Lowered Pressure

[RedRooster]

I have been on CPAP for a year now. I have gradually reduced my pressure from 12 CPAP to 8/15 APAP. By lowering my AHI's have gone up to an avg. 3.65 for the last 30 days from 2.3....is this that important? I sleep with less interruptions on the lower pressure. Are the lower AHI's that significant?

[gwc2795]

The most important question is how do you feel? Rested, sluggish, tired in the afternoon???
I feel best when I can keep my AHI less than 1; but that might not be the same for you. An AHI of <5 is considered treated but that might or might not apply to you. Did you feel better as you lowered the pressure? 8 is the minimum pressure normally recommended to avoid feeling suffocated.

[chunkyfrog]

There could be other things affecting your numbers.
How do you FEEL?

[Pugsy]

As long as I was sleeping soundly for the most part and feeling good during the day I wouldn't worry about that small of a difference in the AHI.
Sometimes when we try to killing more apneas the killing causes more sleep problems than a couple of apneas here and there might be causing problems.

[zonker]

I have been on CPAP for a year now. I have gradually reduced my pressure from 12 CPAP to 8/15 APAP. By lowering my AHI's have gone up to an avg. 3.65 for the last 30 days from 2.3....is this that important? I sleep with less interruptions on the lower pressure. Are the lower AHI's that significant?

i don't think it's that important. i'm like gwc2795 in that i feel it if my ahi isn't between 1-2. that is, i feel best in THAT range. and i can tell without looking at data now most of the time.

it's up to you. if you feel decent after your night's sleep, then why beat yourself up over "high" numbers?

[Arlene1963]

If I were to be asked "what would you guess that your AHI was last night" my answer would be a crapshoot. No idea. The difference between an AHI of 3 and less than 1, there is no way I could tell, unlike many others who report being acutely aware of seemingly slight variations in AHI.

I use EPR at 3 which definitely increases my AHI (centrals) but I don't care because it makes the difference between being able to sleep using CPAP versus not.

For some of us it isn't all that easy to get low numbers and good sleep. so a compromise is made. In my case I accept that my AHI goes into a higher range and I can live with this because I sleep so well despite the higher AHI.

It took me a few months of trial and error, really battling to get lower AHI thinking that was the goal. Then l I decided that for me successful use of CPAP is not centred on getting the lowest possible AHI but rather on a) how I can achieve good sleep and b) feel rested with good energy levels during the day AND c) keep my AHI in a range that I am happy with.

This approach works for me, but for someone else having my AHI in the 2 to 3 range some nights might be a nightmare.

So you just need to figure out what works best for your circumstances.

[zonker]

If I were to be asked "what would you guess that your AHI was last night" my answer would be a crapshoot. No idea. The difference between an AHI of 3 and less than 1, there is no way I could tell, unlike many others who report being acutely aware of seemingly slight variations in AHI.

I use EPR at 3 which definitely increases my AHI (centrals) but I don't care because it makes the difference between being able to sleep using CPAP versus not.

For some of us it isn't all that easy to get low numbers and good sleep. so a compromise is made. In my case I accept that my AHI goes into a higher range and I can live with this because I sleep so well despite the higher AHI.

It took me a few months of trial and error, really battling to get lower AHI thinking that was the goal. Then l I decided that for me successful use of CPAP is not centred on getting the lowest possible AHI but rather on a) how I can achieve good sleep and b) feel rested with good energy levels during the day AND c) keep my AHI in a range that I am happy with.

This approach works for me, but for someone else having my AHI in the 2 to 3 range some nights might be a nightmare.

So you just need to figure out what works best for your circumstances.

well said! i wish i was clever enough to post a gif, because i'd LOVE to post a standing ovation for that.

[RedRooster]

Thanks for all of your input!