AHI 4.2 over 29 min

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chopper06
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AHI 4.2 over 29 min

Post by chopper06 » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:05 pm

Is an AHI of 4.2 over 29 minutes acceptable? My pressure is set at 8 cm, and my report stated that I did not spend much time at 9cm. It also indicated that my pressure could be set at 9-10 cm for snoring. Does this result sound acceptable? Thanks again.....

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archangle
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Re: AHI 4.2 over 29 min

Post by archangle » Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:17 am

chopper06 wrote:Is an AHI of 4.2 over 29 minutes acceptable? My pressure is set at 8 cm, and my report stated that I did not spend much time at 9cm. It also indicated that my pressure could be set at 9-10 cm for snoring. Does this result sound acceptable? Thanks again.....
Unless it's REALLY high, don't worry much about AHI other than the nightly average.

AHI = 5 is the usual rule of thumb for "good" vs. "bad", so it's OK anyway in this case.

Realize that "AHI" isn't a perfect measurement of the effectiveness of your apena treatment, but it is the most useful single number.

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robysue
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Re: AHI 4.2 over 29 min

Post by robysue » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:57 am

chopper06 wrote:Is an AHI of 4.2 over 29 minutes acceptable?
An AHII = 4.2 recorded for a 29 minute period means that you had 2 events during the 29 minutes:

AHI = (2 events)/(29 minutes) = (2 events)/(29/60 hours) = (2 events)/(0.48 hours) = (2/0.48) events/hour = 4.16 = 4.2 when rounded to one decimal place.

That's acceptable on a titration study---particularly if those 29 minutes contained some REM sleep or some supine sleep or (the gold prize) some supine REM sleep.

Since you didn't spend much time at 9cm, it sounds as if either you had some events or snoring very close to the end of the study and the doc is willing to see if 8cm controls things well enough, while still leaving open the idea that at 8cm you may be slightly under titrated---particularly in the context of snoring.

Since you have an Icon Premo, you've got a machine that records full efficacy data. You should learn how to get to the data and read it on a daily basis. If your AHI stays below 5 on a nightly basis, you should eventually start feeling better. If the AHI is bouncing around +/- 5 OR if you think you're still snoring, the report this to the sleep doc and see if s/he wants you to increase the pressure after all.

I'd also recommend staying at the or current pressure for at least a week or two before getting worried about the AHI number being too high: For some newbies, it takes a few days for the AHI to start to drop.

And keep in mind that it also takes time for most of us to start feeling better---as in several weeks to several months.

So for now: Track how you're feeling each day and track the AHI data and the leak data.

If the leak data indicates you've got leaks, work on them NOW.

If you see a long term trend that the AHI is staying high (above 5.0), contact the doctor's office about whether a pressure increase is in order.

If you don't start feeling better within a few weeks or a couple of months, start looking for things that might need to be done to tweak your therapy or other reasons your sleep may be disrupted.

Best of luck to you.

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LSAT
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Re: AHI 4.2 over 29 min

Post by LSAT » Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:19 am

The Icon Premo is a fixed CPAP...If the pressure was set at 8...how did the machine spend time at 9? Do we know if the 29 minutes were spent asleep or awake?

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Pugsy
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Re: AHI 4.2 over 29 min

Post by Pugsy » Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:10 am

chopper06 wrote:Is an AHI of 4.2 over 29 minutes acceptable? My pressure is set at 8 cm, and my report stated that I did not spend much time at 9cm. It also indicated that my pressure could be set at 9-10 cm for snoring. Does this result sound acceptable? T
Are you getting the above information from your sleep study report?
It sounds like sleep study comments.
You might want to clarify because the members responding are thinking you got the numbers off the ICON.

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chopper06
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Re: AHI 4.2 over 29 min

Post by chopper06 » Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:01 pm

All the information I provided was from my sleep study....sorry for the confusion....