Progress!

[yossarian]

Progress since 1 Sept:

Link to first post:
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-newbie--14952

After advice from OpalRose and Maskup Sleepwell (thanks) I went to raise my Min APAP pressure and found that my machine had developed a fault and would not go into therapy mode (!). Machine returned and repaired. Pressure increased from 5 to first 7, then to 8. Here is my AHI journey over the past 7 months.


As you can see, the improvement is not what you would call dramatic; more slow and steady with lots of fluctuation.
The situation has changed over the last 10 days as my AHI has suddenly become pretty stable between 3-4. I feel like I've "arrived" in some sense. (or at least "technically treated") It only took 7 months!

Here's some data.
Some nights the pressure remains steady through the night (95% Press = 9.0):


Other nights the pressure still rises & falls more.(95% Press = 10.8)


Stats:


From the monthly stats, the OA shows the most improvement, but CA and HA have also improved to a lesser extent.
Leaks continue to be an issue with my dreamwear nasal mask, but I think the pros (for me) outweigh the cons.

My 90% pressure is 9.7 (ave press 8.52) for the last 2 weeks. My APAP setting is currently 8-13 (with aflex x1 pressure relief).

Do you think I should narrow the range further? 8.5 - 12?

[DeepBreathing]

I like the way you've graphed the trends instead of responding to a single night's results - I wish I had a dollar for every time I've told people to do that! Your trendline is definitely heading in the right direction. I don't know that there's anything to be gained by changing the maximum pressure as you machine never goes there anyway. But I would be inclined to bump up the minimum a bit further. With the EPR/flex in operation your effective pressure is starting around 6. This is too low to avoid flow limitations and the machine isn't responding in time to catch a lot of those hypopneas and obstructive apneas.

[Beej]

That'd be a nice feature to have in Sleepyhead!

[trish6hundred]

Hi yossarian,
GREAT to hear you are progressing well with your CPAP therapy,! keep up the good work.

[yossarian]

OK thanks DeepBreathing, I'll change to 8.5-13 and post back in 2-3 weeks.

[holden4th]

Looking at your results your choice of range seems very good.