AHI too... low?

[pgw78]

Something odd has been happening of late. I'm sleeping long hours, waking up exhausted, and feeling so tired through the day that I can barely function. Sound familiar? Here's the odd part. My AHI is around 1. Today it was 0.7.

Granted, apnea is only one of a whole pile of sleeping disorders I have. The tech at the office I used to go to said that he can wake up in the morning and know from how he feels whether his AHI was above or below 5. For me, it's 2.5. With everything else going on, I'm extra sensitive to changes in my sleep quality.

But this isn't the first time I've noticed that being below, say, 1.5 is also a problem. In fact, it often feels worse than being at 5 or higher.

Only thing I can think of is that an AHI that low means I'm not sleeping deeply enough to trigger the apnea. But... I don't know.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[me50]

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...d-Insomnia

Yes, others have issues with low AHI and sleep quality. See if this helps you a little bit

Please, ask questions if you have them. Someone will help you.

[pgw78]

Thanks for the reply and the link. But I'm not seeing anything in that thread that really pertains to my situation. It's not that I'm waking up. By all measurements, I'm sleeping reasonably well. I'm just not getting restful sleep, despite sleeping for 10 hours with a very low AHI.

I should perhaps mention that I've been using CPAP comfortably for over a decade. I'm long since used to it.

[zonk]

If leak number below 24 than PAP doing the job nicely
Personally 10 hours in bed would make me feel groggy without the grog but everyone is different

[Lukie]

[quote='pgw78' pid='49585' dateline='1384735868']
Something odd has been happening of late. I'm sleeping long hours

Unrefreshing sleep is a hard thing to live with. Have you had your vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and thyroid (TSH) ? If these are abnormal you can sleep for hours and feel terrible. Have u had your 02 sat checked during sleep? I have suffered this for years with 2 sleep studies unable to document apneas. Finally I had them knock me out with Ambien and they discovered I was desaturating my o2 significantly. I am hoping CPAP will help. They also got an AHI of 6.7. Not much but hell if u wake up choking once a night and can't get back to sleep.

[Sleepster]

Clinically, you have to experience an average of 5 events per hour before they'll diagnose you with sleep apnea.

So, if you were to wake up only one time due to an obstructed airway, this alone would not warrant CPAP therapy.

[PaulaO2]

If you've been using CPAP for 10 yrs, then something else is going on. Could be thyroid or some other issue not related to sleep. Time to go to the doctor!

Another thing to do would be to unplug the CPAP from the wall and leave it unplugged for several minutes then plug back in. Check the data after several nights and see if you are still running low. Could be aliens got in there and it needed a kick in the circuits. This usually only happens when it is showing an AHI of 0.0 but it never hurts to check!

[me50]

Thanks for the reply and the link. But I'm not seeing anything in that thread that really pertains to my situation. It's not that I'm waking up. By all measurements, I'm sleeping reasonably well. I'm just not getting restful sleep, despite sleeping for 10 hours with a very low AHI.

I should perhaps mention that I've been using CPAP comfortably for over a decade. I'm long since used to it.

sorry. was trying to show you where others have low AHI, wake up exhausted, poor sleep quality, tired, foggy brains, etc. Hope you find some answers.

What other sleep disorders do you have?

[Lukie]

Clinically, you have to experience an average of 5 events per hour before they'll diagnose you with sleep apnea.

So, if you were to wake up only one time due to an obstructed airway, this alone would not warrant CPAP therapy.

I was just diagnosed with mild sleep apnea but because I had 40 hyponeas during the study and desaturated below 88% for 45 minutes, I think they want me on CPAP or bipap. My AHI was 6.7. It has been pretty horrible because I don't sleep well and the cardiologist thinks my heart is being affected by the "mild apnea" over many years. I'm 72.

[eviltim]

Just curious. You've been on CPAP 10 years. How old is your CPAP machine?