1 month update - lowering my AHI

[csrivats]

hi all

Its been exactly 1 month since i started using the cpap machine and the results have been decent.

I no longer suffer from that horrible fatigue yet i still dont feel fully refreshed although i know i sleep better than i did before.

My AHI before I started the CPAP was 25.6 (as determined during my sleep study) and its now reduced to about 14.

Is a low AHI vital in order for me to get that well rested,dream sleep?

I have a followup consultation with the london sleep centre next week.

Any help/thoughts greatfully accepted.

[Fredxx]

AHI and restful sleep

what is restful sleep...

When we sleep, we go thorough a series of phases of sleep. Depending on who you believe there are 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 phases in each cycle, but that doesn't really matter...

A cycle of sleep takes normally between 90 and 110 minutes, during which we go from a shallow sleep for the first 10 - 15 minutes, then through deeper sleep, REM and dreams before coming back to shallow sleep.

To get really restful sleep you need to go completely through a number of these cycles during the night... how many varies by the person.

When you have an apnoea event and stop breathing you body goes into a suffocation and panic mode to rouse you from your sleep to the point where you breathe again...this doesn't mean you wake up completely, but it does mean you come at least out to the shallow sleep part of the cycle.

The AHI is the average number of event per hour you suffered during the time you were be monitored, so at 14 you are only going an average of 4 minutes between events. The likelihood is that those events tend to come in clusters rather than every 4 minutes, and from anecdotal stuff, they tend to get more concentrated later in the night than at the start, but even at 14 you are unlikely to be getting through many, if any, full sleep cycles during the night, so never getting truly rested.

The holy grail of CPAP is to get your AHI as close to 0 as possible, but with 1 or 2 as a real success, but anything under 5 is classed as pretty damned good. I would suggest that at 14 there is room for adjusting the therapy to get it better.

Ultimately the real measure is how you feel though. ON this forum you will find the stat chasers tweaking to get every last improvement in AHI they can, and those like me who judge the success of their therapy as being how they feel during the day.

One final bit though...I will now probably be told all the bits where I got the numbers wrong! lol I only claim to be an experienced hosehead, not an expert.

[symmit]

Fredxx puts it well.

Are you in control of your own therapy or is your clinic managing it? 14 is a big improvement over 25 though - but if CPAP is the right answer for you it should be easy to get it down to below 5 most nights, and on some nights below 1.

Your clinic should look at the stats from the machine and make an adjustment - keep plugging away at it and it'll all come clear one day!

[csrivats]

thanks a lot - very useful information...
Currently I am just using the machine as I bought it..
I have my first follow up appointment with the sleep clinic next friday.
What sort of adjustments should i expect or ask for in order to get the AHI lower?
Many thanks once again...

[Sparticus]

thanks a lot - very useful information...
Currently I am just using the machine as I bought it..
I have my first follow up appointment with the sleep clinic next friday.
What sort of adjustments should i expect or ask for in order to get the AHI lower?
Many thanks once again...

take your machine in and see if they can adjust it if it needs it