Help! AHI 20-30 Before And After Treatment

[nwizards]

I've been using a CPAP for about 45 days now.  At first, it had my AHI down from 30 (at-home diagnostic test) to the 5-10 range, but in the last 5-7 days it has been back up in the 20-30 range.  The Oscar data (attached) seem to show central apneas, not obstructive apneas.  I'm going to schedule a doctor's visit, but any thoughts/suggestions/help in the meantime?

[gainerfull]

Did your home sleep study identify central apneas?

EPR can increase central apneas sometimes - have you tried using your machine with the same settings but turning off EPR?

[staceyburke]

We need to rule out if you are having positional apnea.  You can see positional apnea where either H or Oa events (usually) are clustered together.  Yours are classified as centrals but sometimes the machine has a hard time determining if they are centrals or not.  In a sleep lab they can because they have sensors telling if you are trying to breath.  The cpap machine just blows a little stream of air and looks if it gets through, if it does it classifies it as a central.  Anyway we need to find out if you had centrals in your sleep study.  If not then they may be positional apnea.

Getting rid of as many positional apnea 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.

If it turns out you have central apnea a different type cpap may be needed.