Do I still need to use my CPAP?

[kderevan]

I've been happily using APAP machine for several years--what a difference to be able to get a good night's sleep finally. When I did my sleep study, as soon as the mask was on, I went right to sleep, and at home, same thing. There was no adjustment problem--I took to it right away.

So, now. I've lost a lot of of weight over the last year. My sleep reports from Oscar now show my events per hour at 1 or below most nights. Occasionally I take the mask off in my sleep, and my husband says I don't snore at all when the mask is off, and I'm wondering if I still need the CPAP treatment. Would a home test be enough to let me know? I'm happy to keep using my CPAP--I consider it literally a life-saver--but I'd like to know if the weight loss has cured my apnea. Preferably without doing a full-on sleep study at a clinic.

[SarcasticDave94]

OSCAR is showing treated numbers that are Apnea levels influenced by the CPAP. Remove CPAP therapy and it goes up, but to what we're not sure.

A home test may be somewhat useful, better is the lab sleep study.

A teaching moment, CPAP therapy won't build up and after an accumulated amount have cured Apnea. It's a treatable issue only. Weight loss can lower the AHI but likely will not free you from the CPAP. However that's what the test will show, how much it changed.

Example from myself, at 265 lbs, my AHI was 74 mostly Central Apnea. After bariatric sleeve surgery the AHI dropped to 35. I'm still needing Apnea therapy.

[G. Szabo]

The low AHI number while using your APAP machine only means that your therapy is successful. If you want to better understand your therapy needs, you should look at the APAP's pressure range, within which you achieved about 1 AHI. If it is within the minimum pressure range of your device, you might have a chance to get rid of the instrument.

What do you expect from the sleep study? It will probably tell you that you have mild or moderate apnea. It will be up to you to make a choice. Currently, a lower than five AHI number is OK from the perspective of official recommendations. So, if you are below five without the machine, you might not be officially considered a CPAP applicant. However, many of our members feel exhausted around AHI 5. So, the decision will boil down to your personal preferences, feelings, and comfort. 

You can try not to use your instrument for a few days and consider your mental state, energy, and feelings.

[BoxcarPete]

A home sleep test isn't terribly expensive, so if it's worthwhile to you to invest a couple hundred bucks to answer your question, talk to your regular doctor about getting one done. Make sure they give you an estimate before agreeing though, because sometimes they do the outrageous insurance billing thing and it doesn't get knocked down far enough. If it's fixing to be more than a couple hundred bucks just get a medical letter of necessity and once you have that you can shop around.

My wife also reports that I don't snore nearly as much after my nose rebuild and I'm awaiting my results from a home test as we speak.