probably a stupid question - I think

[Cobalt Panther]

I should probably know the answer to this but I don't. So here it goes. If I start sleeping on my back more, will my Obstructive Apnea and Hypopnea numbers go up I have started to wake up a lot again and when I wake up I am usually on my back. Could this be the reason that my AHI has gone from below 2 to a high of 6+

[Hawthorne]

Yes, it could be the reason. I sleep on my back (arthritis makes it the only painfree position) and have AHI almost always less than 1. BUT, if a person has "positional sleep apnea" (gets more events in certain positions - particularly sleeping on the back), it will trigger more events.

Most people are asked to sleep on their back during the sleep study and titration so that a titrated pressure can be set to deal with events that happen even while a person is sleeping on their back. This is done in case a person ever has to sleep on their back, either for a short time because of injury or illness or all the time, as is the case with me. My pressure seems to be set to deal with back sleeping, or else I don't have positional sleep apnea. You may have.

I guess you should try not to sleep on your back, if you can. There are various suggestions about how to accomplish that here on the forum. Otherwise, you may be able to be re-titrated so that you can sleep on your back and still get good therapy.

Question is, are you waking up because you are sleeping on your back and causing events that are waking you up a lot and raising your AHI, or are there other issues in your life right now that are causing sleep problems.

So, being on your back, could or could not be the reason. It is hard to pin down reasons why we sometimes go through a bad night or a bad time with sleep apnea. It may settle down on it's own or you may have to try to sleep in another position IF back sleeping is your problem.

[katcw]

And please remember: There are no stupid questions ~ how else are we going to learn?!?