Question on mostly hypopneas

[DanPrado]

Hi folks,

Haven't been in this forum for a while, recently marked my 1 year anniversary on CPAP and have not missed a night yet, except for one partial one and felt it the next morning.

Tremendous difference in my day to day life, and by now so tolerant of the mask it is practically invisible.

Anyway, AHI has been very good over the year < 2.0 on therapy, but noticing that stats show almost exclusively hypopneas, that is the 100% norm most of the days, else 80%.

Just curious if this is tyical or an indicator of something specific.

Appreciate any feedback.

[justMongo]

It is suggestive of too low a minimum pressure.
However, the AHI is good and you feel good. A case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[PaytonA]

I think that you might find that the cause is Philips' algorithm for scoring Hypopneas. Then the question becomes who is right and who is wrong. At this point you need to reread Mongo's post (the last line).

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[AshSF]

Are you using aflex? If not then do this:
1) switch on a flex at any setting of 1,2 or 3.
2) change your apap's range by 2cm. So in your case, you should move it to 7-17 from 5-15( as listed in your profile).

This will take care of residual hypopneas.

If you are using aflex currently, you can go for a bilevel device so that you can get home the pressure support. That will reduce/eliminate hypopneas.

In both these strategies, you need to watch out for any central apnea events. They can creep up in these cases.

Ultimately you should go by how you feel during the day. If all is well then smashing this last bit of ~2 AHI may be an overkill.

[DanPrado]

Thanks for the replies folks!