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Just curious..What constitutes mild,mod,or severe sleep apnea??I had AHI/RDI?? of 45/hour..My machine set at 9 cm/h20..Is that a high pressure??
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Good Question - What I've been told Is ?
Hi sleepster
At the Papworth sleep clinic in the UK my consultant Dr Tim Quinnell (Google him you'll find it interesting!
) told me that anyone having 30 or more OSA events per hour is the start of "severe". Every event has to be over ten seconds to count in the UK (although the very latest French studies indicate that the lowest thresh hold may be as short as six seconds!) they then state your average event time and your longest event time.
In my case I averaged 30.50 events per hour; my average stop time was 15 seconds and my longest stop time was 25 seconds. It is worth noting that my saturated oxygen levels during the day average around 96-97% (if you are really fit and young it should be 99-100%) In the UK a paramedic will start giving a person in any form of accident oxygen assistance at 91%.
On the OSA trial the low level is set at 85%. Anything under 80% is considered dangerous and in the UK at 76% there is a manditory requirement to place the patient on a life support machine.
When I stopped breathing for 25 seconds my saturated oxygen level reached at low as 78% - i.e only 2% off having to be placed on life support!
So in ten hours sleep I was having just over 300 events each night!
My sleep was providing little benefit to me - putting increased strain on the rest of my body organs and my brain never got the chance to rest!
Interestingly enough the French experts indicate that after six seconds a very small amount of synapse connection damage occurs and this explains the lack of alertness on getting up "fuzzy head" can't get going; you may experience - I'm sure we all know what that feels like!
No I do not mean the beer induced type!
On the pressure question my Remstar starts at 4 and has a top level of 20cmH2O - my setting is currently at 8cmH2O relatively low - the point is set where it provides just enough pressure to prevent your throat collapsing.
A modern "iron lung" breathing machine (like the Tippsy Nipper 3) can go up to a pressure of 180 cmH2O but they use a different mask and you cannot breath the machine does all the breathing for the person (TB sufferers; shark and war victims often use these type of machine)! When you have seen someone who cannot even lift a small plastic cup of water because of a lack of breath it really does put what we moan about in the proper context!
Anyway hopefully this may be of assistance - I saw you liked the "firing squad" post - brilliant or what! Cheers!
TWW
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I was told mine was severe. On my sleep study night, I had 445 events giving an index of 60 per hour. My mean oxygen saturation is 93% with a minimum recorded of 71.9%.Comment
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Baffled or just plain stupid?
You all have me absolutely baffled! I have been on CPAP for nearly a year now and I still don,t understand all the whys and where fors, I am compliant, so they say, but I still feel extremely tired , so now I am going to find out what it's all about, Thanx to the lovely CPAP Angel in the big office, James.
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Hi people
the classification of OSA in terms of airway events also known as apnoeas (complete airway closure) or hypopnoeas (partial airway closure) is measured and reported as the Apnoea Hypopnoea Index or AHI. An average of under 15 is classed as mild, 15-29 is moderate and 30 or greater is severe. In reality, what is important is OSAS - Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome, which is actually the severity of OSA and severity of daytime symptoms, often measure by the Epworth score! Its possible to have clinically mild OSA in terms of AHI but relatively severe symptoms in terms of Epworth score or vice versa.
I agree with Mr Threewheelweave's comments about reuiring Oxygen therapy below 91%, however. I would take his comments about being put on life support at O2 saturations of 75% are well over the top. You are more than likely to require O2 therapy but by no means does it mean you will need a life support machine (thank god! - otherwise, our intensive care units wouldsneed to be 10 times the size they currently are!! You would be surprised at the number of people out there who actually have O2 saturations around the 75% mark because of chronic lung or heart conditions or even due to obesity.
Many standard CPAP machines operate between 4 (or as low as 2) and 20 cm iof water pressure, and there is the odd CPAP unit like the relatively new Respironics Bilevel Auto Aflex CPAP that goes up to 25cm. Flly Bi-level units will operate up to around 40cm. 9cm is not particularly a high setting - what is important is whether it is working for you in terms of preventing airway events without being too high. Tih is something you will be able to judge over time.
Drop me a line if you have any queries and good luck with getting used to CPAP!
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Well explained TB, the daytime effects are part of the diagnosis as oppose to just the statistics. Seems like you know a lot about it, very welcome additoin to the forum!Comment
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