My AHI is between 10-15; Is it acceptable ?

Hi, My AHI was below 5 for 3 months when I started. Then it deteriorated badly, and recently it has been between 10-15. Is this normal and acceptable ? I am treating a Sinus issue, and do not know if this is the cause for higher AHI. Any advice or suggestions ? Thanks, Raymond

Hmmmm....you were obviously doing three times better in a prior time. What's changed...just the sinusitis?

Your current assessment is still in the mild range for AHI, but it's right up there where it wasn't previously.

Perhaps it's best to just concentrate on getting better with an apparent impediment to your therapy and not dwelling quite so much on the apparently unusual new numbers. I think the long term is what is important, so maybe relax a bit and see if the numbers begin to slip back down in the next week or so. Put it this way, it's not dangerous territory you find yourself in suddenly...it's still 'mild'.

tmrl wrote:Hi, My AHI was below 5 for 3 months when I started. Then it deteriorated badly, and recently it has been between 10-15. Is this normal and acceptable ? I am treating a Sinus issue, and do not know if this is the cause for higher AHI. Any advice or suggestions ? Thanks, Raymond

Hello, @tmrl.
Please understand that just your AHI is not enough for anyone to say anything helpful and correct.

1- Which machine and mask are you using? Has anything changed since the time you've started the treatment?
2- What is your AHI composed of? Only obstructives? A lot of hypopneas? Some centrals? This is very important.
3- Could you give us more data? If you have a machine that provides detailed information, like leaks and pressure levels, you could use SleepyHead to analyze it and we could be more helpful.

The increased AHI means that something could be wrong with your therapy. How are you feeling compared to the first 3 months of treatment?

What are your pressure settings?

Have you gained any weight recently?

Aware of any leaks? Taking any new meds?

Thank you for all of your responses ! I was diagnosed with AHI 77 in March 2017. From April 2017, I started using ResMed Airsense 10. I was using Airfit F20 full face mask ( medium size ) from April to July, and my AHI was below 5, with acceptable leakage. From July onward, I switched to AirTouch F20 face mask ( medium ), the leakage problem increased and AHI has increased and fluctuated between 10 - 30. I did not know that as I was travelling extensively overseas between July and October ( could not get the report ). In November, I started to notice it and have been trying to fix the leakage issue with the technicians. The technician finally suggested to change to a small size recently ( still AirTouch F20 face mask ). Leakage has been acceptable in the past week ( around 10 L/min , but AHI is fluctuating between 8-15 in the past two weeks. Not much weight change since last April. Max pressure is 11. Any suggestions or advice ?

Which AirSense 10 model? There are several. Model name is clearly stated on the lower right corner.

Choices are

CPAP
Elite
AutoSet
AutoSet for her

If anything but the "CPAP" model go get SleepyHead so we can see in detail what is going on.
https://sleep.tnet.com/equipment
Need to know what that AHI is composed of in each event category.

REsmed AirSense10 Autoset. Thanks !

Your AHI may fluctuate, but we still need to know your min. prescribed (and/or set) pressure setting (it's the min. one that counts... the max can be left open at 20 or possibly 15 to let any events go as high as they need to.

The AutoSet is a full efficacy data machine.
Get SleepyHead and use it and see exactly what that AHI is made up of and when those events are happening.

To answer your question....AHI of 10 to 15 is NOT acceptable. At a minimum we want to see it below 5.0.

See this thread for examples of what can be seen.
viewtopic/t103468/Need-help-with-screen-shots.html

Pugsy wrote: To answer your question....AHI of 10 to 15 is NOT acceptable.

+1

@tmrl, please take a screenshot of SleepyHead so we can help you analyze it.


P.S Pugsy, can you access this link you've sent? I cannot access anything from "sleep.tnet.com". I'm gonna try using a proxy to "change" my location to US and try again, but it's really odd that I can't access it.

EDIT: Yes, I can access it through a proxy. It's kinda odd that a website about Sleep Apnea Information is blocked in some countries (or blocked by some countries internet providers).

tmrl wrote:Hi, My AHI was below 5 for 3 months when I started. Then it deteriorated badly, and recently it has been between 10-15. Is this normal and acceptable ? I am treating a Sinus issue, and do not know if this is the cause for higher AHI. Any advice or suggestions ? Thanks, Raymond

What AHI is normal and what AHI is good or acceptable are both the subject of some debate and controversy. For example, many people feel the goal AHI should be under 5 for everyone, while some health care providers consider under 10 to be acceptable for some patients. But more than 10 is generally not considered acceptable for someone on PAP therapy.

If you tell us more about yourself and post your SleepyHead data, we can likely help.