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+--- Thread: Does your AHI vary when you change masks? (/Thread-Does-your-AHI-vary-when-you-change-masks)
Does your AHI vary when you change masks? - old dude - 09-03-2013
Often if I've been using a particular FFM for a while but then change abruptly to a different FFM to give my nose a rest for a few nights, I'll get an uptick in AHI readings-say from around 2.0 to as much as 4.0. The variation is always upward-never down. After a couple of nights it seems that I acclimate to the new mask and my AHI levels return to normal for me.
No other variables of (of which I'm aware) will have changed, and even leak levels usually remain the same across different masks.
Is this likely actually due to changing masks, or is it just a fluke that I should ignore? And as long as my AHI is under 5.0 do I need to worry about the difference between a 1 and a 5 in the first place?
It's hard not to "chase" better numbers...
RE: Does your AHI vary when you change masks? - PaulaO2 - 09-03-2013
Yes, it can change. At least mine does.
My theory is it is different so we sleep different. Maybe it is not as comfortable so we don't sleep well or we sleep in a different position. Or it is more comfortable so we sleep deeper which equals more relaxed which equals higher AHI.
And it is very hard to not chase the numbers! I want to tweak all I can to squeeze out the best I can get.
In this case, though, forget the AHI and concentrate on how you feel. If you feel the same, then move along, nothing to tweak here. But if you feel worse (or better), then you will want to look into the why.