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+--- Thread: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! (/Thread-Pressure-keeps-going-up-but-higher-AHI)
Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Sleepygirl84 - 03-05-2017
I need help!!
So I am fairly new to CPAP and I am going to try my best to explain what is happening without knowing all the ins and outs of everything.
First my sleep test showed I was having 55 AHI a night and I was recently put on a fixed pressure of 20cm starting off at 10cm after trying lower pressures but the apnea's seem to be happening at the start of the night and the machine wasn't catching them.
I have only had 2 nights on the new fixed pressure and I am having nights AHI of 16.
It seems every time I have my pressure moved up I have more apneas.
I feel like I am never going to get the right pressure that will work for me. I hate it being at such a high pressure because it makes the mask move slightly more and that wakes me up even more.
Any feed back will be greatly appreciated as I feel the "specialists" are just not getting it right and I am over feeling like a zombie everyday.
Thanks in advance
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - C0mbe - 03-05-2017
Welcome to apnea Board! There are a lot of amazing people here, and I'm sure If there is anyway to help optimize your therapy, it can be done here. The first thing to do is to download sleepyhead from the link in the menu above.
Once you have that, post an image of a night or two and it will inform the direction from there! You should us an image service such as imgur to post, as attachments are limited in size.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - OpalRose - 03-05-2017
Sleepygirl84,
You will need 4 posts to upload your data here.
Use the tutorials in my signature line to organize graphs.
Never fear, someone here will be able to advise once we see what's going on.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - DeepBreathing - 03-05-2017
G'day Sleepygirl. Welcome to Apnea Board.
Setting a newbie on a fixed pressure of 20 is setting you up to fail. If you do need such a high pressure then there should be a gradual build-up to it, not just throwing you in.
If you haven't already done so, get hold of a copy of your sleep trial report. From this report, you need to determine a number of things:
1) AHI,
b) Obstructive apnea index (OI or OAI),
c) Hypopnea Index (HI) and
d) Central apnea index (CI or CAI).
The AHI (which you've already told us is 55) is the sum of the other indices. ie AHI = HI + OI + CI It's important to know if your non-treated apnea is obstructive, central or a mixture.
Next, from the screen on your machine, see if you can find the same information. Let us have those details and the results of the sleep test.
Next, obtain a copy of the clinician manual for your machine. You can get it here at Apnea Boardby going to this page http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pressure/change-cpap-pressure-settings-adjusting-your-machine-with-a-clinician-setup-manual Make sure you know exactly which model Dreamstation you have and order the correct manual.
And finally, download and install #SleepyHead and let us see the carts from a couple of nights' use. The instructions for formatting the charts are in OpalRoses's signature above.
I'm sure with all the data to hand we'll be able to come up with a better solution for you.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Sleeprider - 03-05-2017
Hey Sleepygirl84. Why not return to the pressure setting that gave you the best results previously. Try to get a good night sleep, and we can look at this more closely once we can consider your data. You would not be the first person we have seen here, that needs to limit their pressure. The therapy makes no sense if you can't sleep with it. I'm sure we can find a balance for you. Take a look at your Sleepyhead statistics, and look at the perscription history. Just go back to the one with the best results. We can talk in the morning after you hopefully sleep better.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Beej - 03-06-2017
With obstructive apnea, it may be helpful to test the following ideas to see if they might work for you if you are not already doing them.
1) Sleeping on your side, rather than sleeping on your back. For those with obstructive events, this can reduce them considerably. (Mine dropped as low as 1/8 the number as lying on my back).
2) Prevent your chin from bending towards your chest, as that puts a kink in the airway. Some folks find that a small pillow under the chin, or a cervical collar may help with that.
Of course, everyone is different, so your mileage may vary with these ideas.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Sleepygirl84 - 03-06-2017
Thanks everyone for being so quick to respond.
I unfortunately don't have internet at home so I am trying to do this this whilst at work when I can.
I went to upload my data last night, but it looks like lady I see for my results has forgot to put my memory card back in
I wont be able to get the results until mid next week now.
I will upload it all as soon as I can.
Thanks all again for offering the help and hopefully I can get to the bottom of it with the results.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Sleeprider - 03-06-2017
Your machine has data on the info screen related to AHI and CA events and pressure. Also, it would help to know what model Dreamstation you have. The one with a model 200 in it is the CPAP Plus, the 400 is the CPAP Pro and the 500 is the auto CPAP.
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Sleepygirl84 - 03-07-2017
Hi everyone.
I was able to get a hold of my first sleep test that was done to tell me if I had sleep apnea. This is without the use of cpap.
Central arena = 0
Obstructive apnea = 59.2 on supine, 26.3 for other and 42.3 for all
Hypopnea = 7.6 on supine, 22.3 for other and 15.2 for all
Apena and hypopnea = 66.8 for supine, 48.6 for other and 57.4 for all.
Total AHI was 54.1
Longest apnea was 52 seconds
Longest hypopnea was 60 seconds
This was all under NREM sleep
Does this help at all?
RE: Pressure keeps going up but higher AHI?! - Sleepygirl84 - 03-07-2017
My machine is the dreamstation auto cpap
J154296211D56
Does this help?