Lowering max pressure

[Josiah]

Recently sort of out of curiosity I lowered the max pressure on my machine from 17 down to 12 and I've been pleasantly surprised to see the my nightly AHI was only very minimally raised. I was averaging a little under 2 before the change and now I'm averaging a little over 2 but less than 3. An additional motivation was a reduction in mask leaks

[LSAT]

Your Max most likely never reached 17 anyway...What does Sleepyhead show? What's your 95% number?

[Josiah]

With the lower max pressure Sleepy Head shows me constantly at my max pressure of 12. When my max pressure was 17 Sleepy Head frequently showed me at 17. Am I smarter than the machine ?? As far as I'm concerned my AHI is the parameter I'm ultimately interested in.

[Wulfman...]

Recently sort of out of curiosity I lowered the max pressure on my machine from 17 down to 12 and I've been pleasantly surprised to see the my nightly AHI was only very minimally raised. I was averaging a little under 2 before the change and now I'm averaging a little over 2 but less than 3. An additional motivation was a reduction in mask leaks

What was your MINIMUM pressure?
If your minimum pressure is too low, it can take too long for the pressure to get to where it needs to be and too many events can take place. Also, are you using Ramp? If so, what are all of those settings? (Starting Ramp pressure and time)
It can also be that if you don't have enough precursor events that drive the pressure increases (Snores and Flow Limitations) the pressure won't get to where it needs to be either.

In many cases, the maximum pressure doesn't mean diddly squat in the whole scheme of things. You need to look at the ENTIRE picture of what's going on.


Den

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[Jas_williams]

Flow limitations that more pressure does not reduce for some people can can fool an Auto machine to run at its maximum pressure for no therapeutic benefit. It sounds like what was happening for you. A few users have to fix the max pressure to prevent the AutoCpap going into runaway mode.

[Wulfman...]

Flow limitations that more pressure does not reduce for some people can can fool an Auto machine to run at its maximum pressure for no therapeutic benefit. It sounds like what was happening for you. A few users have to fix the max pressure to prevent the AutoCpap going into runaway mode.

Also true/possible!
Many people can have Snores and Flow Limitations that never precede Hypopneas or Apneas.
Or, said another way, Hypopneas and/or Apneas may not be preceded by Snores or Flow Limitations.

Like I said, you need to look at the entire picture and evaluate what's going on as you make adjustments.


Den

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[palerider]

With the lower max pressure Sleepy Head shows me constantly at my max pressure of 12. When my max pressure was 17 Sleepy Head frequently showed me at 17. Am I smarter than the machine ?? As far as I'm concerned my AHI is the parameter I'm ultimately interested in.

There's more to sleep disturbance than ahi.

[Okie bipap]

If you are sleeping OK and feel rested with the new setting, then leave it there. Personally, I sleep just fine with higher pressures (usually 17 - 18). When I first started out, my pressure was set for 20 - 25, so my current pressure is less than I got used to using when I first started treatment. I think that how we feel is a better indicator of where we need to set out machines, not a target AHI number.