Tales of low-moderate treatment?

[Kilgore Trout]

Hey all,

A friend of mine got diagnosed as "low-moderate", and she decided not to pursue CPAP. She doesn't remember her AHI, but says she thinks it could be in the low 30s (which my doc says is the low end of severe). Low-moderate could mean the 5-15 range as well. Since we don't have an exact number, please take these with a grain of salt.

Anyone want to volunteer success stories from the low end of the totem pole? I confess sometimes I even feel sheepish around here with a diagnosed AHI of 29.

[chunkyfrog]

I only know how badly my untreated apnea was impacting my health, my quality of life, my career, my family.
And that was with an AHI = 13 --barely enough for insurance coverage, then only with co-morbidities (thanks for them!)
I can't imagine how bad it can be for the rest of you.
Thirty is bad enough to kill you--the death of a thousand cuts--maybe in fewer days.
The only reason your friend feels "OK" is because it has already damaged her mind enough to anesthetize it.
What gives us no pain can hurt far worse than the barb we feel; for knowing it is there, we withdraw it and begin to heal.

[cpaptex]

This is the AHI Scale.

0-5 Normal
5-15 Low to Moderate
15-30 Moderate to Severe
30+ Severe

Maybe your friend should take another look. I had a AHI of 17 and I was going through excessive daytime sleepiness. My life is so much better 70+ days later.

[Kilgore Trout]

I'll submit that I was diagnosed at an AHI of 29, and CPAP has changed my life. I felt shitty all. the. time. I honestly feel like CPAP gave me my life back. I've been under treatment for 6 months, and I've never felt better (outside unrelated issues).

[retrodave15]

I had an AHI of 8 and an RDI of 30, luckily my insurance let me trial treatment. I drive 40 miles to work each day, I decided it was time to get treatment when I did not remember 20 miles of my morning drive.

Without CPAP I would be dead in a ditch between Newark and Columbus. I might be 44 but I now feel like I am 29 again with CPAP!!!!!

[BlackSpinner]

So she thinks it is ok to be woken or choked 30 times an hour?
The damage to the brain is just as bad.

[Kairosgrammy]

When I was initially diagnosed, I was considered to have mild sleep apnea. I had just really started having symptoms and probably the only thing that really prompted me to the need was how bad a shape my brother and sister got because of sleep apnea. According to that sleep doc, I did fine the first part of the night, no apneas, hypopneas the first couple of hours although they said "you do snore." Their tone of voice was kind of "boy do you snore", lol. As the night progressed, my mechanism would begin to tire and I would experience more and more apneas. I started on Cpap then because I knew what apnea had done to my brother and sister.

Fast forward around 8 years and my symptoms have returned even on cpap. In spades. And the only reason I went for another sleep study is my doctor said I needed one. Glad I did. I can stay mild unless I flip over to my back where I get no REM sleep and my apneas are 36 and that was on a setting of 10. They had to get me up to 10 to get rid of the apneas that were frequent along with awakenings that occured at my original settings. I would desat down to 80 off and on through the night.

The point of this is cpap helped so much when I first started using one. I wore it faithfully probably mostly because I had the life lesson of sleep apnea with my brother and sister. However, because I didn't stay vigilant, my sleep apnea got much, much worse and my health has deteriorated because of it.

I know cpap isn't convenient or fun but the no cpap stuff is DEADLY!!! The feeling better was worth every minute I spent on the machine, including those first 3 weeks when I hated the thing and lost a lot of sleep, more than I ever had with mild sleep apnea. When I found out that switching from a nasal mask to nasal pillows got rid of the claustophobia, I did much better and I slept like a baby. Just wish I hadn't let things slide. I spent years tired and exhausted when all that was needed was a higher setting on my machine.

For your friend, sleep apnea can and does get worse without treatment. Use it. It could save her life.

Hey all,

A friend of mine got diagnosed as "low-moderate", and she decided not to pursue CPAP. She doesn't remember her AHI, but says she thinks it could be in the low 30s (which my doc says is the low end of severe). Low-moderate could mean the 5-15 range as well. Since we don't have an exact number, please take these with a grain of salt.

Anyone want to volunteer success stories from the low end of the totem pole? I confess sometimes I even feel sheepish around here with a diagnosed AHI of 29.

[chunkyfrog]

30 times an hour sounds like a never-ending nightmare.
Oh, wait it does end. In a box.

[adrianne]

Hey all,

A friend of mine got diagnosed as "low-moderate", and she decided not to pursue CPAP. She doesn't remember her AHI, but says she thinks it could be in the low 30s (which my doc says is the low end of severe). Low-moderate could mean the 5-15 range as well. Since we don't have an exact number, please take these with a grain of salt.

Anyone want to volunteer success stories from the low end of the totem pole? I confess sometimes I even feel sheepish around here with a diagnosed AHI of 29.

I got diagnosed as severe OSA, but I had a low AHI, I just had a shit-ton of RERAs. Sleep doc said I have a hyper-aware brain so I was waking myself up before I completely stopped breathing. I decided not to pursue CPAP for two years after that (VERY STUPID). I waited until I was barely one step above the walking dead to even give CPAP a fair chance. I'm only a few weeks in, and I don't feel amazing, but I don't go to bed at 6pm and sleep until 8am anymore. Yes, before CPAP I literally rolled out of bed late, took a shower, rushed to work late, worked a 9-5, and went home, ate dinner in bed and crashed. That's no way to live.

