New to forum, please help with my AHI question

[buddy88]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I have an important question. I'm using F&P Icon CPAP and have had it for about a year now. I'm a 30 y/o male, 6', 170 pounds and by all accounts probably shouldn't have sleep apnea… My last sleep study (without a machine) I had an AHI of 2.5 on my stomach (woohoo) and 14 on my back. The Dr. suggested positional therapy and a CPAP for bad days. He also specifically mentioned that I did not snore at all and that none of my events were central. My pressure is 6.5 cmH20.

The problem is my AHI reading has been consistently about 5 for the entire year. Using sleepyhead I range from 4-10 and they are almost entirely hypopneas. My AI is 0-1 per hour. I upped my pressure incrementally to 8 cmH20 and there was no decrease in AHI.

Any suggestions how I should handle this? I'm waking up several times a night and generally feeling like crap.

Thanks

[Pugsy]

How many hours of sleep are you averaging and how many wake ups?
Oh...and any idea why the wake ups?

[buddy88]

My hours on the machine are really good. 6-8 a night, every night. I usually just wake up, roll over, and go back to sleep. I never have to use the bathroom (or lay awake stressing about the day). Thanks

[Pugsy]

How many is

I'm waking up several times a night

Is it 3 or 4 or 20?

Multiple wake ups will fragment the sleep cycle and cause us to feel like crap. An occasional wake up is normal..often at the end of a sleep cycle but a dozen will kill any chance of feeling better.

To get your AHI lower...just going to have to use more pressure. Hyponeas can just sometimes be stubborn little buggers.
How much more I have no idea but 8 cm...is considered fairly low by most of us.
I usually suggest 0.5 cm increase and use it for 3 to 5 nights to see what happens and if not happy with results then another 0.5 cm increase for 3 to 5 nights...and so on.
I don't suggest changing pressures on a night by night basis because we can have "off" nights and we never know when those are going to occur. Ideally we should give a change some time for the body to adjust to it and enough nights to see if there is any pattern and if results are consistent.

Finally not all crappy feelings are related to sleep apnea and if we have bad sleep that isn't related to sleep apnea the machine can't fix it.
If you wake up often for some reason or other unrelated to sleep apnea then the best AHI in the world isn't going to fix the crappy feeling.

Also...if you take any kind of meds (even OTC) look closely at any potential side effects that might affect how you feel during the day or your sleep quality. I take a pain pill that normally comes with a "may cause drowsiness" sticker but I am in a very small percentage of people who it causes insomnia...go figure. If I take it for pain I can't sleep because it wires me up...if I don't take it I can't sleep because of the pain.
So dig deep on any meds you might take on potential side effects...read up on them thoroughly...look for fatigue...drowsiness...anxiety...insomnia...etc.
Also...fatigue...look up the potential causes of it and there's a truckload that aren't related to sleep apnea.
Vitamin D levels...hormone levels (testosterone for the guys)...thyroid levels. Make sure any other potential health issues have been ruled out.

There's so much more to feeling better than AHI but since your AHI is a little higher than you would like...hurts nothing to try to trim it down a little but be aware...you problem may or may not be related to those hyponeas and if it isn't...even if you kill every one of them it may not give you what you want in terms of how you feel during the day.
I wish it were that easy.