+- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area)
+--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum)
+--- Thread: Therapy Questions [high AHI, smoker, drink alcohol] (/Thread-Therapy-Questions-high-AHI-smoker-drink-alcohol)
Therapy Questions [high AHI, smoker, drink alcohol] - Tosh78 - 05-06-2018
Hello, I am new to CPAP and I'm glad to be part of this community (unfortunately
).Sorry in advance if this post should be under some different subject and if any of my questions are already explained before (then please just send me a link to that).
I have problem with snoring over 20 years, and probably last 10 years people were noticing that I stopped breathing during the night (probably it was longer than that). Last two years i started closing my eyes while driving, in the morning after "sleeping" I was still tired with severe dryness in mouth that I mumbled first 10-15 seconds and couldn't speak, was sleeping in company of friends in the caffe bar and similar... Also was breathing through mouth, but fortunately CPAP machine thought/force me to breathe through nose. Unfortunately it took me 2 years to go to the doctor.
On polysomnography (Alice Nightone) my AHI was 88 and was diagnosed with heavy apnea and started treating it at hospital with same machine I have at home, but with other nasal mask where tube is going from nose. After first night I was already feeling better during the day and in 3 nights I spend in hospital results were dropping (15, 7 and then 4.5).
I am using it 3 weeks at home and have average AHI of 4.8. My first question is can I get it under 1, or considering that my polysomnograph AHI was 88, is this very good?
I had septum deviation which was operated some 5 years ago, have gastritis, have some 40lbs more than I should, smoker and drink alcohol. I guess with all those things there is no chance I get AHI under 1
? The main thing is that I am feeling much, much better but I think could be feeling even more better with lower AHI. Did machine did its best and if I don't loose weight, quit smoking and living healthier, AHI of 5 is best machine can do?When machine records apnea which lasted under 10 seconds is that considered to be OA or HY? Sometimes there is no flat line when it is recorded and sometimes it lasts for 6-7 seconds.
A good part of my apneas show in first 15 minutes while I start to fall asleep. Sometimes half consciously I feel that I stop breathing and after that take more air (like i do when I am awake), so that doesn't count as apnea? My settings are automatic from 4-16 but maybe should be raised from starting point to 8 or something like that? It is automatic, but I don't feel that it is raising automatically in start (ramp time 5 minutes meaning pressure at start is growing by 1 every 5 minutes?)
Another problem is with mask is when I try to sleep on the side (figuring sleeping on the side will decrease my AHI) but I feel how air is going out more as pressure from laying on the side is moving mask under my nose a little bit. I never had large leaks and in these 3 weeks my average leak is 6.6 (90% is 20) and is going down week by week. I think it is atrached good, as I make it more tighter then under my nose gets little bit redness. At the moment how it is attached it jumps a little bit when I do a "test snore". Maybe if it is tighter it won't jump and I could sleep on the side without any air going out? And soreness under nose will be gone as nose will be used to it?
I also wake up with sore teeth, but I guess that is normal as 95% of the time pressure is at maximum 16.
Just to mention that when I lost my weight couple of years ago to some "ideal" weight, my wife noticed that I snore much less, so I guess when I loose weight I might be one of those lucky ones whose apnea is caused by overweight?
Thank you in advance for some advice and comments. If it is needed I can make some screen shots from Sleepy Head.
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here - VladimirTrotzskyi - 05-06-2018
(05-06-2018, 08:00 AM)Tosh78 Wrote: I am using it 3 weeks at home and have average AHI of 4.8. My first question is can I get it under 1, or considering that my polysomnograph AHI was 88, is this very good?
...
Did machine did its best and if I don't loose weight, quit smoking and living healthier, AHI of 5 is best machine can do?
You can very likely improve that 4.8 number and may be able to get it under 1. Some people really struggle getting that low, but it does happen. My AHI was way over 100 in my sleep test and I average just under 1 with CPAP.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - Sleepster - 05-06-2018
Tosh78, welcome to Apnea Board. I have moved your post here to a new thread so that people will have a better chance of seeing it and answering your questions.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - OpalRose - 05-06-2018
Tosh78,
Yes, please post a couple screenshots. Follow the links in my signature line.
