Newbie Questions

Hello All,

I joined the exclusive club of CPAP users a week ago. I got a ResMed Elite 8 CPAP, Mirage Quattro mask and 4Hi humidaire. My AHI has been strange upward trend trough-out the the week until today. Today it came down. My leak rates are very low (0.0 - 0.17 L/s). I still have symptoms (headache, drowsiness, sleepiness). Here is my daily AHIs: 8.4, 7.6, 13.5, 12.1, 15.5, 7.0. Are these numbers typical for a beginner?

I am a two week user and my numbers are very simialr to yours. I started at pessure-8 and in the second week have moved around a bit to a ten then changed machine to APAP 9-13. Numbers remain the same. I will have three not so good days followed by a relatively incredible day. Should I just reset machine to original numbers and remain there for several weeks to see if things start to change?

Yes, they are... Although your leak rate might be a bit low just starting out. (That's a GOOD thing!) Many of us didn't find the best mask and/or adjustment right off the bat.

The symptoms will decrease as your AHI comes down and you make up your sleep deficit over the next few weeks. I think the rule-of-thumb is anything less than 5.0 indicates "good therapy". Most of us here strive for (and achieve) < 1.0. But rarely in the first week. Or month.

You're right on track. Keep at it.

Thank you for the responses. This forum is really helpful.

How does one change therapy pressure? I have no intention of doing it for at least another 6 months. Not without doctor's word. But my CPAP ResMed elite 8 is completely locked by the DME. They even told me that I will not be able to read AHI. I figured out how to do it from this forum. Is ResScan software helpful?

atab