"please keep me updated about oximeters "
Sleep Apnea Forum Bringing Power to the Patient
New? Free Sign Up
Then check our Welcome Center to a Community Caring about Sleep Apnea diagnosis and Sleep Apnea treatment:
CPAP machines, Sleep Apnea surgery and dental appliances.
CPAP Supplies
Latest Activity
Low AI but high AHI - also occasional back pain.
I have been using the Resmed S8 Autoset II for about 4 months. I started with a full face mask, but switched to a Swift Nasal pillow, and I like that much better. I am feeling well, and I no longer get sleepy during the day like I did before I was diagnosed and treated for OSA.
Every morning I look at the data from the night before. My AutoPAP range is set between 6 and 16 cm. Usually my report says it was between 12 - 13.5 during sleep. My leakage is usually low - around .1 liters / minute. My AI is usually between 0.8 and 3. But my AHI runs higher - between 15 - 30, even tho my AI is pretty low.
Should I be concerned about this high AHI? I have heard that the Resmed algarithm for recording AHI is controversial - people say it is too sensitive and counts too high. Also, in my most recent sleep study, the report said that "apneas and hypopneas were obliterated with a CPAP pressure of 10".
My other question is about back pain. Sometimes when I sleep my back aches so much it wakes me up. When I first started using CPAP with a full face mask, I would have a tired ache in my chest and back, like I had been blowing up balloons all night. This has faded as I adjusted, but I still sometimes get a similar ache in my back. Maybe I need a better bed, but I never had this problem before I used AutoPap. Maybe it is because before treatment I was tossing and turning, and now I mostly don't change positions when I sleep. I have found that if I make a pile of pillows into a ramp, and sleep on my back with my head and upper body elevated 14 inches or so, I don't get a sore back, but in other positions, I do. I suppose I should just sleep this way always, but I don't really like that position - it is just better than a sore back. Has anyone else experienced this, and found any other solutions? Thanks!
Every morning I look at the data from the night before. My AutoPAP range is set between 6 and 16 cm. Usually my report says it was between 12 - 13.5 during sleep. My leakage is usually low - around .1 liters / minute. My AI is usually between 0.8 and 3. But my AHI runs higher - between 15 - 30, even tho my AI is pretty low.
Should I be concerned about this high AHI? I have heard that the Resmed algarithm for recording AHI is controversial - people say it is too sensitive and counts too high. Also, in my most recent sleep study, the report said that "apneas and hypopneas were obliterated with a CPAP pressure of 10".
My other question is about back pain. Sometimes when I sleep my back aches so much it wakes me up. When I first started using CPAP with a full face mask, I would have a tired ache in my chest and back, like I had been blowing up balloons all night. This has faded as I adjusted, but I still sometimes get a similar ache in my back. Maybe I need a better bed, but I never had this problem before I used AutoPap. Maybe it is because before treatment I was tossing and turning, and now I mostly don't change positions when I sleep. I have found that if I make a pile of pillows into a ramp, and sleep on my back with my head and upper body elevated 14 inches or so, I don't get a sore back, but in other positions, I do. I suppose I should just sleep this way always, but I don't really like that position - it is just better than a sore back. Has anyone else experienced this, and found any other solutions? Thanks!
Views: 240
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by D. W. Conn on
-
Your AI is of course the apnea index and the AHI is the apnea hypopnea index combined. The auto units count any fluxuation of air flow as a hypopnea. Hypopneas are defined by a decrease in flow and a desaturation of oxygen. Using something like a nasal pillow, nasal swift may give some false reading of diminished reading of flow and then the auto unit counts them as Hypopnea. If you do not wear a chin strap please get one and see if the AHI goes down. (You could simply be opening your mouth)
****** In the meantime please report these concerns to your treating Physician.
PLEASE REPORT THE BACK ACHE AND CHEST ACHES TO YOUR PHYSICIAN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
-
Permalink Reply by Judy on
-
When you changed masks did you also change the Mask Selection on your Resmed AutoSet?? That "could" affect your data accuracy if you didn't. Make sure your Mask Selection is set correctly.
The Resmeds do report hypopneas more aggressively than the other brands. Nonetheless your HI is higher than we would like. And we'd prefer to see your AI as 1.0 or less consistently.
The pressure range settings on your AutoSet are wider than is ideal, altho a good range for first starting out if you didn't have an in-lab titration study.
You might want to set that bottom of the pressure range to 8 instead of 6. Leave the top of the pressure range where it is for now. Leave the 8 cms pressure setting where it is for a week. No other changes. Not even a mask change. See if that improves your data at all and if so that may be where you want to leave the pressure settings.
And you may then want to raise you lower pressure setting another 1 cm to 9 FOR A WEEK. No other changes during that week.
USUALLY a pressure range of just 4-5 cms is most comfortable and effective. BUT we are all different. I seriously doubt that you would want your top pressure setting to be any less than 14 cms. But I'd concentrate on finding the lower pressure setting that gives you the best data consistently. You may even want to make 0.5 cm instead of 1 cm lower pressure setting increases when you get close to your ideal pressure range. But you need a week at each therapy change, whether pressure or mask, to be able to rely on the data.
