Question about Pressure Levels

[donros]

readings

Hi sheffgall

Some people lose weight and come off CPAP altogether; some people lose even more weight and it makes no difference to their CPAP. Weight does not improve OSA but it is not the only reason for OSA by a long list!

Sounds like you have OSA for other reason/s.

As you had an AHI of 5 at 15cm pressure, my guess is that you actually need to increse yo0ur pressure to, maybe, 16cm, rather than drop it to 14cm.

A leaking mask is not a good reason to drop pressure. A leaking mask is a pain in the proverbial and it needs fixing - you don't just drop a cog if you blow a head gasket, after all!

What sort of mask do you use? How old is it? How old the headgear/straps and how old the cushion/seal? Do you wash it regularly and do you wash your face before bed every night? How long is your hair/does the headgear slip on your hair?

Using info from your UPPP Surgery thread, can you tell us why you don't have your license back after two years on CPAP - it usually takes a few weeks. Are there reasons other than CPAP or are you plain not CPAP compliant (four hours a night)?

TF

Hi all.
Ihave been on the dreadred c-pap for 18 months.
Iam under the local respiratory dept at the local hospital.
they supplied the machine and mask ,the mask is a joke terrible sores on nose and always marking the face.
However the point of this message is where are you getting these figures from,I have a card in my machine which is read by computer at the hospital,they then say good or bad ,dont give me any feed back.
It is 1 year between visits ,anything could be happening to me in this time.
Are people buying there own machines and mask ,and they get the read outs from there,Im left to my own devices,no point complaining about the mask,they just shrug and say its the only 1 they supply,Iam going to buyQuattro f x,but would like any information on getting the machine my self,so I could adjust pressure if needed.
All help appreciated.
donros

[Fredxx]

You can buy a CPAP machine with a prescription from your clinic stating the pressure it will come set at.

Alternatively, you can buy an APAP without the prescription

Of course, there is nothing stopping you just getting a replacement mask of your own, and running it from the Clinic assigned machine

[donros]

You can buy a CPAP machine with a prescription from your clinic stating the pressure it will come set at.

Alternatively, you can buy an APAP without the prescription

Of course, there is nothing stopping you just getting a replacement mask of your own, and running it from the Clinic assigned machine

thanks for the reply,ill have to look more into this.
Donros

[sheffgall]

James means AHI 10 - 15 when untreated, without using CPAP.

In my early CPAP days, I was on AHI 12 with a machine for a while - relying on NHS clinic for pressure settings - and felt like death warmed up.

Your untreated 60 is definately in need of treatment. Your treated AHI of 5 shows how well yout treatment is.

TF

Thank you to you and also James also for clearing that up.i thought i was still using my machine then when i dint need to.Even thou i been a c-pap user since 2009 i am still new to this i guess. I should ask at the sleep clinic more questions but soon has they say im fine and using my machine OK and everything fine i take it has im OK and leave it at that.But this forum is helping me learn a lot.I just don't seem to know what im suppose to ask them i guess.Never knew it was called AHI till you both said they at the sleep clinic just throw a lot of numbers to me say im doing well then send me on my way.But thanks i know who to ask to if i have niggling questions.

EDIT..I forgot to mention that the 60 attacks they told me about was back in 2009 when i first got tested.Even so i stated about the pressure to me been high to me and they lowed it down to by one from 15 to 14..and the hospital says that at 15 pressure is still OK for me, does this mean i will still be having these many attacks if i did not use my machine?.And do they ever re-test you with the oximenty test when i first got told i had this, when you wear the wrist watch type equipment that says how much level of oxygen during sleep.Or does these smart cards tell the nurses everything they need to know via that and no longer need re-testing without a machine.

[Fredxx]

normally they would only retest you if there was a significant change which may indicate a change of pressure needed. This could be a large weight loss / gain or something else like that

If you really want to check and can afford it, get a pulse oximeter that will show your blood oxygen levels and pulse through the night, and detect "events", you can always use that as amunition at the clinic to get them to consider changes. costs about £70 for an oximeter.

[James @ Intus]

DVLA don't care too much about your AHI, its your ESS that is more important because it is the sleepiness that is the problem when driving. AHI and ESS have no correlation. Some people are very symptomatic with mild OSA and some have no symptoms despite severe OSA, and are o ly aware because they had a sleep study as part of a pre-op assessment.

Spot on, well said, thanks for confirming.