Chasing numbers and how do you feel.

[ShaunBlake]

I got called normal! AHI numbers under 5!

er... "Sorry, Charlie" Dave, that's a different kind of normal they're talking about.

Back on topic, I've just had the experience we seek: waking feeling rested, ready to jump outta bed, hit the ground running, and slay dragons. That is the experience I had ~30 years ago when I first was treated -- and it took a few weeks, but I experienced benefits very soon after beginning treatment.

Now it's taken over two months, and I was not certain that I would ever feel like a 30-something guy ever again. So I've had a couple of good days, and I know that I'll have some rough ones as well. Bottom line, the research shows that PAP is effective and my experiences prove that it's so for me. However I feel (and I do whine about it), I am fully cognizant that I am better than I would be if untreated.

[JesseLee]

I got called normal! AHI numbers under 5!

er... "Sorry, Charlie" Dave, that's a different kind of normal they're talking about.

Back on topic, I've just had the experience we seek: waking feeling rested, ready to jump outta bed, hit the ground running, and slay dragons. That is the experience I had ~30 years ago when I first was treated -- and it took a few weeks, but I experienced benefits very soon after beginning treatment.

Now it's taken over two months, and I was not certain that I would ever feel like a 30-something guy ever again. So I've had a couple of good days, and I know that I'll have some rough ones as well. Bottom line, the research shows that PAP is effective and my experiences prove that it's so for me. However I feel (and I do whine about it), I am fully cognizant that I am better than I would be if untreated.

Shaun,

I'm glad you are feeling better man! If we can get you closer to normal we would....nah, not gonna happen with you buddy. Sorry.

Anyhow, have you noticed any correlation between how you feel and ODI or baseline O2? I'd like to imagine you are treated well and see good AHI and hence low ODI, but have you noticed baseline fluctuations and made a connection to how you feel?

[SarcasticDave94]

FWIW I'm thankful I got below an AHI under 5. Reflecting on how bad my apnea therapy began, it morphed into a great thing. Being informed makes a huge difference.

Again, for me under a 5 for AHI overnight means I'll expect to be doing well comparatively that day. Since my 3 month trend is to always be below 5, I'm slowly getting better every day regarding apnea treatment and regarding sleep deficit. To get myself below 5, most nights are below 2, there are some zeros included as well.

[Timur]

As sleep apnea patients we are under a little more stress. Our routine is not as easy as just putting our head on the pillow and shutting our eyes. We work at getting a thorough nights rest so that we can feel better the next day. We practice and experiment to a degree to keep feeling better. The end result is that we consistently sleep well this week, next month, and the rest of the years that follow.

We know what the consequences are if we don't follow this regimen of therapy. Along with the complications that most of us endure, it is absolutely vital that we try to nail down some numbers that we need to get to feeling more normal. But we need not add more stress, especially right away, in getting close to 0.0 AHI.

I so agree with this. 

In my case at one point I was prepared to do  anything to control and contain this "disease" including trashing my sleep thoroughly for a few months in my pursuit of ever lower AHI by upping pressure and foregoing EPR.

I thought the goal was the lowest possible AHI. 

Now I realise the goal is the best possible sleep, comfort,  and this sometimes means somewhat higher AHI, in my case it is a trade off. So no, super low AHI is simply not that big a deal for  me anymore. 

What is a big deal is that I have to use CPAP  for the rest of my life and so it has to be as comfortable as possible to ensure that I don't rip the mask off just to get some sleep.

[Gideon]

I view apnea therapy as having 2 phases, 

Phase 1, the numbers, the easy part, get the numbers to something reasonable.  I define reasonable to the medically acceptable under 5 AHI.  Tweaking often occurs after this but the process slows down and the changes are smaller.  Once you get "Good Numbers" stop chasing.

Phase 2, comfort, you have to live with your apnea hopefully for a very, very long time.  Comfort is what will ensure that you will use a machine on a long and regular basis.  This IS the most important factor.
Occasionally a user cannot/will not tolerate the use of the machine.  In this case comfort must be the first phase addressed, to be followed by tweaking the numbers to dial in treatment

Fred