Should I Raise My Pressures While I have This Cold?

[Melman]

I’ve picked up a bad cold and my AHIs have increased by a lot. Normally my AHI is under 1 and rarely exceeds 1. Last night it was 9.7. I see that my pressure maxed out more frequently than is usual. Normally my med pressure is 9-9.5. Last night it was 11.9. The pressure increased to above 10 almost immediately and never dropped below 10. I’m wondering if changing my pressures from 9-14 to 10-15 for the duration of this cold may be helpful. I’ve attached last night’s chart and a more typical chart.

[Sleeprider]

Take a closer look at your events and see if you are possibly awake, swallowing and other things. You can easily record apneas by sniffing, swallowing and through sleep disturbance. Your range is 9-14 and during your cold, it does not seem to want to go too much higher, but you are a solid 2-cm above your usual range. No harm in letting the max go to 18 so it is there if you need it.

I had the start of a cold that pushed my AHI to nearly 2.0, but at the first drip, treated with Zicam. Things returned to normal in a couple days for me. This too will pass for you.

[Melman]

Thanks. My wife says I was making a lot of noises last night so your probably right about the sniffling, swallowing, etc. And yes, I know this will pass.

[PaulaO2]

Do you use the humidifier? If not, use that for a few nights to see if there's any changes.

But yeah, try to increase the max by a bit to see if it helps.

[Melman]

Thanks. Use the humidifier and heated hose. I increased the setting when the cold started.

[ozcedric]

not trying to be funny but i'm confused by the advice.
if the pressure is increasing slightly due to a cold, but still in the range that is set, what good would temporarily changing the range do on an auto machine?
if the increased pressures were pushing 13.9 & 14 then obviously a change is needed to the max pressure of 14

my range is 6-20 but it's never gone above and rarely reached 10.5
my consistent average is 6.32

isn't that the idea of buying a more expensive auto machine so it copes with the bad nights? 

[Walla Walla]

Auto machines will increase pressure to events but if you increase pressure it can prevent the events from happening in the first place. That's why he was asking if he should increase the pressure. In this case the advice was to leave it alone because his normal setting works and there's no sense in chasing the numbers due to a cold.