I finally got a copy of my sleep study results. I have mild sleep apnea. My AHI is 15.4. What I am a bit confused about is central apneas vs. obstructive apneas. The report does not list them separately with those names. I had 48 arousals. They list them as respiratory related (12) and non-respiratory related (36). Should I assume these are the obstructive and central arousal numbers?
In addition, the sleep clinic did not feel with such low numbers that I needed a CPAP, so they didn't try one at my sleep study. My ENT disagreed, so he prescribed one with a pressure of 8. How do I know that 8 is accurate? I feel as if I am suffocating no matter what level I set the humidifier. Any help would be appreciated!
understanding sleep study results
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rested gal
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- Location: Tennessee
I'm no doctor, but I definitely believe an AHI of 15 warrants needing cpap treatment.
1. Ramp might be turned on and set at its lowest setting (pressure of 4) to start with.
Solution: Turn "Ramp" off (I keep mine "off") or set Ramp to start at whatever pressure lets you feel like you're getting enough air. Most people need at least 6 to not feel suffocated.
2. Your nose might get too congested when you're lying down, and you literally can't breathe through it well enough while using a nasal mask (a mask that covers just the nose.)
Solution: Talk to your ENT about what to use to keep your nasal passages open. Or use a full face mask (covers nose and mouth) to allow you to breathe through your mouth and still get cpap treatment either way.
3. The pressure of "8" might not be enough to treat your OSA.
Solution: Get the ENT to prescribe an autopap set for a pressure range of, say, 8 - 16. The ENT can have a local home health care store download the data from the machine once a week so you and the doctor can see what pressures the machine actually had to use to keep your throat open. Takes the guesswork out of "Is 8 enough?" "What pressure is really needed?" If money is no object, you could even buy the Encore Pro software and card reader yourself from cpap.com ($199 -- no prescription needed -- insurance won't pay for software, I don't believe) to do the downloads to your own PC as often as you wished...every morning, if you wanted.
4. The least likely of all these possibilities...you might be having difficulty exhaling against pressure, even though 8 is not a very high pressure. While getting the ENT to prescribe an autopap for you, he might as well specify that it be a Respironics REMstar Auto with C-flex, in case you could benefit from the way C-Flex can drop the pressure each time you exhale.
Sounds like you and your doctor are more proactive than the sleep clinic was. Good luck!!
If the report didn't mention central apneas you probably didn't have any centrals.What I am a bit confused about is central apneas vs. obstructive apneas. The report does not list them separately with those names.
No. If you had any central apneas, they would have been noted. Those two categories, "respiratory related" and "non-respiratory related" don't mean "obstructive" vs "central". The noise of a door slamming could disturb sleep enough to cause a "non-respiratory related" arousal. Central apneas would fall into the "respiratory-related" arousals. Since they didn't mention "central" apnea events earlier in the report, you really don't need to worry about "centrals".They list them as respiratory related (12) and non-respiratory related (36). Should I assume these are the obstructive and central arousal numbers?
Your ENT was smart, imho, to disagree with the sleep clinic's assessment. It is good that he wants you on cpap, but at this point there's no way to know if a pressure of 8 is an effective pressure to keep your airway open. He probably picked "8" because it's a relatively low pressure that does happen to work for many people. The smartest thing he could do, though (imho) would be to prescribe a trial on autopap for you....let the autopap sense from your breathing what pressure it needs to use to keep your throat from collapsing.My ENT disagreed, so he prescribed one with a pressure of 8. How do I know that 8 is accurate?
There could be many reasons for your feeling as if you're suffocating - reasons that have nothing to do with what setting you use for the humidifier:I feel as if I am suffocating no matter what level I set the humidifier.
1. Ramp might be turned on and set at its lowest setting (pressure of 4) to start with.
Solution: Turn "Ramp" off (I keep mine "off") or set Ramp to start at whatever pressure lets you feel like you're getting enough air. Most people need at least 6 to not feel suffocated.
2. Your nose might get too congested when you're lying down, and you literally can't breathe through it well enough while using a nasal mask (a mask that covers just the nose.)
Solution: Talk to your ENT about what to use to keep your nasal passages open. Or use a full face mask (covers nose and mouth) to allow you to breathe through your mouth and still get cpap treatment either way.
3. The pressure of "8" might not be enough to treat your OSA.
Solution: Get the ENT to prescribe an autopap set for a pressure range of, say, 8 - 16. The ENT can have a local home health care store download the data from the machine once a week so you and the doctor can see what pressures the machine actually had to use to keep your throat open. Takes the guesswork out of "Is 8 enough?" "What pressure is really needed?" If money is no object, you could even buy the Encore Pro software and card reader yourself from cpap.com ($199 -- no prescription needed -- insurance won't pay for software, I don't believe) to do the downloads to your own PC as often as you wished...every morning, if you wanted.
4. The least likely of all these possibilities...you might be having difficulty exhaling against pressure, even though 8 is not a very high pressure. While getting the ENT to prescribe an autopap for you, he might as well specify that it be a Respironics REMstar Auto with C-flex, in case you could benefit from the way C-Flex can drop the pressure each time you exhale.
Sounds like you and your doctor are more proactive than the sleep clinic was. Good luck!!
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