With the right mask, it can be very minimally "invasive." I use the swift LT for her nasal pillows mask - it only has two straps that go on the head, and a nasal pillows that set against your nostrils. Once you get used to breathing normally, it really is not noticable. I don't sleep without it now, the few times I have over the last month (when I had a nose pimple), I woke up miserable, headachey, body sore, etc. I probably used to feel like that every day.

[Kilgore Trout]

I really appreciate everyone chiming in. I sent her the link a while back, and she's been reading everything. I'm the local SA advocate in our group

[Mary Z]

In my initial sleep study I was diagnosed with an AHI of five. I was given the opportunity to try CPAP and jumped at the chance my daytime sleepiness was so severe I couldn't drive. The funny thing is that my AHI as measured by ResScan and my lcd screen now records an average AHI of 18 (over 6 months) and now I sleep 12+ hours a night. I have tried numerous titrations and done self titration.
I think she should get a copy of the doctors dictation and see what her numbers were. I feel if her symptoms were bad enough that she would go for a CPAP.

[adrianne]

I really appreciate everyone chiming in. I sent her the link a while back, and she's been reading everything. I'm the local SA advocate in our group

If she feels comfortable posting, we might be able to address some of the reasons she might have for refusing treatment. For example, I was irrationally worried that my pets would be scared of me. My cat still sleeps on my chest, mere inches from the exhaust port. She's not scared of the way I look or the air blowing out of me. I probably wake her up less since I'm not snoring.

[AnnaCanYell]

Hi all,

I am the friend who is on the verge of death. No, there were just so many numbers on this report, I couldn't remember and didn't know which ones were important. Now that I found it stuffed in a drawer at work, the results are as follows--I tried to look them up but they didn't make sense. That's where I got the confusion over 30 events, I think.

AHI: 5 events per sleep hour (NOT 30, wow, that would have been crazy)

RDI: 15.7 events per sleep hour (29 episodes of hypopnea, 37 episodes of alternative hypopneas, and 26 episodes of flow limitation with arousal).
REM sleep: 12.4 events per sleep hour; non-REM: 17.1 events

My "sleep efficiency" 77.2%.
Sleep latency: 66.5 minutes
68.9% Stage N2 sleep, 31.1% REM sleep
Total arousals, 82, arousal index 13.8.

Diagnosis: Moderate OSA, mild hypoxia, moderate periodic limb disorder.

The doctor recommended an evaluation of a CPAP device. Two other doctors (a psychiatrist and a pulmonologist) said they didn't think it was necessary. The psychiatrist suspects narcolepsy based on a few other factors but the sleep center didn't want to give me the overnight test for that.

As for the reasons I am putting off treatment: I found it suspicious that the doctor who recommended the sleep study also recommended the CPAP device, while the two other doctors did not. I also feel my symptoms match more closely with those found in narcoleptics. Finally, I have an issue removing things from my face while I sleep. I would take my headgear off without knowing it when I was a teenager with braces. I honestly think I would remove the device in my sleep and not even know it.

So that's my story...I'd welcome any thoughts!

[archangle]

AHI: 5 events per sleep hour (NOT 30, wow, that would have been crazy)

RDI: 15.7 events per sleep hour (29 episodes of hypopnea, 37 episodes of alternative hypopneas, and 26 episodes of flow limitation with arousal).
REM sleep: 12.4 events per sleep hour; non-REM: 17.1 events

My "sleep efficiency" 77.2%.
Sleep latency: 66.5 minutes
68.9% Stage N2 sleep, 31.1% REM sleep
Total arousals, 82, arousal index 13.8.

Diagnosis: Moderate OSA, mild hypoxia, moderate periodic limb disorder.

Welcome, Anna, please don't yell at us.

If you have sleepyness/narcolepsy/etc. symptoms, you really should try CPAP. Even if you didn't have a particularly bad AHI.

Insurance tends to want to deny coverage unless you have a certain AHI. That might not be the right answer if you're thinking about your own health.

You are showing some sort of sleep disturbance every 4 minutes or so.

Also, you may have a higher AHI at home than you did in the unfamiliar lab environment.

CPAP has no significant long term side effects. It doesn't put drugs into your body. It doesn't involve surgery. If it doesn't work for you, you stop doing it and you're back where you started from, no worse for wear, other than time and money.

If you're going to keep trying to treat your problems, you will probably be trying a lot of things that have more potential harm than CPAP, and less chance of success. "Here, try this expensive pill with all these known side effects, and probably some we haven't figured out yet. I don't think it will work, but try it anyway."

[retrodave15]

AHI: 5 events per sleep hour (NOT 30, wow, that would have been crazy)

RDI: 15.7 events per sleep hour (29 episodes of hypopnea, 37 episodes of alternative hypopneas, and 26 episodes of flow limitation with arousal).
REM sleep: 12.4 events per sleep hour; non-REM: 17.1 events

My "sleep efficiency" 77.2%.
Sleep latency: 66.5 minutes
68.9% Stage N2 sleep, 31.1% REM sleep
Total arousals, 82, arousal index 13.8.

Diagnosis: Moderate OSA, mild hypoxia, moderate periodic limb disorder.

If you don't trust your doctors recommendation - Get a second opinion from a board certified sleep doctor. Getting a recommendation about a CPAP from a psychiatrist is like getting a recommendation about a car repair from a plumber. Doctors have areas of specialty practice for a reason, would you want a foot and ankle doctor to perform brain surgery?

Mild hypoxia - that means you are mildly starving your brain / heart for oxygen. That is putting stress on your body.

I had similar results, try CPAP, it is the definitive treatment. As I have said before, If it was not for CPAP I would be dead in a ditch.

Since I started CPAP almost three months ago, a lot my medical issues have begun to resolve themselves.