First night with S9!

With help from all of you, I think I'm doing well and the first night with my new, shiny, S9 looks really good...AHI 2.4, 8.5 hrs, Good fit with mask! I wish I knew more about those AHI's occurred, but since I'm on a Mac and not willing to add more to my hard drive, I guess I'll have to wait and let Lincare see in a few months. I slept accidentally much of the night on my back too...(fell asleep watching TV) and the rest on my side.

What is the range acceptable for AHI's, by the way? My pressure is 8 and in my sleep study I only had them during REM, so I'd like to see when these occurred.

Thanks, everybody!

patdart wrote:
What is the range acceptable for AHI's, by the way?

Thanks, everybody!

Under 5 is considered treated but I think what helps you and make you feel better can be very subjective. For example my husbands sleep study AHI was 110 so with at AHI of 5 or maybe even higher he is still going to feel much better then he did without cpap. I on the other hand had a sleep study AHI of 12 and anytime my AHI goes to 1 or above I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

So although your AHI is in an acceptable range the better question to ask is... How do you feel?

What Oscar said. I also need AHI well below 5 to feel my best. Everyone's different, but AHI below 5 is the commonly accepted threshold indicating acceptable treatment.

I think that many of us put more weight on the AI part of the AHI equation too. For myself, I like to see AI (average apneas per hour) at 0 or 0.1. AI much above 0.2 and I can feel it. But that's me. Other people aren't affected as much.

Congratuations on a very successful first night, patdart!!! Your AHI is just fine. You may see that come down on its own too, as your body adjusts to this new way of sleeping. May you have many more pleasant nights, followed by happy days!

Oscar, I feel more rested on fewer hours of sleep than I have most of my adult life, but I haven't gotten the energy burst many of you mention.

I've been using cpap now for about 2 months and my blood work tells me that it is affecting me in a positive way. I just hope it gets even better as time goes on.

I didn't do the quote thing right and wish there were a page telling me how to use this software to figure things out like what does a scrolling icon mean at the home page, etc. Oh, well, I'll catch on eventually!


"So although your AHI is in an acceptable range the better question to ask is... How do you feel?"

I haven't quite reached the burst of energy yet either. I definitely feel better when I wake up and for about 4 or 5 hours but then the sleepiness creeps back in. I'm having good days and bad days which I'm sure is quite normal for the first month of treatment. I've been sleeping way more then normal but I think that's just because I've slept so poorly for so long.

Have you checked your data for last night to see when you are having the apneas? When my AHI goes up it seems like instead of having a few isolated apneas I suddenly have big clusters of them with long periods of good sleep in between. I don't know if it's REM sleep trigger them or what.

oscar98 wrote:I haven't quite reached the burst of energy yet either. I definitely feel better when I wake up and for about 4 or 5 hours but then the sleepiness creeps back in. I'm having good days and bad days which I'm sure is quite normal for the first month of treatment. I've been sleeping way more then normal but I think that's just because I've slept so poorly for so long.

Have you checked your data for last night to see when you are having the apneas? When my AHI goes up it seems like instead of having a few isolated apneas I suddenly have big clusters of them with long periods of good sleep in between. I don't know if it's REM sleep trigger them or what.

All I can do is see the AHIs as recorded on the machine. I can't run the software to see them if it shows them. I'll have to wait and let the DME do that in a few weeks or months. Is that what you meant?

Where you the person who posted about having a MAC? If not I can send you the link for the software and then all you need is a sd card reader which most computers have now days.

oscar98 wrote:Where you the person who posted about having a MAC? If not I can send you the link for the software and then all you need is a sd card reader which most computers have now days.

Sadly, 'twas I. I love it tho'. Thanks for the offer, Oscar'98.

I think my next laptop will be a MAC but the software limits kind of worry me a bit. There was a post around here explaining how to use the software on a MAC but I really was technical enough to follow it.

I love having the software and being able to see what's going on. If your numbers don't start to go down or you don't feel any better it might be worth figuring out how to get it to work on your computer. (or maybe by a dirt cheap used windows desktop on ebay)

oscar98 wrote:I think my next laptop will be a MAC but the software limits kind of worry me a bit. There was a post around here explaining how to use the software on a MAC but I really was technical enough to follow it.

I love having the software and being able to see what's going on. If your numbers don't start to go down or you don't feel any better it might be worth figuring out how to get it to work on your computer. (or maybe by a dirt cheap used windows desktop on ebay)

Oscar, I love my Macs and what was told me was to run it using a Windows work around which I could do if I hadn't about filled my HD on this one. Macs can run MS software and many people do that. I just don't want to load this one up any more but your idea of buying a cheapo machine dedicated to running the software is not a bad one...I'll give it some thought for sure. I'm about due a new laptop and since this iMac is about 5+ years old a new one of those also. I'm really trying to hold out to see what Apple does with the new iPad, thinking it could be what I'd like instead of a new laptop and so I'm indecisive at this point. I love my iPhone and the idea of an iPad for use when I travel, etc. is very appealing since I'm getting older and less able to carry a lot onboard planes. Thanks for input.

Happy Sleeps!

Why don't you just by an external HardDrive and plug into Firewire or USB ??? Cheaper and better than cheapo Windows Laptop... That would give you more space for your Mac programs.

It's not hard even for Newbies...

Nord

Nord wrote:Why don't you just by an external HardDrive and plug into Firewire or USB ??? Cheaper and better than cheapo Windows Laptop... That would give you more space for your Mac programs.

It's not hard even for Newbies...

Nord

That's a thought. I already have one, but I'd have to figure out how to use it and install Windows on it to use it for this...

Hmmmm,

patdart wrote: That's a thought. I already have one, but I'd have to figure out how to use it and install Windows on it to use it for this...

Hmmmm,

Simple... plug it into any device opening on your iMac and voila... it becomes a loaded device ready to use for all your Mac programs.
To use windows... it will be a virtual drive through one of a few programs. I use VMWare Fusion but there are others including one free with Leopard.
Go to Apple and search "virtual drives"... Once you start... you'll see how simple virtual drives are...

Nord