Making sense of the AHI number

[sleeptoledo]

I was hoping to find clarification on the AHI number and the severity of my sleep apnea (mild, moderate, severe).

Apnea/Hypopnea Index - 14.1
NREM AHI - 11.2
REM AHI 70.9
AHI (hypopneas w/4% desat) - 6.4

What AHI do I use? I have 3 numbers that fall into the mild and one that is severe. I am questioning because I am wondering if I should start treatment if it is only mild.

Thanks

other info on my results:
RDI - 14.1
Obstructive Apnea Index - 1.1
Central Apnea Index - 0.8
Hypopnea Index - 11.9
RERA Index - 0

Mean Sleep % SpO@ - 92.5%
min % SpO2 - 77.0%
% of sleep time with SPO2 < 88% - 2.8%
SpO2 < 88% (min) - 11.0

[Pugsy]

Start your cpap therapy.
Your sleep reports remind me of mine.
While the overall AHI isn't jaw dropping....the AHI in REM stage sleep is really bad/severe and a real risk to your overall health due to the O2 drops. Mine went to 73%...caused horrible headaches. Are you experiencing bad headaches when you wake up in the morning?
While you aren't spending a lot of time in the really low numbers you are spending enough time to harm your body when you do.
Also you probably aren't getting as much REM as you need because when you have so many events in REM it will most likely bounce you out of REM and cause an arousal or wake up and you have to start your sleep cycles all over again.
Totally screws up the needed cycles and the amounts in each cycle the body needs.

You are like me...mild in non REM but kick ass severe in REM and it earns you the OSA diagnosis and in terms of impact on your body...it's severe despite the overall numbers.

The human body needs ALL the sleep stages in the normal percentages and that includes REM.

There was a reason you had the sleep study in the first place.....
I am assuming not so nice symptoms you wish you didn't have.

Get started on cpap.....don't wait.

[sleeptoledo]

Thank you so much for the response. Everything I read I thought it could be bad, but the overall number had me question it. I wake with headaches only sometimes, maybe once a week. Had the sleep study done because I am so exhausted for most of the day. I do have a follow up appointment with the sleep doctor in February.

Again, thank you for responding!

[Miss Emerita]

To add to what Pugsy has said, your non-REM AHI isn't acceptable either. PAP treatment takes a little getting used to, but it is non-invasive and can be life-changing. I hope you can get started soon. Please don't hesitate to post here at any point along the journey.

[sleeptoledo]

Thank you. I am sure I will stick around, a lot of great information here.

[Pugsy]

Suppose your overall AHI is 10 per hour...mild category for sure.
That's an over the entire night's average. Most likely not exactly once every 6 minutes over the whole night but suppose I come to your house and sit by your bed and every 6 minutes I poke you with a hatpin and wake you up....how do you think you would feel the next day with waking up every 6 minutes. Probably like total dog poo.

What if in REM stage sleep I poke you with that hatpin once a minute (that's AHI of 60 in REM) and wake you up every 60 seconds.....
Totally going to feel like dog poo for sure. Lots of wake ups and probably not nearly enough sleep in EACH sleep stage especially REM.

We need ALL the sleep stages in normal progression and normal percentages to stand a chance of getting decent sleep and feeling better.

All that and then we have to think about oxygen levels.