At how low an API does cpap do more harm than good?

george45 · Post by **george45** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:33 pm

After not using my cpap for about 10 days and noticing that I felt slightly better overall, I used it last night and had it on for 8 full hours for the first time. (I've used it for about 6 weeks with 4 or 5 hours of use each night.) Today I felt worse than ever, probably because I got so little sleep. That got me to thinking that there must be some cutoff AHI where the cpap does more harm than good. Obviously someone with an AHI of zero will sleep worse with a hose, mask and air pump attached to his/her face, but what about an AHI of 3 or 6 or what ever?

I'm beginning to think I'm one of the majority of people who just can't adapt to using a cpap. I have an RDI of 14, with about 2 or 3 apneas/hour. The rest of the RDI number are hypopneas or misc. respiratory disturbances.

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:04 pm

The answer to this question depends on each individual. A person who snores heavily but has an AHI of zero may benefit through elimination of the snore related arousals. Then again someone like Liam (another forum member) may not be able to sleep AT ALL while using cpap. For him, no matter how many apneas he had he did better without cpap.

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:38 pm

xPAP will disturp sleep- there is no way it can't...the goal is that it disrupts your sleep less then the apneas & hypopneas did without it. I have severe, treatment resistant CSA (Central Sleep Apnea)- even with BiPAP ST I still had 30+ central apneas per hour during my titration. That is better then the 65 centrals per hour I had without, but my sleep doctor didn't think BiPAP ST would help enough to warrent its use. He was concerned I wouldn't feel enough better with only a 50% reduction in centrals and that the disturbance from using it could actually be worse. Thankfully it does help some- not nearly as much as I would like of course, but it does make enough difference to continue using it. My sleep doctor had me try it for one month- even lent me a BiPAP ST for free before having to get insurance involved. He wanted me to use it nightly for 3 weeks then go without it for 2-3 nights to make sure I wasn't experiencing placebo effect. One night without it was enough to let me see the difference- and I've been using it every night for almost 2 years.

With as low number of actual apneas you have, xPAP could very well be worse then going without it. You may want to look into detal devices- they can help some people, especially with mild OSA. Of course you will want to keep an eye on your OSA as it does get worse as we age. Just because xPAP doesn't help now doesn't mean it won't if your apnea gets worse.