Diagnosed with mild sleep apnea AHI 6.1

[rain135]

    Hello,

I was recently diagnosed with mild sleep apnea based on a home sleep study.  The sleep study had a strap around my chest, a nasal cannula, and a pulse ox monitor.  My AHI was listed as 6.1.  I will attach a copy of the results.  

My symptoms include feeling sleepy during the day, unrefreshing sleep, low mood, and concentration issues.  I also grind my teeth while sleeping and need a lot of sleep to feel relatively normal.  I need to sleep around 10 hours to feel rested.  I am usually in bed for 11 hours each night to achieve this. 

I don't fall asleep during any of the activities on the sleepiness scale, but I will feel very tired during many of them. 

My sleep specialist did a call follow up and very quickly ran through the options of a mandibular device, position changes, and then moved quickly to CPAP. I felt rushed and like she didn't explain things very well.

Since my AHI is only 6.1, which from my understanding is extremely mild, is it even worth it to go through trying CPAP?  
Has anyone here had such a low AHI, tried CPAP, and felt better? 

My head is spinning with all of the information out there.  I wish my doc would have been better at walking me through all of this.

Thank you in advance for any help you can send my way!

[OpalRose]

Yes, you have mild sleep apnea, mostly Obstructives.  Mild or not, you are still being strangled 6.1 times an hour.

The sleep study suggests that most of your apneas occurred while sleeping supine.  Are you able to sleep on your side?   If you do decide to try Cpap, and until you receive a machine, try to stay off your back as much as possible.

Here's a guide to help you understand the types of machines out there.  If you do decide on Cpap therapy, it's to your benefit to choose a fully data capable Apap machine, preferably the ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ne_choices

[weiss27md]

My AHI is low too, 5.5 with an at home study 4 months ago. I'm doing another at home study tonight since I had nasal surgery 3 months ago. I also have bruxism like you. Do you have reflux, nasal congestion, or any other issues? In the meantime till you get treatment I notice sleeping on side is better but hard to stay on side. I'll sleep on the couch just to stay better on my side. I also not eating late helps. The one night I didn't eat within 5 hours of bed was one of my best nights sleep.