I Think It's More Than Just Low AHIs

Good morning, everyone! And I do mean GOOD! I feel great today!

As I posted in mommaw's thread on changing APAP settings, I've been trying to "tweak" my settings on my 420E to get the lowest AHI possible at the lowest pressure settings possible. With the addition of a DreamFit mask, I was able to get down to below 1 on a regular basis using a range of 6-12 cm, but I noticed I was starting to feel way tired during the day again, almost like pre-APAP. My titrated pressure was 16 cm, which I thought was way high. I started out using an UltraMirage FF mask, btw, and fought leaks big time until I figured out how to adjust it.

Last night, I upped my settings to 14-18 cm, 20 minute ramp starting at 12 cm. I haven't downloaded my data this morning, but I FEEL GREAT!!! I started out with the DreamFit, went to sleep about 9:30 and woke at about 2 AM with a stuffy nose. I switched off to my UltraMirage and slept soundly until about 4AM, got up and did the bathroom thing, then back to bed and slept like a log until the alarm went off at 5:15 AM. WOWZERS!! I feel rested and relaxed and ready for the day.

I was talking with Sweetie last night and said something to the effect that during the sleep study, they hooked me up to monitor heart, brain and O2 levels, so there is probably more going on than just stopping the apnea events. Dang, it sure would be nice to be a sleep specialist now and have ALL the answers! LOLOL Hey, wait, I've been a hosehead for 8 months now! Doesn't that make me a sleep specialist???? ROFL

Steve (ufo134) thanks for the kind remarks in mommaw's thread.

Anyway, just letting ya'll know that maybe those darn sleep doctors and RTs do know something, after all.

This therapy WORKS!!! (just sometimes, some of us are a bit hard-headed about following the doctor's instructions!)

Absolutely there is more than AHI involved. As you noted, our machines not measure O2 saturation, sleep state (via brain wave analysis and muscle sensors), sleep position, etc.

IMO, the major item that our machines can't detect are arousals -- and I don't mean the feel-good kind either! I theorize that there may be some pressures for some people which give excellent AHI numbers but disturb their sleep so much that there are a lot of arousals that fragment their sleep architecture. The result would be great numbers (on the surface) but they'd feel lousy.

Personally I'm not concerned with attempting to get the lowest possible number. So long as my numbers are generally low in the "this isn't a problem" range around 5 and under I don't worry about the exact number. Instead I concentrate on what makes me feel the best.

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TX:

Glad to hear you had the first of many great nights to come in IMO. And WAF said it perfectly above, there is more to the stats than the print-out states! That's why i beleive most of us will FEEL better with the tight range around the titreated pressure with the auto.

Best to you,
steve,
ufo13

Glad you had such a great night's sleep!!! Hopefully indicative of many more to come.