AHI Accuracy from Brand to Brand

[Rcgop]

I have to chime in here. My AHI is consistantly below 1 and leaks are well under control AND sleep is good. 

My problem is: I wake up after every sleep cycle. (60 - 120 minutes) I have often wondered if the aggressiveness of the S10 can be to blame. 

I do better with a narrow pressure range.

[Walla Walla]

I don't think you can blame the S10. You have options to choice from. You could try the soft mode or even put it in fix mode and see if that solves the problem.

[Rcgop]

I don't think you can blame the S10. You have options to choice from. You could try the soft mode or even put it in fix mode and see if that solves the problem.

Don't have the soft mode yet. And I'm taking the fixed mode path. Slowly narrowing the range to get the best fixed pressure. 

As my sig says: I have found the poppies but I am not home yet.

[Sleep2Snore]

I have to chime in here. My AHI is consistantly below 1 and leaks are well under control AND sleep is good. 

My problem is: I wake up after every sleep cycle. (60 - 120 minutes) I have often wondered if the aggressiveness of the S10 can be to blame. 

I do better with a narrow pressure range.

Having to big a pressure change can disturb the user i.e. if the lower pressure is 6 and your machine goes up to 16 under normal use, this jump can disturb you when the machine kicks in and raises in pressure quickly responding to an event.  The closer the two numbers are, usually it is better for the user as the machine pressure will rise less and less of a disturbance to the user.

I have 11 low and the machine though max is 20 it has never gone above 13 and usually sits around 12.6.
I found that if I left it at 10 it would disturb me as it would jump up in pressure quickly.  Most of the time I didn't waken, but the wife said I did move when it did this, so I put it up from 10 to 11, you wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it appeared to.  Now when it changes pressure, she says she can tell by the sound (she must have good hearing as I can't tell) I don't move and just keep on breathing, or start breathing again if I stopped or slowed down breathing.

The machines all strive to do the same, but there is slight differences, one thing Philips dose is probe the pressure in spikes to see if this will get a better result of if you have a central bring you out of it.  ResMed machines don't really do this, they maintain the last pressure until you breathe again (they do make very slight ripples in the pressure) so not every machine is the same.
They are all more or less doing the same thing, trying to keep your airways clear.  There is going to be slight differences in the software, but it is not going to be huge, so you will get changes in AHI from machine to machine.
Most will get lower readings from ResMed machines, they do respond slightly quicker, but it is not by big margins.
How the machines access you AHIs Centrals etc is another thing, but I am not going there.

With other more sophisticated machines, it get a bit more complicated.
As for AHI, the lowest reading might not be where you feel at your bast, I found that 0,0 was not where I feel best, it is at 0.1 or 0.2.
However, I do not like to see the 0.1 central I got last night.  It has been absent since a after I got the machine.

Have I digressed again?  Probably, I keep doing that!

[Phill]

From what I have been reading here, I have to wonder what reliance can be placed on many of the results we get from the home sleep tests we are put on.

In my own case, comparing the symptoms described by many on this board with my own, I see little comparison, yet a sleep test indicated I had serious Apnea.

Then again we come back to the statement by a number of people that their AHI is worse when they back sleep, and the home sleep test I had more or less forced me to sleep on my back.

[Sleep2Snore]

From what I have been reading here, I have to wonder what reliance can be placed on many of the results we get from the home sleep tests we are put on.

In my own case, comparing the symptoms described by many on this board with my own, I see little comparison, yet a sleep test indicated I had serious Apnea.

Then again we come back to the statement by a number of people that their AHI is worse when they back sleep, and the home sleep test I had more or less forced me to sleep on my back.

Best to get the worst result, most people will sleep on their back at some point during the night.
It is true that most get a worse result when they sleep on their back, including me.  That is why I roll over onto my side of I waked and I am sleeping on my back.  This is where the APAP comes into it own, adjusting pressure as needed.  I sure need more if I sleep on my back.

In a sleep test it is best to get the worst results, this way they know what pressure you will need to keep your airways open.
Not quite so important with an APAP, but it does matter more with a fixed pressure CPAP.

[DaveY]

Ron,

I am from Alberta too. I noticed that the online place you ordered from price matches other Canadian online dealers. Papsmart appears to be cheaper...might be worth it to try for a PM since its on your dime. Good luck. Let us know how it goes...i may be ordering a backup soon.

Dave

[Ron AKA]

I am from Alberta too. I noticed that the online place you ordered from price matches other Canadian online dealers. Papsmart appears to be cheaper...might be worth it to try for a PM since its on your dime. Good luck. Let us know how it goes...i may be ordering a backup soon.

Thanks Dave. I sent you a PM. I think it is worth checking to see if Papsmart is really a Canadian company and are not just quoting Canadian prices and shipping from the US. If they are doing that, you can get hit with some unexpected duty and brokerage fees that can be significant. Bin there don that with some other items... I don't think I can ask for a price match now, as I have already placed my order.

[Ron AKA]

As you say the machine setups are essentially the same, could there be any harm in swapping machines for a couple of nights and comparing the readings?

OK, the question has been answered. I switched machines with my wife last night. She used the F&P SleepStyle and I used her Resmed S9. I changed the settings in each so they would match as closely as possible to what each of us was using. My wife gets AHI readings up around but usually under 1.0. Last night with the F&P she got the lowest reading I recall her ever getting, 0.2, on 8.5 hours of sleep. I got 2.9 on the S9, with my previous two readings on the F&P being 2.7 and 2.8. In other words for all practical purposes I got the same AHI with both machines. My wife's appears to have improved a bit more than I would have expected. So if anything, it seems the F&P machine may be a bit more optimistic in the readings. But the unavoidable conclusion is that the large difference in the results we are getting is my problem, not a problem with the machine. And now that I look at the SleepyHead data the reason is obvious. The majority of my events are CA's not OA's, and as I understand it with some quick research CPAP therapy does not reduce CA's, and may even increase them. My sleep study results indicated a CA index of 0.4 per hour. Last night the CA index was 1.5. I guess not high by most standards, but frankly a bit concerning. I will have to do more research on it, and will probably post again looking for help. I've included a couple of screen shots as attachments of my results from last night.

[Gideon]

You ca decrease your EPR from 3 to 1 and see what happens. Sometimes CA is caused by pressure changes. BUT, at this time you do not have an issue with CA events, at least numerically. With your numbers your focus needs to be on how you feel.

Your AHI and CA events should be watched. Look at an AHI of 5 (in your case) for several days as a point to revisit your numbers and the balance of OA and CA events.

How do you feel? Are you sleeping thru the night or are you waking up or disturbed several times a night? A better point to take action on, do not chase numbers!

Fred