Up pressure 1 notch -- snores diminish

[Emilia]

I started out my therapy with my auto set at 6-10 per doc's order. About a week in I upped the lower number to 6.5 as I felt that 6 was a bit hard to breathe with. My AHI has consistently been below 5 since starting, but I was having a lot of snores and the first week my AHI ran around 2-3. Sometimes, my data would show upwards to 60 snores so I decided two nights ago to up the lower number to 7 to see what would happen. For the last two nights I have had only a couple of snores!! My AHI is around 1-1.5 and I feel a bit more rested. Amazing what a half a notch can do!

This first picture is from 9/21 and shows the high number of snores: (pressure set at 6.5-10)




This is from last night, 9/28....what a difference! (pressure set at 7-10)

[elena88]

isnt it fabulous to know whats going on??

just think, so many people who cant track their data might have gone a year being such a tiny bit short!

youre not one of them!
hooray!

[Julie]

Hi fluffy cat . I thought yesterday when I saw your settings that 6 was low, but decided to MYOB, but now that you mentioned it, I'll follow up and say not to be afraid to raise it even more (like to 7 or so) because it's still pretty low as things go and if your averages are higher anyhow, there's not much point in having it so low to begin with.

[jlk]

Gotta love access to the software!
Julie, Your welcome to mind everyone's business out here, were here for each other. Ithought she was fishing for comments or would'nt have put the info out here. Your input is beneficial to many, me for sure, as I am slowly raising my low limit. Thanks. jlk

[Emilia]

Thanks! Yes, it is great to have the software....and being a tech mgr., by profession, it is right up my alley.

@Julie.... you will note that the second image above has a caption above it that says I had upped the low end pressure to 7. Did that 2 nights ago to yield the better results. I am thinking in a few more nights, to up it to 7.5 just to see if I can get the AHI below 1.

My only complaint since increasing my pressure is a dull headache like I had when I first started therapy. I assume it will go away as it did then. Thanks for Aleve!

My titrated pressure was 8, and I have rarely gone over 9 on auto.....once, I think, I hit 9.7, but that was when my range was 6-10. At some point, I may try cpap mode at a straight pressure of 8 to see what happens. During my titration, the tech said 8 yielded no events at all. I will wait a while for that attempt.....and I may not do it at all if I can get below 1 consistently with my auto tweaks.

This forum ROCKS..... I'd be in dark if I had not found you guys!!

[Julie]

Thank you JLK! I have to say that if I owned a motel I'd have sleeping issues coming out my ears! Hope you at least put yourself on one shift vs many.

Emilia - didn't realize you were up to 7, but in any case, be adventurous, most of us are up to around 10 (though someone else here does not like my generalizing).

[cobra4x4]

Personally I think auto is the way to go even though I'm on straight cpap (right now - older machine).
I'm a firm believer in that we do not sleep exactly the same each and every night and therefore needs may differ from one night to the next based on many factors including brain activity, sleepiness, body aches & pains as well as body (sleep) positioning. I'm sure there are other factors as well like room temperature/humidity and seasonal factors which may include allergies for instance.

[cobra4x4]

I'm sure at some point you'll find that the higher pressure makes you feel worse. I'm curious to see at what point you find that happening.

Please keep us updated.

[Julie]

That's pessimistic, are you having a problem like that? I don't imagine she's planning on cranking it to 15 any time soon .

[rested gal]

Emilia, glad to hear you're zeroing in on what might work best for you. Sounds like your sleep study titration got it pretty much right, doesn't it?

Some discussions about setting the minimum pressure on an autopap up high enough to try to prevent most events right from the get-go:

Results: 1st night with Auto A-Flex (topic started by TSSleepy)
Two nights graphs posted using pressure range 4 - 20 and 10 - 20
viewtopic.php?p=348963#p348963

November 2008 Just got an APAP (topic started by turbosnore)
viewtopic.php?p=319619#p319619

October 2008 Turning off Aflex and Cflex (topic started by DoriC)
viewtopic.php?p=307265#p307265

September 2008 New Guy - Need Help w/Settings (topic started by alanhj13)
viewtopic.php?p=294319#p294319

Wulfman, DreamStalker, and ozij explain why autopaps make changes slowly.
December 2008 Why adjust APAP. Isn't it auto? (topic started by oxygenium65)
viewtopic.php?p=323218#p323218

[Junebug999]

Emilia I just loved looking at ur graphs. This thread makes the case why a patient given control over her equip cAn use that to improve her health. KNOWledge is POWER! You rock.

[cobra4x4]

That's pessimistic, are you having a problem like that? I don't imagine she's planning on cranking it to 15 any time soon .

Not at all, its a balancing act. Just curious at what point do the graphs and body show a decrease in effectiveness. for example my titrated pressure is 7cm and I went up in .5cm increments to 8.5cm and found that I had to go back to 7cm then fine tune by .1cm at a time to get ideal pressure setting for myself which seems to be 7.3cm

I'm happy to see people taking control of their therapy and finding out what works & what doesn't. I brought this up as a guideline to show new people who are wanting to adjust their own pressures what pressure changes they might expect to make for optimal or close to optimal if they don't have a data capable machine.

There are many cpap ill-educated people out there who can use any help they can get.

[jonquiljo]

It is a fine balance. I usually have AHI's of less than 0.5, but snores into the 6-10 range. Last night I tried a new mask - but it leaked so my upper limit wasn't set high enough to "fix" me with the leak.

To make a long story short - the leak and the lack of pressure didn't hurt much - my AHI was still 1.0. But by snores were at 161.4! I didn't think my machine was that sensitive. I know a way around the leak tonight but I'll put my upper limit high just in case. I bet all the snores go away.

It is kind of freaky to think your AHI can go down to 1.0, but you can still snore up a storm!