Sleep Apnea got better??

[Craigcc]

Hi All

I've been lurking around here for some time. I wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue. I initially received the news that I had sleep apnea about 11 months ago. My initial results were an AHI of 44. Now 11 months later, I feel great as I now use cpap every night.

Recently, I decided to get retested. I had 5 greuling nights without cpap and completed the sleep test.

The result was an AHI of 9.8. While great to see it go down so much, I'm not sure what has changed to make this happen. I am still about the same weight and currently get less sleep than ever thanks to a 4mth old. Just wanted to reach out and see if anyone else has had similar outcomes?

[ChicagoGranny]

I had 5 greuling nights without cpap and completed the sleep test.

Curious as to why you slept five nights without CPAP??

[Pugsy]

Curious as to why you slept five nights without CPAP??

Some docs are advising going without cpap for a number of nights prior to a sleep test in a lab to make sure that there is no residual hold over effect that might give a false negative effect. I heard 3 nights was common...I hadn't heard about 5 nights but ever doc is different.

[ChicagoGranny]

At my age, five nights without would kill me. 48 hours would probably do me in.

[Pugsy]

At my age, five nights without would kill me. 48 hours would probably do me in.

I have done one night out of necessity (away from home and some dumbass didn't pack the long hose) and I cringe to think of doing just one night again.

As for OP's question....I have no idea why such a drastic reduction in events unless there's more to that hold over theory than people think. Medications come to mind as a possible factor.
There's not much of an information pool here with forum members to draw from though. Most of us haven't had (we avoid like the plague) a repeat sleep test at all much less one done after a year on cpap.

I did learn that a relative small change in weight can affect the pressure needs but I haven't been retested to see how much of an impact it made on the OSA itself. Like I already said...we avoid sleep tests like the plague. Maybe my OSA now is in the mild category..maybe not but I don't really need to know or want to go through finding out.
9 AHI might not sound like much but they could be real important if those events cause serious desats. There are 10 second apneas and there are 50 second apneas. 9 of the 10 second apneas might not be such a big deal but 9 of the 50 second apneas could be a big deal.
Or maybe there wasn't much REM sleep during the sleep lab test and maybe the OSA is worse in REM and if not much REM to be factored in the overall AHI would be lower.

To offer any real thoughts as to the discrepancy and why....would probably need a lot more information including complete reports from both sleep studies to see what might be reported different.

[ChicagoGranny]

we avoid sleep tests like the plague.

Amen!

[Craigcc]

Thanks for the responses all and interesting that not many get retested.

Now I have a lower ahi I'm thinking about looking at alternatives to Cpap. Has anyone had experience with the mouth guard ones?

[kteague]

Now I have a lower ahi...

Sorry to be party pooper, but you don't really know for sure yet how meaningful your second AHI is - unless you have already compared both test results for variables. I would encourage you to take Pugsy's pointers to heart. I've had several tests over a few years and the results were varied anywhere from no sleep apnea detected, to mild, to severe. We simply do not sleep the same from night to night. Consider your results as follows.

How much REM sleep is represented comparatively?
How much supine sleep is represented comparatively?
How much REM sleep while supine is represented comparatively? (potential for worst case scenario, though not absolute)
What was the duration of your events in the second study?
If limb movements were present, how were they in comparison considering hours of sleep time? (Limb movements can mask apneas.)

Now, if you've done due diligence in making sure your sleep apnea appears to have indeed improved, I don't blame you for wanting to see if the options look different for you now. Good luck with things. If you post your reports (minus identifying info) I'm sure the folks here would be glad to take a look.

[Craigcc]

Thanks I'll post them up here as soon as I get the copy from the hospital.

[Pugsy]

If you do decide to go with some sort of alternative to cpap like an oral device....be sure to get retested with the device so you know for sure if it is working well enough. It is the only way to know for sure if it is doing a good job or not.

Remember this is a cpap help forum. Not going to be many people hanging around here that don't use cpap. The ones that elected to use an oral device only won't be hanging around here.

[ChicagoGranny]

The ones that elected to use an oral device only won't be hanging around here.

Nor anywhere.