-
-
Chin Strap - good idea. I did report the chest aches when I had them, but my doctor doesn't seem to know much. I live and work in Saudi Arabia, so my options are limited. I was required to get a MWT (maintenance of wakefulness test) for my job, and my doctor didn't even know what that was. I had to go to Manila for this. I don't really have a good sleep doctor available to me here. I don't get the chest aches any more. There were not like heart pains. They were muscular, and went away after I had been using the CPAP for a week. I think the initial setting was too high - the doctor set it ranging from 5- 25, which doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
D. W. Conn said:Your AI is of course the apnea index and the AHI is the apnea hypopnea index combined. The auto units count any fluxuation of air flow as a hypopnea. Hypopneas are defined by a decrease in flow and a desaturation of oxygen. Using something like a nasal pillow, nasal swift may give some false reading of diminished reading of flow and then the auto unit counts them as Hypopnea. If you do not wear a chin strap please get one and see if the AHI goes down. (You could simply be opening your mouth)
****** In the meantime please report these concerns to your treating Physician.
PLEASE REPORT THE BACK ACHE AND CHEST ACHES TO YOUR PHYSICIAN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
-
-
Yes, I changed the mask setting, thx. I think your idea of raising the starting pressure is good. I did have a titration study, and they said I had good results at 10 cm.
Judy said:When you changed masks did you also change the Mask Selection on your Resmed AutoSet?? That "could" affect your data accuracy if you didn't. Make sure your Mask Selection is set correctly.
The Resmeds do report hypopneas more aggressively than the other brands. Nonetheless your HI is higher than we would like. And we'd prefer to see your AI as 1.0 or less consistently.
The pressure range settings on your AutoSet are wider than is ideal, altho a good range for first starting out if you didn't have an in-lab titration study.
You might want to set that bottom of the pressure range to 8 instead of 6. Leave the top of the pressure range where it is for now. Leave the 8 cms pressure setting where it is for a week. No other changes. Not even a mask change. See if that improves your data at all and if so that may be where you want to leave the pressure settings.
And you may then want to raise you lower pressure setting another 1 cm to 9 FOR A WEEK. No other changes during that week.
USUALLY a pressure range of just 4-5 cms is most comfortable and effective. BUT we are all different. I seriously doubt that you would want your top pressure setting to be any less than 14 cms. But I'd concentrate on finding the lower pressure setting that gives you the best data consistently. You may even want to make 0.5 cm instead of 1 cm lower pressure setting increases when you get close to your ideal pressure range. But you need a week at each therapy change, whether pressure or mask, to be able to rely on the data.
-
-
With a titrated pressure of 10 cms, most likely a better choice of pressure range would have been 8 or 9 for the lower pressure and 12-13 for the upper pressure. But ... you might just as well make the slower adjustments as suggested now. Sometimes a one night in-lab PSG doesn't quite catch your "ideal" pressure need over several nights. We often sleep differently from night to night. I LOVE an in-lab titration PSG to get me to or close to the pressure I need. And I LOVE the fully data capable PAPs to report the trends in therapy I encounter over many nights and maybe to "tweak" my pressure settings just a bit if indicated. A good in-lab titration shortens the process so much.
-
Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
-
I would think that your range is to far apart as well.
Judy said:With a titrated pressure of 10 cms, most likely a better choice of pressure range would have been 8 or 9 for the lower pressure and 12-13 for the upper pressure. But ... you might just as well make the slower adjustments as suggested now. Sometimes a one night in-lab PSG doesn't quite catch your "ideal" pressure need over several nights. We often sleep differently from night to night. I LOVE an in-lab titration PSG to get me to or close to the pressure I need. And I LOVE the fully data capable PAPs to report the trends in therapy I encounter over many nights and maybe to "tweak" my pressure settings just a bit if indicated. A good in-lab titration shortens the process so much.
-
-
I think, too, that sleep w/PAP and mask tends to encourage us to sleep on our backs at first, usually only on our backs, as we struggle to learn how to avoid leaks or stop leaks. I'd be willing to guess I slept ONLY on my back the first full year I was on PAP. It just became second nature to me despite I had been a dedicated tummy sleeper until a whiplash and then an either or both side sleeper as well as back sleeper - until CPAP. It took me that long to find "the" right mask for me and then to become "comfortable" enough w/it to "risk" side sleeping and causing leaks. It took me even longer to realize that the very small leaks that I could just barely feel didn't even really affect my therapy or my PAP's ability to compensate for them. For most of us, including those w/no back problems, I do think prolonged sleeping only on our backs does tend to cause back aches. I think we NEED the multiple changes of position during the night for our most comfortable, restful sleep. Mebbe I'm wrong. JMO.
-
-
Hi ,ive been using the apaps9 for about 8mths when i started to get chest soreness & my upper pressure was set at 20 but my doctor said the highest pressure i needed was about 14.So i turned myupper pressure down to 15 the other night &the chest pains have stopped & my api is down to under 1 per night.you should still check with your sleep doctor first.good luck trying to find your perfect P spot.
© 2025 Created by The SleepGuide Crew.
Powered by
