How long does it take for the AHI to drop?

ArzonaScott · Post by **ArzonaScott** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:59 pm

In my sleep study I had an AHI of 44. After 3 weeks on APAP my AHI is down to 4.7. How long does it take to get close to 0?

ddpelp · Post by **ddpelp** » Tue May 15, 2007 4:22 pm

not sure can hit zero anything <5 is considered normal anyway so looks like you are doing well on cpap

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:15 pm

You have the software, does it show many leaks? Do you use the machine in auto mode? If so where does it show your best pressure to be?
Any thing under 5 is considered normal, but it does hurt to try for zero. I get 0.0 a couple of times a week and 0.5 or less most of the time.

Brenda

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Tue May 15, 2007 6:13 pm

You have to use the software to fine tune your treatment. Since you use a nasal interface, do you tape and seal your mouth from leaking pressure, that's the cause for most high numbers, too wide a range on APAP is another. Jim

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:21 pm

Took me 8 months to get my first 0.0 ... and even now, I only get zero values a couple of times a week and average 0.4 very much like Brenda.

sthnreb · Post by **sthnreb** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:49 pm

I was consistantly going below 1.0 for a good while. I've never hit the zero mark yet after over 4 years. Now, I am consistantly over 2.0 and doing nothing differently. I believe, being under lots of stress lately has caused mine to go up. So, stress must affect AHI too. I had a couple of deaths lately and last week my best friend, my little 5 lb toy poodle girl that slept with me always passed away. I've been having heart issue too and my cardiologist thinks I had a heart attack 8-10 years ago because of scar tissue. He may run the scope up my leg and look around for blockage. He said one chamber should be pumping 55% and is only at 37%. I had the Tallium stress test. So, I do believe durress can cause AHI to increase too as well as other peoples who have OSA.

ICantGetNoSleep · Post by **ICantGetNoSleep** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:58 pm

Would there be a difference in the way you feel between an AHI of close to 0.0 and 3?

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Tue May 15, 2007 8:56 pm

ICantGetNoSleep wrote:Would there be a difference in the way you feel between an AHI of close to 0.0 and 3?

When I got to AHI 3, I could tell the difference, it took a coule of days in a row to do it, And I don't anymore, it happened when I was trying to find the perfect mask, I found some that didn't work as well for me. Now I do what works, for me. Jim

Morpheus · Post by **Morpheus** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:11 pm

I would be very interested to learn if those lucky people who have gotten their AHI below 1 notice any difference from when it was, say, 2? 3? 4?

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:40 pm

If I have a bad night, when I check my card I find AHI of 1.5 or more. I haven't gone over 2.5 in about 6 months.

Brenda

cpapernewbie · Post by **cpapernewbie** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:45 pm

Morpheus

there is probably no way to differentiate between small difference of AHI

My AHI ranges usually from 0.2 to 2 and I can never feel the difference

In fact, there are days when you feel very good but the AHI is 2 and days when you wake up and feel not that great but the AHI is 0.2

My RT told me: you are not a professional so you do not need to know your AHI and use software. It is what u feel that is important

In fact, feeling great and AHI has little correlation

Of course if your AHI is 40 last night due to large leaks, you will feel rotten

But between 0 and 5 or 0 - 10 probably there is no way for us to really feel the difference unless we ldownload the data

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:57 pm

From where I sit 4.7 is a very good number..It means you are getting good treatment. I have never reached a number below 4 and 0 seems like an impossible task...but who knows what tonight or the next night might bring..

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Tue May 15, 2007 10:17 pm

4.7 is not bad, but unless you have other issues (CSA etc) then you should be able to get that number down lower, which, at least in my experience, has made me feel even better than I initially did on CPAP.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Wed May 16, 2007 5:24 am

I think the body adapts to gradual changes such that you don't notice minor changes ... so someone who fluctuates between 0.5 and 5 on a normal basis will not notice much difference between the two values. However, someone who consistently gets 0.5 and then has a night with 5 or visa versa will very likely notice the difference.

It would explain why my AHI was able to gradually climb to over 100 during the past 20 years or so without me ever noticing that anything was wrong ... well at least until my body could no longer tolerate it and feeling like crap became my normal state of being.

Morpheus · Post by **Morpheus** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:00 am

Thank you very much for these replies. I've just started the process of downloading and assessing the data and then tweaking my BiPap auto settings.

Conceptual question: does raising the EPAP number tend to diminish hypopneas? And raising the IPAP tend to diminish apneas?

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