richart wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:12 pmAt my last visit with the pulmonologist, I got the good news that she wanted to lower my pressure. I have lost a significant amount of weight and my AHI was averaging under 1.5. She ordered the pressure reduced from 15 to 13. I asked her about reducing it further if my AHI stayed low and she said go ahead, try a month at a time and reduce it by 2 each time.
After a month with the pressure at 13, I reduced it to 11 and after 30 days my 90 day AHI average was 1.5.
Now a month later the 90 day AHI average is 1.6 so I am going to reduce the pressure to 9 and see what happens.
We never really discussed how low I should actually go with the pressure so I think as long as the 90 day AHI average stays below 5 I will keep reducing it monthly. I suppose at some point she will want to order another sleep study (which I really dread).
My question is, do people actually use CPAP with pressures as low as 5 or 7? Or is there a lower range where CPAP is no longer generally effective?
Why on earth would you not try to reduce your AHI as low as possible? I used to get nervous if my monthly average was above 1.0. I've also found that reducing my pressure has had some adverse effects on my AHI and other indices. Seems that when my body gets used to one pressure, the only way I can go is UP.richart wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:32 pmExactly because of how the number 5 is considered by the medical community. If AHI increased from 2 to 3, I don't know that I would consider it an issue that requires treatment.Dog Slobber wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:23 pm
Why would you use some arbitrary some number like 5, as your metric? And yes, I'm very aware of the under 5 is considered treated chart.
And, I believe that "magic" number of 5 was arrived at by the insurance industry (in conjunction with their medical cohorts). It's a "bogus" number and most people around here would feel horrible with an AHI approaching 5.0.
What is the composition of your AHI? Is it mostly apneas or hypopneas? What about snoring? How does lowering your pressure affect any of those? Flow Limitations? Same questions.
Most of all............how is your "sleep quality"?
I think you're looking at this situation.......maybe not all wrong, but.......incorrectly........and not looking at the whole picture.
Also, "losing weight" isn't necessarily an indication that a lower pressure is warranted. Many people have posted that after losing weight, they needed a higher pressure. For some/many, weight has virtually nothing to do with AHI and/or sleep apnea therapy. Many thin people have sleep apnea and for many, the sleep apnea CAUSED the weight gain. So, losing the weight is no guarantee that it improves their sleep apnea.
I think you need to reevaluate your strategy and goals.
Den
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