RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
Hi - Yes - the graphs do look blacked out like that. Strange. I can see the light blue marks, which indicate clusters of OSAs.
On a good night, my 90% pressure is 6.5. I've seen it go as high as 12.5. Maybe I'll ask the doctor to increase it. Although - seems like I've seen a manual on this forum that would tell me how to increase the pressure on my own? If anyone has that link, I'd appreciate it.
Again - thanks for all your assistance! Jane
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
(09-19-2016, 10:09 AM)JaneAM Wrote: Hi - Yes - the graphs do look blacked out like that. Strange. I can see the light blue marks, which indicate clusters of OSAs.
On a good night, my 90% pressure is 6.5. I've seen it go as high as 12.5. Maybe I'll ask the doctor to increase it. Although - seems like I've seen a manual on this forum that would tell me how to increase the pressure on my own? If anyone has that link, I'd appreciate it.
Again - thanks for all your assistance! Jane
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
Your dream station should have shipped with two manuals. One is the whole overview thing, what the buttons do, what the settings are etc. it's about six or so pages long. There should also be a smaller manual which tells you how to access the clinicians menu. This will tell you how to adjust your clinical settings.
If you don't have that (I'd be surprised if you didn't as I have the previous model which came with those clinicians instructions) there are a couple of good YouTube clips which show you how to do it.
Good luck with making the changes. Don't worry now about maximum pressure as it doesn't matter how high you set it. Getting your minimum pressure right is the key.
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
So if my 30 day average 90% pressure is 10.5, I should set my minimum at 10? Am I understanding this right? I did recently increase my minimum to 9.5 but saw no difference from where it was now an before, 9. But maybe I should try for a longer period. My ahi average is around 2, mostly comprised of hypopneas. My OA's are almost non existent.
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
(09-20-2016, 02:46 PM)hegel Wrote: So if my 30 day average 90% pressure is 10.5, I should set my minimum at 10? Am I understanding this right? I did recently increase my minimum to 9.5 but saw no difference from where it was now an before, 9. But maybe I should try for a longer period. My ahi average is around 2, mostly comprised of hypopneas. My OA's are almost non existent.
You are probably at the stage where you are trying to refine your treatment so playing around with minimum pressure by a half or whole point then trying it out for a few weeks will help you to hopefully find that sweet spot. You can also experiment with EPR to see if that will also make a difference.
One thought, how many of those hypopneas appear at the beginning and end of your nights sleep?
09-21-2016, 07:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-21-2016, 07:24 PM by hegel.)
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
My hypopneas occur throughout the night. I just reviewed the last week, and they seem typical for me, and not that bad: about 1.5. Still, they always make up the bulk of my ahi total.
Maybe they skew slightly towards the start and the end of the night.
sometimes I can become a little annoyed when I wake up and check my machine. Sometimes I have a higher ahi than usual, but my 90% reading will be at 10. Shouldn't my machine be responding better?
And so my dilemma: if my 90% average is 10.5, and I set my minimum at 10, aren't I essentially running at constant pressure? And is this a bad thing?
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
Hegel, when we suggest setting the minimum pressure equal to the mean/median pressure, we are usually looking at people that have more than a 2.0 pressure spread. I'm not sure if you would benefit from a higher maximum pressure, but having your minimum at 2.0 less than the maximum is fine, and you should not be worried about setting it at the mean. If you were at 6-11, then I think the advise would be different. The reason to keep minimum pressure within 2-3 of your 90% is to help the machine respond faster in those therapeutically important pressures.
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
thanks Sleeprider. A point of clarification: my signature says that my maximum is 11; what I meant was, my machine almost never records over 11 at 90% pressure; my actual maximum setting is 20, I think. My machine can go much higher than 11.
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
Thanks for the clarification. If your minimum pressure is within 2.0 cm of your max, you are done. How does it seem to be working?
09-21-2016, 09:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-21-2016, 09:31 PM by hegel.)
RE: Big variations in nightly AHI numbers
Actually I'm happy. I feel rested, as long as other, normal sleep issues allow me to get a good nights sleep. I started sleeping on my back and side, with a wedge pillow, and my ahi may have creeped up a tad because of that. My 30 day average is under 2; I'm chasing lower but maybe it's not that important. My ahi goes up a bit when I have deep rem nights--but that means I'm sleeping well! Rarely above 2. Plus my numbers are very very consistent. I feel lucky.
I didn't know the 'minimum being within 2cm of the maximum' rule. It makes sense. I'm right there.