CPAP Newbie

[Sleepy Lou]

Last night I lowered the pressure on my CPAP, to combat against the Aerophagia. I was at 13.6 and I lowered the machine to 13. With my mouth taped, I only lasted 5 hours until the Aerophagia symptoms woke me up. AHI was 1.1 versus .8 when the pressure was 13.6.

Question: What will be an acceptable AHI zone?

[Sleeprider]

Keep going until you "feel" sleep has poorer quality. We expect AHI to rise with lower pressure, and finding the place where aerophagia and AHI are at a good compromise is not a science with a numerical answer. It is where you sleep best. CPAP efficacy is generally considered acceptable below 5.0 AHI. In your situation, it may be helpful to ignore the data and go by feel. This is another argument why you should be issued an Autoset rather than the "brick" CPAP. With variable pressure, you can use lower pressure much of the night and rely on the machine to raise pressure when needed. Imagine being able to use a minimum pressure of 8.0 or 9.0 and sleeping comfortably through the night. You should consider asking your doctor to change the prescription to Auto CPAP to accommodate your problem with aerophagia.

[Sleepy Lou]

@SleepRider, thank you for the info. I'm definitely reaching out to my Dr. to change my machine.