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Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
#1
Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
I use a ResMed AirSense 10, full mask and set to fix at 13 cm (told by my doctor). For the past year I recorded the AHI would fluctuate between 6 to 13. According to Sleephead this 'AHI higher than 10' is "horrible, please consult your doctor". Instead my doctor told me that everything is fine. I myself feel OK and no problem. I would appreciate it if someone can tell me why I should try everything possible to achieve to have AHI to become less than 5. Thank you.
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#2
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Hi Tony, glad you came to this forum, you will find help here if you dig in, share and participate. AHI<5 is widely accepted as the standard of acceptable treatment. How you feel is also important and the main thing for all of us that live with sleep apnea is to be proactive in dealing with our individual treatment, ain't nobody that will do it any better than you. Dig into the forum, download SleepyHead collect and post some data, then lots of people here can then help you with your treatment. Several of the more active members include with their posts the links you need to set up and start using SleepyHead. It will pay off.

Good luck and keep us posted,

Stan
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#3
RE: Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
Get the free #Sleepyhead software. AHI of 5-13 is certainly fine for your doctor since it isn't him. Very few people on the forum find that level of events acceptable. If it can be better, why not solve the problem. I agree that being comfortable and rested is the goal, and it's good that you have accomplished that with your current event rate. If we knew what was happening, it probably would not take much of an adjustment to clean it up.
Sleeprider
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#4
RE: Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
(04-15-2017, 10:04 PM)Sleeprider Wrote: Get the free [url=http://OSCAR Official Download Page ----> CLICK HERE ./]SleepyHead[/url] software.  AHI of 5-13 is certainly fine for your doctor since it isn't him.  Very few people on the forum find that level of events acceptable.  If it can be better, why not solve the problem.  I agree that being comfortable and rested is the goal, and it's good that you have accomplished that with your current event rate.  If we knew what was happening, it probably would not take much of an adjustment to clean it up.

+1
The main reason for our not being able to get your AHI perhaps significantly below 5 is if you need another type of machine to do so, and we can help you prove that.

Well stated and you beat me to it.
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#5
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(04-15-2017, 07:45 PM)stanleydean Wrote: Hi Tony, glad you came to this forum, you will find help here if you dig in, share and participate. AHI<5 is widely accepted as the standard of acceptable treatment. How you feel is also important and the main thing for all of us that live with sleep apnea is to be proactive in dealing with our individual treatment, ain't nobody that will do it any better than you. Dig into the forum, download SleepyHead collect and post some data, then lots of people here can then help you with your treatment. Several of the more active members include with their posts the links you need to set up and start using SleepyHead. It will pay off.

Good luck and keep us posted,

Stan

Thank you, Stan.

I think I just live with this AHI between 6 to 13....
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#6
RE: Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
Hi again Tony, looking back at your initial post it appears that you are already using SleepyHead to some extent. If that is the case please go ahead and post some data. You really shouldn't settle for living with the current situation. Just take a little more time and help yourself a lot.
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#7
RE: Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
Would you do the same if you had diabetes? Would you "settle" for an out of range blood glucose reading even though you "feel okay"?

I would hope you would not.

It is obvious your treatment pressure is not set correctly. I am appalled your doctor does not agree. I would get another doctor just as I would if my GP said my A1c of 8 was "just fine".
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#8
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
It seems you had some doubt and wanted the reassurance that you doctor was right.
It is a bit confronting to consider doing your own adjustment. I would seek another medical opinion, I would post the charts from sleepyhead and get some feed back.
You don't have to adjust your own machine. But I would find out why my AHI is high.
mask fit http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ask_Primer
For auto-cpap, from machine data or software. You can set the min pressure 1 or 2cm below 95%. Or clinicians commonly use the maximum or 95% pressure for fixed pressure CPAP, this can also be used for min pressure.
https://aasm.org/resources/practiceparam...rating.pdf
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#9
RE: Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
(04-15-2017, 04:58 PM)tony201188 Wrote: I use a ResMed AirSense 10, full mask and set to fix at 13 cm (told by my doctor). For the past year I recorded the AHI would fluctuate between 6 to 13. According to Sleephead this 'AHI higher than 10' is "horrible, please consult your doctor". Instead my doctor told me that everything is fine. I myself feel OK and no problem. I would appreciate it if someone can tell me why I should try everything possible to achieve to have AHI to become less than 5. Thank you.

I apologize in advance, but it's things like this that I'll never understand. Why would you say "I would appreciate it if someone can tell me why I should try everything possible to achieve to have AHI to become less than 5." Then have a bunch of people tell you why only to say "You'll just live with it"?? 

The difference between 0-5 AHI and 5-13 AHI could literally be 5, 10 or 15 more years that you could be alive..... Why would you turn down FREE help?

I mean I could understand if you were a car guy and you said "Hey can you guys tell me how to shave 1 second off my 8 second car?" and we said "We can but it'll likely cost $15,000." and you said "I'll just live with it." But all that was asked was to see your charts and tweak just a bit to get you to 5. No costs, no harm, no foul. Easy peasy. But you'd rather "Just live with it?" Why? Because you're lazy? Because it's too hard to provide some data? Really, I'd love to know why. So many people here take the time out of their lives to help people, and some people choose to just waste their time. It really burns my butt.

In the age of information, ignorance is a choice. Those that choose to remain ignorant deserve no sympathy.

As an anecdotal side note when I came here they got my AHI down below 5 in under a month. And I'd like to once again thank all of you who helped me.
If everyone thinks alike, then someone isn't thinking.
Everyone knows something, together we could know everything.
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#10
RE: Does AHI need to be below 5.0?
You may think you feel good... but perhaps you can feel even better (with a lower AHI).

Your dr may think it's fine that you stop breathing 13 times each hour while you sleep, but your organs may disagree.
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