lower AHI's on weekends?

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jootee
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lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by jootee » Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:12 pm

Does anyone else have lower AHI's on weekends? Same set up used everyday. The only difference I can think of is wine! I'm at 7-11 during the week and approx. 5 on weekends.

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Craig-Tx
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by Craig-Tx » Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:27 pm

jootee wrote:Does anyone else have lower AHI's on weekends? Same set up used everyday. The only difference I can think of is wine! I'm at 7-11 during the week and approx. 5 on weekends.
One possibility, you still have the same concentration of apneas and hypopneas, but you have a longer time where you're not sleeping as deep. This lowers the average.

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jootee
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by jootee » Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:45 pm

ImageImage

Here is my data is case someone can give me any feedback. thank you!

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jootee
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by jootee » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:32 pm

And one more question, if your are diagnosed as having extreme apnea (over 30) do you think it is unreasonable to expect the API's of 1 or 2 that is see a lot of people getting or should I be satisfied with my current improvement and not worry so much about my numbers? I do know I have improved so much with cpap but if I don't know any differently I think I am missing feeling even better.

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Pugsy
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by Pugsy » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:50 pm

I can't see the detail I prefer on the trend graphs you posted...plus they are tiny and I can't see the numbers.
But if your AHI is in the 7 and above range most of the time and that AHI is primarily OA and/or hyponea then your pressure is likely suboptimal....and yes...there's room for improvement if that is the case.

Can you post a detailed nightly report? Showing AHI and the breakdown into each event category...as well as leak and pressure used and do you use EPR? If so, at what setting.

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jootee
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by jootee » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:17 pm

Pugsy wrote:I can't see the detail I prefer on the trend graphs you posted...plus they are tiny and I can't see the numbers.
But if your AHI is in the 7 and above range most of the time and that AHI is primarily OA and/or hyponea then your pressure is likely suboptimal....and yes...there's room for improvement if that is the case.

Can you post a detailed nightly report? Showing AHI and the breakdown into each event category...as well as leak and pressure used and do you use EPR? If so, at what setting.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126002489@N05/

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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by Pugsy » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:34 pm

It appears that you are using APAP mode with minimum of 8 cm with EPR of 3.
That minimum pressure is sub optimal and the machine is not able to do a good job preventing the airway collapse because it can't respond quickly enough to get up to a pressure that would hold the airway open.
Sometimes reducing EPR or turning it off will bring the average pressure up high enough so it can do a better job but I am not so sure doing that would work for you unless you turned EPR off totally.

I suspect that if you wish to use EPR for the comfort it was designed for that you are going to need a minimum of around 10 cm or thereabouts. An increase in pressure will reduce the number of OAs and break up the ugly clusters.
Up to you if you want to do it yourself or have your medical care team do it.

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jootee
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by jootee » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:44 pm

Pugsy wrote:It appears that you are using APAP mode with minimum of 8 cm with EPR of 3.
That minimum pressure is sub optimal and the machine is not able to do a good job preventing the airway collapse because it can't respond quickly enough to get up to a pressure that would hold the airway open.
Sometimes reducing EPR or turning it off will bring the average pressure up high enough so it can do a better job but I am not so sure doing that would work for you unless you turned EPR off totally.

I suspect that if you wish to use EPR for the comfort it was designed for that you are going to need a minimum of around 10 cm or thereabouts. An increase in pressure will reduce the number of OAs and break up the ugly clusters.
Up to you if you want to do it yourself or have your medical care team do it.
Thank you so much for your input I will be making the change myself. I will adjust it to a minimum of 10 but I am not sure what to set max at. Any advice?

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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by Pugsy » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:50 pm

I couldn't tell where the max was set at from the images I saw. Looks to be at least at 15 cm. I think I would just open it up to 20 if it were me and see where it wanted to go. Should it go high enough to cause problems (leaks, aerophagia, etc) we can always limit it.

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jootee
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Re: lower AHI's on weekends?

Post by jootee » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:56 pm

Pugsy wrote:I couldn't tell where the max was set at from the images I saw. Looks to be at least at 15 cm. I think I would just open it up to 20 if it were me and see where it wanted to go. Should it go high enough to cause problems (leaks, aerophagia, etc) we can always limit it.
Very appreciative for all of your advice! thank you so much.

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