increase in AHI

[OpalRose]

Hi OpalRose.

Thank you for your reply. I am comfortable with the mask, fall asleep no problem, just go thru wake ups almost same time every night, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30....one thing that does happen to me is I focus on listening to myself breathe which throws off my normal breathing. I was getting ahi in the 2-3 range for awhile after turning off the flex, but that seems to have gone away.....it's very frustrating as I can't get my number in the 1's and the 2 doctors I have visited never contact me back after I leave, so I feel like I'm on my own

Thanks again

I have found that using some kind of "white noise" in the room helps. I run a fan on low speed even in winter months. This drowns out listening to my own breathing.

Some use music. I have a friend that uses an app that plays underwater ocean sounds. We're all different, whatever works.

Keep the same schedule each night (as much as possible).

[trish6hundred]

Hi Gio0064,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I wish you good luck with your CPAP therapy.

[Sleeprider]

I'm late to the party here, but I completely agree that if the hypopnea are obstructive, a 1-cm increase in pressure will be effective. Your maximum therapeutic pressure is about 9.0, so I don't see any reason that you would go any higher than 7 / 7.5 for minimum pressure. Your flow limitations are only showing a couple events and snores are a non-factor in increasing your pressure. These make me wonder if your hypopnea are obstructive in nature, or more of a central issue. Except for all the hypopnea, this looks pretty good. Eventually it might be useful to look at a close up (2-3 minute) of some of the hypopnea clusters.

[chill]

I will offer another thing to consider, though I don't disagree with the pressure changes. The changes in pressure from the Auto mode might be disturbing you. I had a similar experience and set my machine to straight CPAP. I have slept for much longer stretches of time since then. I have not yet set it back to APAP to see if the problem resurfaces, so take this as just a possibility. One point of data is just one point of data. This sleep and CPAP and life and everything is a complex business.

[Gio0064]

Thank you

If I was to look up close at the clusters, what am I looking for? Newbie needs info

Best to all

[Sleeprider]

By zooming in on the clusters of apnea, we can see the wave form which will show the nature of the hypopnea, as well as the pressure, leaks and any other things coinciding with that period. Because hypopnea is simply a reduction in flow volume, you are looking for what is different about this period and times when breathing is "normal". Hypopnea is probably the hardest event to interpret since it is not a cessation of breathing, but a reduction in flow, which is usually seen as a different amplitude and/or shape in the wave form. A flattened top to the inspiration may be obstructive flow limitation. The presence or lack of recovery breathing at the end of hypopnea can also give information.

[Gio0064]

thank you all for the information. So i moved my min up from 6.5 to 7.....may seem crazy but the .5 increase was uncomfortable for me. The result this morning was my hypopneas we cut from the low 30's to 17 BUT i had 7 OA and 4 CA. This is pretty strange as i rarely if ever log a CA and get very few OA.

Any experience with this type of reaction?

Thanks again

[Sleeprider]

It's one night following a change. I'd try to gather data over several nights before drawing conclusions.

[Gio0064]

Hi Sleeprider

How can i verify that my hypopneas are obstructive or not?

Best

G

[Sleeprider]

Gio, if you want to post some Sleepyhead charts, the 'collective' will try to interpret the results. My signature links to article on how to format the charts and post them. Also Robysue's guide to Sleepyhead is good reading on this...it may also help you sleep.

My response in post #16 was trying to explain that interpreting this kind of event is difficult, and the differences are subtle. I don't know how I could cover all we might look for in a forum post.