AHI, leaks, sleeping on your side or back

[jxyzobrien]

thanks for helping Still adjusting

this is the best apnea in the world

2 questions

1-ahi 5 or less means no significant air leaks yes no
2- read where if your mouth opens with air gushing out (have chin strap)
the pressure is still too high
3-read where sleeping on your side keeps ahi lower then on your back

[Crimson Nape]

jxyzobrien,

1. The AHI is based on recorded events. A leak can interfere with an event being sensed. An AHI of less than 5 is just a gauge point set by someone to help quantify severity of apnea. How a person feels is a better determination. I've had nights were my AHI was extremely low because I never entered a deep sleep and I felt it the next day. I've then had nights were my AHI is above the normal and felt great the next day because I really was getting a good deep restful sleep. A problem I've see with the AHI number is it doesn't fully take into account the length(severity) of an event. My CA's usually last about 10 to 11 seconds, which is no big deal. If I had the same number of events but they lasted 30 or longer seconds each, the AHI would be the same number but I would diffidently have a problem. I was guilty of being a number chaser in the beginning until I realized that the AHI value alone was just one attribute to aid in gauging my treatment.

2. An open mouth can show up at higher pressure but can also be caused from a stuffy nose. Usually a pressure induced mouth opening will subside in time as your body becomes acclimated to the pressure. My personal experience is that nasal pillows will better overcome a stuffy nose as opposed a FFM or nasal mask but a FFM addresses my pressure induced openings better. Again, that's just my experience. (Note: Please complete your profile so we may see the equipment that you're using.)

3. Side sleeping does lower AHI. (Please note: I'm really simplifying this)When you sleep your body relaxes. The soft palate area that collapses to cause apnea(OA's and Hyp's) is located in the front of the throat. Sleeping on your back causes gravity to allow this area to drop to the back of your throat, closing off or restricting your airway. While side sleeping, the same thing happens but because the soft palate is trying to fall to the side and not directly to the back, it lessens the airway occlusion, thus reducing related OA's and Hyp's.

I hope this has properly addressed your 3 questions.

[PaulaO2]

thanks for helping Still adjusting

this is the best apnea in the world

2 questions

1-ahi 5 or less means no significant air leaks yes no

Neither. Air leaks and AHI are only connected in that when you are leaking more than the machine can compensate, the machine can give false positives (say an event is happening when there is not one) or miss an event altogether.

2- read where if your mouth opens with air gushing out (have chin strap)
the pressure is still too high

Not really. If you are sleeping in a position where your mouth is going to open (like on your back) or if you are a natural "mouth breather" in your sleep, pressure doesn't matter. The pressure needs to be where it needs to be to stop events from happening. If there are leaks, then a mask adjustment needs to be made, not a pressure adjustment.

3-read where sleeping on your side keeps ahi lower then on your back

Typically true. It all comes down to gravity. When sleeping on your back, gravity is going to pull the tongue and the surrounding tissue down toward the back of your throat and contribute to the collapse of the airway. But with a CPAP machine set to the proper treatment pressure, it should be able to compensate for sleeping position. You'll still have a few more than usual while sleeping on your back, though. This is where an auto-titrating (APAP) comes in handy!