How you feel.

It's funny, my AHI last night was 12.4, but I feel wonderful today. I slept for a little over 8 hours except for being woken up once by a kitty. Even with an AHI number that high this is light years ahead of how I felt before CPAP. Of course back then, I was waking up three or four times to pee and waking up several more unconsciously propped up on my elbow so I could breath better. Even though I haven't found my ideal settings at least my apnea events are being taken care of and I am sleeping through the night. That is gonna give me the patience to tweak my settings more gradually, because I kind of went nuts for a little while changing pressures and masks.

Flying_Norseman wrote:Of course back then, I was waking up three or four times to pee and waking up several more unconsciously propped up on my elbow so I could breath better.

Propped up on your elbow??

My brother used to be really heavy about 14 years ago. I used to see him sleeping sitting straight up and still snoring like crazy. He snored so much and so hard that his body moved while he was sleeping sitting up.

I don' think he does that anymore since he lost about 80 pounds. I will have to check with him at Christmas to see if he still has sleep apnea. Then I will have to get on the health soapbox.

Yeah I used to wake up that way and not remember getting into that position. My arm would go numb and that would wake me up. I lost a lot of weight too, but it didn't help much.

[/quote]Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject: Re: Correlation of Leaks to AHI level anomaly .....Quote from Bill Bolton

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Idget wrote:
What is the correlation between leak levels and AHI levels?

The point of getting leak numbers down is to minimise leaks as far as possible, so that the effect of the flow setting on your airway can be accurately assessed.

If the leak levels are high, then it gets difficult to determine how much of the treatment that any particular flow rate can provide is actually being "applied" to your airway!

If you are getting good AHI numbers and moderate leak numbers, and the remaining leaks are not disturbing your sleep, then CONGRATULATIONS.... you are in a good treatment delivery zone!

Cheers,

Bill

I have noticed lately that the lower my AHI the more tired I am!! for example, most nights I am around 0.5 however for a few nights I was 2.0 and felt a whole lot better now why is that? I can only assume that I was in a deeper sleep at 2.0

[quote="Anonymous"]I have noticed lately that the lower my AHI the more tired I am!! for example, most nights I am around 0.5 however for a few nights I was 2.0 and felt a whole lot better now why is that? I can only assume that I was in a deeper sleep at 2.0

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed lately that the lower my AHI the more tired I am!! for example, most nights I am around 0.5 however for a few nights I was 2.0 and felt a whole lot better now why is that? I can only assume that I was in a deeper sleep at 2.0

It could be the AHI's might not have been counted due to leaks or some other problem. That why going through the dailies carefully in Encore Pro is necessary, to see the true cause of what happens and when. Jim

Flying_Norseman wrote:It's funny, my AHI last night was 12.4, but I feel wonderful today. I slept for a little over 8 hours except for being woken up once by a kitty. Even with an AHI number that high this is light years ahead of how I felt before CPAP. Of course back then, I was waking up three or four times to pee and waking up several more unconsciously propped up on my elbow so I could breath better. Even though I haven't found my ideal settings at least my apnea events are being taken care of and I am sleeping through the night. That is gonna give me the patience to tweak my settings more gradually, because I kind of went nuts for a little while changing pressures and masks.

Hi Flying_Norseman,

Glad you feel wonderful today!

I can relate to needing the patience part....I've done similar things and am now restraining myself and doing things very gradually. I tend to be a bit obsessive to begin with and was spending so much time on my cpap therapy so that I didn't have enough balance in my life. So ... now I experiment on Friday nights, knowing I can go right back to what works reasonably well and has helped me to feel much better. I download from my Smartcard once or twice a week to get a sense of how things are going ... and I log a *very* quick note on a pad of paper on my nightstand about any changes I make, how I sleep and how I feel.

Keep up the good work and I hope you keep on feeling better

Mindy

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed lately that the lower my AHI the more tired I am!! for example, most nights I am around 0.5 however for a few nights I was 2.0 and felt a whole lot better now why is that? I can only assume that I was in a deeper sleep at 2.0

How much sleep are you actually getting?

And, I agree with Rosemary's thoughts that you're getting deeper sleep on the nights your AHI is higher. For a period of time, I noticed that, too.

Den

I found some small leaks on my Swift II mask and taped that sucker up with a bunch of plumber's tape. It's a pity it needs to be taped up so much in order to work. I have pretty much established that I don't leak anything significant from my mouth. AHI was 2.4 last night for a good 8 hours of sleep.

Maybe the next time I am due for a new mask I will try a different nasal pillow system. I also have some things for trade in the trade thread so maybe I can try one sooner than that.

Thanks for all the well wishes and everyone's help. You guys a are great.

I'm not trying to discourage you but don't get your hopes up too high!

I've tried 4 nasal pillow systems so far. 2 are (for me) reasonable and two not. Then I had my first night on a FFM last night -- total disaster. I had "large" leaks for at least 1/2 the night and woke up too many times to count. The machine thinks I was snoring a lot but the mask was making the most amazing noises

I tape my Swift with plumber's teflon tape (didn't need it in the beginning) and am now using the silicone putty earplugs with another. So at least they do work!

My dream is to someday have the perfect mask - no strap marks, no soreness, no wake-ups, no kludgy fixes!

Mindy

Mindy,

It does seem like there is a whole lot of tweaking involved in order to be successful and maintain that success. Maybe that is why the success rate of CPAP therapy is low. I feel too good to quit though so I will have to become a lab rat.

Flying_Norseman wrote:Mindy,

It does seem like there is a whole lot of tweaking involved in order to be successful and maintain that success. Maybe that is why the success rate of CPAP therapy is low. I feel too good to quit though so I will have to become a lab rat.

Yes, most definitely, F_N, ... there's no way I would quit either so I guess most of us on this forum become lab rats

Mindy

Wulfman wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed lately that the lower my AHI the more tired I am!! for example, most nights I am around 0.5 however for a few nights I was 2.0 and felt a whole lot better now why is that? I can only assume that I was in a deeper sleep at 2.0

How much sleep are you actually getting?

And, I agree with Rosemary's thoughts that you're getting deeper sleep on the nights your AHI is higher. For a period of time, I noticed that, too.

Den

Thanks Rosemary and Den,

This answers a question I've been having, and affirms the answer I came up with.

Knew if I watched long enough, I'd find the answer on this board.

I've been feeling great on the nights after my AHIs were higher (with the exception of one mega-headache last week), but wasn't happy to see my AHIs in some of those ranges.