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I did a sleep study in early 2022 where I had an AHI of 44, and started CPAP treatment that August. Since then, I've gone from 98kg/178cm (no exercise) to 78kg (and quite fit, exercising 5-6 days a week).
The reason I say all this is because in the past few weeks I've started to feel a discomfort while sleeping with CPAP, like the air pressure is too high. Also, the other day I woke up and had to stop treatment at 3AM because I felt like I had some fluid or mucus at the bottom of my throat/lungs (like when you have a wet cough during a flu and cough to try to get it out).
All this got me thinking if actually with the weight loss I actually don't need CPAP anymore and it's doing more harm than good. I've slept the last couple of days without it and my wife has not noticed snoring or apnea (it was loud and obvious before), and I'm not noticing more fatigue than usual.
Is there any suggested approach to try to collect more information or is the only approach to go book an appointment with my doctor?
I've included graphs from Oscar from a few recent days, I'm happy to export from other views if useful.
You would need a sleep study for the definite answer. However, in my humble opinion, considering the occurrence of OA events, you still need the instrument.
Also, re-visit your CA number after you reduced the leaks with a better mask fitting. If they are not reduced, the experts on this forum might suggest a more advanced device than the one you are using.
First of all, congrats on the weight loss. I'm sure you've noticed many benefits already, and one among them can be reduction in OSA. That said, this is a question that pops up often on this board from people like you who have made a significant change and want some answers, and as said above, the best answer comes from a sleep study. Some leg work that can be done by you beforehand would be things like positional occurrence (i.e. sleeping on back vs. side, pillow height, etc.) and finding the things that make your sleep better or worse with CPAP on, could help you try to get a good score when you take the sleep test.
Look, I'm an engineer, not a doctor! Please don't take my opinion as a substitute for medical advice.
If you feel like the pressure is excessive, you could try lowering it and monitor how that affects your numbers
You could also lower humidity and/or be sure the tube is going well upwards from the machine before coming down to you if you're getting rain-out/water in mask leading to inhaling water (considering your fluid in lungs complaint.)