Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
Hi everyone,
First post on the forum. Glad I found this place. I started with treatment about a month ago. The past two weeks of sleep have not been good. I look at my AHI, and I see nothing wrong. When I see the OSCAR graphs, they tell a different story, which I can't decipher. My uninformed guess is high leakage rates. Any thoughts as to what is going on? I have a week's worth of graphs in a drop box that I can't quite link due to being a new member. I can attach the last three nights' graphs to the post.
I have graphical data dating back to 1-30-23 if that would be helpful for anyone to see.
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
I would GUESS it has to do with flow limits but you have not included the flow limits chart. Take a look at it your self - IF you have quite a few flow limits try EPR setting to full time and to 3 pressure.
Give it a try and post again being sure you have the flow limits chart. You can make each chart smaller by clicking on the bottom line in the chart and drag it up (keeping the button clicked) or bigger by clinking on the bottom line and dragging it down.
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
If we look at the Statistics panel on the left, we see that 95% Flow Limits are 0.06, 0.09, and 0.10. The consensus of the the board experts is 'less than 0.10 is acceptable, and less that 0.05 is better'.
So the suggest to increase EPR to 3 Full Time has merit, and you could experiment with turn off the Ramp.
Apnea Board Monitors are members who help oversee the smooth functioning of the Board. They are also members of the Advisory Committee which helps shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
02-17-2023, 09:50 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-17-2023, 09:58 AM by User6969.)
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
Do flow limits have a direct correlation to pressure settings and leakage rate? If there is no leakage detected, would that indicate the flow limit problem is related to the min and max pressure settings I have set?
I meant to quote staceyburke's response with the above reply.
02-17-2023, 09:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-17-2023, 09:59 AM by User6969.)
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
It appears the inverse has happened to me. By increasing the EPR level, I have increased the flow limit percentage...
I meant to quote pholynyk's response with the above reply.
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
Not sure what others will say but I would guess that you really don't have a good sample yet. I would run the setting change for several days before making a determination. Just an observation.
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
The ResMed machine increases pressure when you have flow limits. Look at the pressure going up when you have flow limits. It does go up on all 3 days you posted.
ResMed 10 can only go to 3 and I would suggest you set it to 3.
There is a ResMed aircurve that can go much higher but it costs more by quite a bit.
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
1. If you increase the EPR, you should also increase min pressure by the same amount
2. Looks like your max pressure is low, because you seem to be maxing out quite a lot. Hope one of the experts on this forum will be able to give you a more concrete suggestion
02-23-2023, 01:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-23-2023, 01:15 PM by User6969.)
RE: Low AHI, poor sleep quality - what's wrong?
(02-17-2023, 04:36 PM)staceyburke Wrote: The ResMed machine increases pressure when you have flow limits. Look at the pressure going up when you have flow limits. It does go up on all 3 days you posted.
ResMed 10 can only go to 3 and I would suggest you set it to 3.
There is a ResMed aircurve that can go much higher but it costs more by quite a bit.
Thank you for the suggestion. That makes sense. The machine demands higher pressure, but the max limit is not set high enough to accommodate the demand, thus resulting in flow limitations.
(02-17-2023, 09:54 AM)User6969 Wrote: It appears the inverse has happened to me. By increasing the EPR level, I have increased the flow limit percentage...
I meant to quote pholynyk's response with the above reply.
Fair point. I set the min to 10, the max to 15, and the EPR to 3 on 2/19. Waiting until next week to post the graphs to see if I can notice any trends.
(02-17-2023, 11:02 AM)TexasDon Wrote: Not sure what others will say but I would guess that you really don't have a good sample yet. I would run the setting change for several days before making a determination. Just an observation.
Fair point. I set the min to 10, the max to 15, and the EPR to 3 on 2/19. Waiting until next week to post the graphs to see if I can notice any trends.
|
