot more than AHI

Any reduced airflow which includes hypopneas is not good.

And as I have mentioned to you before, a person who has sleep apnea may not have O2 desats. So telling them that is more significant is simply incorrect information.

I do agree that the RDI is a more helpful statistic than AHI since it also measures RERAS which restrict airflow. I am not up to date on which machines measure that so I will defer to someone more knowledgeable than me on this situation.

But meanwhile, the OP should follow zoocrew's advice regarding optimizing the settings. An AHI under 15 is totally unacceptable.

[lorenadam]

how do you do this?

[Pugsy]

how do you do this?

Do what?
Reduce the AHI?

First you start by using the available software and figure out exactly which event category is elevated and then devise a plan to reduce those events...usually by more pressure but since some events aren't fixable with more pressure you first have to figure out what the problem is and then come up with a plan of attack.

Do you know about the available software?
https://sleep.tnet.com/equipment

If you want member input about the software detailed results you are seeing then we have to see what you are seeing.
How to post images
https://sleep.tnet.com/reference/tips/imgur

How to organize the graphs (we don't need all of them)
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize

Examples seen here
viewtopic/t103468/Need-help-with-screen-shots.html

[Arlene1963]

To add equipment to your profile click on User Control Panel (under the Search Box at the top of the forum page) and then choose Profile. After that it is pretty straight forward. Many prefer to use the text display rather than a visual for the equipment.

[Julie]

If the results of all that come down to how to change your pressure settings, we can easily help you do that quickly once we know what equipment you have now.

[49er]

xxyxz - ""if there are no desats then apnea did not happen
and if there are no desats then hypops are not a problem unless they cause arousals

so forget AHi fix the spo2 first
then stop arousals

but fix the real problem not the symptoms
and dont worry about AHI which is a statistic created for medicrap bureaucrats to decide objectively if you should get a cpap""

49er - https://singularsleep.com/blogs/news/ah ... apnea-test

""Apneas are a type of abnormal respiratory event that occur during sleep. The word originates from the Greek roots meaning "without" and "to breathe." The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) provides a scoring manual that delineates how all aspects of a sleep study should be interpreted, including defining what constitutes abnormal respiratory events such as apneas. To score an apnea on a sleep study there must be essentially no airflow (measured through a nasal pressure sensor or thermistor) for at least ten seconds. A blood oxygen drop, known as an oxygen desaturation, is not part of the criteria for an apnea. There are three different types of apneas described in this manual:""

49er

PS - Sorry folks for the confusing format. I am having trouble with the quote function again on my computer.

[TASmart]

You most certainly can have apneas without desaturations. Sleep deprivation can be fatal just as much as desaturations just a different mechanism of action.

[palerider]

my AHI is very rarely below 5 which I understand to be the goal, I notice when I check my results every morning that when I get an AHI greater than 5 such as 14.2 last night, that the res med formula gives me an AHI score of 2 out of 5; this leads me to conclude the goal o a 5 AHI might be the gold standard, but that an AHI under 15 or ok?

A goal of 1.5 or under is what I'd call 'good enough'.

An AHI of 5 is like being poked with a pointy stick an average of every 12 minutes all night long.

That's nothing more than a series of naps.