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Hello, I wanted to seek the expertise of this forum regarding my AHI.
I have been using my APAP since last October 2021 and have adapted quite well to therapy. My AHI during the sleep study was 20.1, with therapy it is below 5 (2.5 to 4.7), but never below 2. I don't use EPR.
I expressed this concern with my sleep doctor and she suggested turning on EPR. With EPR, my AHI has suddenly jumped to around 7, consistently above the 5 threshold for an entire week.
I heard EPR helps, but I guess not in my case. Will I be able to bring my AHI to 1 or less?
Here are the OSCAR results from last night, after an entire week of the EPR setting at 1. I can post another set of screen shots with EPR off also, if needed. Thanks a bunch!!
Something is messed up with that data (lots of 0 flow rate periods, pressure graph and tidal volume graphs wonky, statistic values not correct). Do all your nights look like that?
If so you should create a post in the software support forum and maybe one of the OSCAR guys can get your data and try to figure out if its the data from the machine or OSCAR that is the issue.
Assuming the AHI and recorded events are correct then EPR does often make central apnea worse so this isn't that surprising if your apnea without EPR were primarily central. If central apnea is the issue there isn't much you can do with this machine to try and improve AHI further and as mentioned EPR will just make things worse as you noticed. Adjusting pressure or using fixed pressure might make changes/improvement but its a long shot.
Yes, the graphs for flow rate look the same every night. I'm not sure what pressure and tidal volume graphs should look like though. I am using OSCAR for Linux on a laptop, so I'll download a version for my PC and check the graphs there and repost them.
03-20-2022, 04:31 AM (This post was last modified: 03-20-2022, 04:32 AM by Aldebaran.)
RE: Aldebaran - AHI help (OSCAR data)
OK, it seems the Linux version puts out weird graphs. Here is the PC version with the data and graphs.
This was the same night's (3/18/22) data with EPR.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
Do you know if many central apnea were observed in your sleep study? If you have a copy please post t here with personal data redaced. If you don't have a copy request it from your Dr. Meanwhile turn off EPR. It helps for obstructive apnea and flow limitations but increases central apnea. Post data again without EPR. You may do better with constant pressure but let's se data without EPR first.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
So as expected EPR exaggerates your central apnea. Your sleep study showed no centrals indicating these likely are treatment induced.
You now have two options. Option 1 is to continue without EPR. Option 2 is to continue with EPR of 1 to see if the treatment emergent centrals improve with time (it can take weeks/months).
Choosing the option should be based on how you feel. AHI is just a number and even if it is over 5 it is only an issue if it is causing poor sleep quality and symptoms. It isn't recommend to treat mild apnea (AHI 5-15) unless there are associated symptoms of tiredness etc so if you feel good and AHI is consistently under 5 then I would say treatment is a success.
Thank you for your help Geer1.
It's a relief to know that my CPAP is successfully treating my apnea. I do sleep a lot better without EPR and now that I have a means to distinguish the different apnea events, I can keep an eye on them closely.
I wish I could learn how to interpret the charts and know what to look out for. Is there a online resource?