We can’t promise that your AHi would go below 1, but likely can be improved. I suspect your minimum pressure of 4 is too low. It should be raised to slightly under your 95% pressure reading, depending on what Apnea events you are experiencing.
We can take a look and advise.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - Ron AKA - 05-06-2018
My wife started with an AHI of 77 and now averages just slightly under 1.0. However, it depends on the type of apnea you have. If it is obstrutive and hypopnea then you can likely make significant improvements. If it is central apnea, then it is more difficult as a CPAP does not treat central apnea very well.
I would suggest you post a SleepyHead chart of your typical night for comments.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - Sleepster - 05-06-2018
(05-06-2018, 08:00 AM)Tosh78 Wrote: I am using it 3 weeks at home and have average AHI of 4.8. My first question is can I get it under 1, or considering that my polysomnograph AHI was 88, is this very good?
Anything below 5 is considered treated for the simple reason that people with a AHI under 5 are not given CPAP machines. There is no clinically significant difference between a AHI of 1 and a AHI of 4.8.
But still, we do try to get it as low as we can. Personally, mine varies from below 1 to above 3, but usually it's between 1 and 2. All you can do is tweak settings and see what happens, but that needs to be done with great care.
Quote:When machine records apnea which lasted under 10 seconds is that considered to be OA or HY?
The flow rate has to drop below some specified percentage of the normal baseline for ten seconds to count as an event. If the drop is 30% it's a hypopnea. It has to be significantly more than that to be an apnea.
Quote:A good part of my apneas show in first 15 minutes while I start to fall asleep.
That could be your body adjusting to the therapy. It is so used to waking you up to breathe that it continues to do so even though it's not necessary.
Quote:My settings are automatic from 4-16 but maybe should be raised from starting point to 8 or something like that?
Yes, that's likely. And perhaps it should be done sooner rather than later, but we would need to see SleepyHead screenshots to be sure.
Quote:It is automatic, but I don't feel that it is raising automatically in start (ramp time 5 minutes meaning pressure at start is growing by 1 every 5 minutes?)
The ramp is a comfort feature and you can turn it off if you want.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - JesseLee - 05-06-2018
Welcome to the forum Tosh78!
It is considered normal to have an AHI of 5 or less. It is very feasible to get your AHI to 1. There have been many discussions about trying to get as low a number as possible, including 0, and it that's your goal you should aim for it.
Realistically, chasing 1 and 0 may not offer much in the way of therapeutic value other than attaining a goal. It is a general consensus to get your numbers within a normal range and consistently attain those numbers. For instance you want to get your numbers to 2-4 and keep them there for a period of time. Everyone has a bad night and its not unusual to hit 5 or 6ish, so long as you don't have a trend of the high end of normal or just outside of normal. Once in a blue moon kind of results.
After you get settled in and comfortable wearing a mask and controlling leaks, then you should see an improvement in how you feel and function. Energy levels rising and no more of the daytime iressistable naps and sleepiness, you will see the real benefit of CPAP. So feeling well is sometimes more important than chasing numbers. Getting your numbers stabilized is important none the less, getting to feeling good is the ultimate goal.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - gwc2795 - 05-06-2018
Welcome to the forum Tosh
Post sleepyhead charts so you can receive some individualised advice.
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - ClearStonePrez - 05-07-2018
Tosh - I started with an AHI of 70.
I used CPAP for about a month and I have been monitoring at home using an Oximeter that uploads the data to my Iphone every morning. It showed that I was still seeing quite a few drops in SPO2 levels every night and I did not "feel" as well as I hoped.
I changed 2 things. I got a new mask (Dream Wear) and I stopped drinking alcohol (10 days ago). Immediately I saw the best SPO2 results ever (see attachment). I'm pretty excited about things now. For me CPAP has been a starting point and I need to keep making adjustments to experience the best possible outcome.
[attachment=5726]
RE: [split] Therapy Questions - Sleeprider - 05-07-2018
Tosh, if you're still out there, just post some #Sleepyhead results. Your tooth pain is probably bruxism, and there are solutions for that. We can help you achieve the best results possible...quit smoking! Are you kidding? Smoking will kill you faster than apnea. We can deal with the alcohol, and I'll buy you a beer.
You have a good machine for treating the apnea problem, but the Resmed is better. Let's get to work.