[Diagnosis] High AHI After Initial Improvement with CPAP

[echo7]

Hi!

I'm new here and have been using a CPAP for a month now. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, with an AHI of almost 90 without the CPAP. My doctor prescribed a pressure range of 10-13 cmH2O.

In the first few weeks of using the machine, my AHI ranged from 2.6 to 11. It wasn’t perfect, but I felt much better.

However, in the last 7 days, my AHI has increased significantly, ranging from about 17 to 21, and one night it even reached 26. I'm not sure what to do. OSCAR shows high obstructive apnea events, and I'm waking up tired again. I've also noticed that I'm snoring a lot.

I would appreciate any help and suggestions you can provide.

Thanks!

[staceyburke]

You are having positional apnea.  You can see positional apnea where either H or Oa events are clustered together.  Getting rid of as many as you can will lower your AHI.  Positional apnea can NOT be controlled by pressure changes.  You have to find out what position you are getting into and cutting off your own airway.  Have you changed your sleep position?  Sleeping on your back?  Using more (or new) pillows?  These things can cause positional apnea by chin dropping to your sternum and cutting your airway.  Think of it of a kinked hose – nothing can get through – you have to unkink the hose…

IF you can’t make a simple change like changing to a flatter pillow helps then you will need a collar.  I have a link to collars in my signature at the bottom of the page.  It shows people who are not wearing a collar and the SAME person wearing a collar.  There is a huge difference between the two.

[echo7]

Wow, this is exactly what's happening to me.
I'll try changing pillows and using a collar. Now I feel better knowing that it's not a problem with the machine, after reading the information you sent me.

Thank you very much for your help!