Hi, Jorke. I don't know what kind of detail you got from your home sleep study, but one thing you might want to find out is if it divided your AHI numbers by sleep position (on your back vs. on your side or stomach) and by sleep stage (REM vs. non-REM).
Almost everyone who has sleep apnea finds that it's worse when they sleep on their back. For many people, but not for all, it's also worse during REM sleep.
If your home sleep study didn't give you this information, and you are able to do a lab sleep study with EEG, that could give you some good information.
If it turned out that your apneas are happening mostly or only when you sleep on your back AND they are not worse during REM sleep, then you might be able to avoid the need for CPAP by sleeping only on your side.
You could then get a pulse oximeter like the Contec CMS-50I to check your blood O2 levels at home just to be on the safe side. The data from that particular model can be imported into the SleepyHead software. There are other pulse oximeters that report their data to your smartphone. The type with a fingertip probe that plugs into the pulse ox itself is much more comfortable than the ones where the entire pulse oximeter attaches to your finger like a giant clothespin.
I agree with the other posters who've said that your O2 levels are more worrisome than your AHI.
When I had my diagnostic sleep study, my AHI when sleeping on my side AND in non-REM sleep was under 2. (Yay!) Unfortunately, my AHI during REM sleep was over 70, so no way for me to avoid apnea events just by sleeping on my side.
Regarding the problem of CPAP disturbing your sleep when you first start using it, it does do that for most people. It's a big desensitization process. You have to get used to the feel of the mask on your face as well as to learn how to change sleep positions without knocking the mask out of place so that it leaks.
There's also the sound of the CPAP machine itself. I think it just takes some time for your brain to decide that the machine isn't something to be alarmed about. When you reach that point, your brain will start to filter out the sound from the CPAP machine, and you'll start to notice that it sounds very quiet rather than loud like it did when you first started using it.
If you feel like you need more data before you're able to decide exactly what you need to do about the apnea events and O2 desaturations that showed up in your home sleep study, I encourage you to have a formal in-lab sleep study and maybe also to buy a pulse oximeter for home use.
What I would NOT encourage you to do is to stop using the CPAP machine because you're not sure you have sleep apnea. If you're not sure, then please try to get more data.
Welcome to Apnea Board.