Feeling better versus better AHI goal?
I was issued a Dreamstation a few weeks ago, apparently on fixed 9 cm PAP setting, as determined by sleep study with tentative use of C-PAP.
Going by what the Dreamstation is displaying, AHI and Periodic Breathing numbers were .5 and 1% respectively. But I did not feel that great and it took me a while to get myself together in the morning.
(I know, still no Sleepyhead data... I goofed my first import, and set the project aside.)
Yesterday, I decided to try setting the amchine to AutoPAP mode.
AHI rose to 2.5 and so did Periodic Breathing, 2%, but I felt better in the morning.
- should I believe the DS numbers?
- more importantly, is feeling better trumping the more negative stats?
RE: Feeling better versus better AHI goal?
I approach it as 2 phases, the first phase is to get the apnea under control, to me this means under the medically accepted value of AHI of 5 or as reasonably close as we can get so MOSTLY about the numbers.
The second phase is fine tuning with a concentration on feeling good, getting the rest you need and dealing with all those nuisance things that bother us and our sleeping, daytime sleepiness, etc. You will spend far more time in this phase than the first.
Fred
RE: Feeling better versus better AHI goal?
For myself, I'll take feeling better over good AHI numbers any day.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Feeling better versus better AHI goal?
Thanks for the useful comments.
By the way, the very hectic (to me) night at sleep study came up with a baseline AHI of 19, so at 2.5 under "auto" therapy, I made progress.
10-01-2018, 12:04 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-01-2018, 12:05 AM by ardenum.)
RE: Feeling better versus better AHI goal?
Neither, RAW EEG data.
Without it you don't really know whats going on when you sleep. Feeling 'worse' in the morning might just be because you got a better quality sleep and your blood pressure dropped lower then you are accustomed to.
You gotta see if your cognitive performance improved or not. Check your symptoms, are you getting less sleepy less often during the day? etc.
At the end of the day though, all we want from our health is to feel good.
RE: Feeling better versus better AHI goal?
With regard to "feeling good", would a casual home blood pressure and oxygen level be done, with consumer-level equipment or electronics?
As Crowtor points out above, I may be off on my reading of how good I feel, with one mode over another.
