Acceptable AHI range?

Is there an acceptable range of AHI's that I should be experiencing?

It is generally accepted that anything below 5 is good. The lower the number the better, however, in a pole done just lately, people with a very low number said they did not feel so good with 1 or less than they did when they had a number of 2 or 3, which I though in itself very interesting. If you get it down to 5 or below you are doing very well.

I have had numbers around 5-7 for over a year, and all of sudden last night it was 18.5! What's that about? I didn't feel anything different about the mask or the machine. Also, can someone finally tell me if the CPAP machine is "curing" all the apneas it reports as the AHI number, or are they happening despite the machine? If the machine cannot eliminate the apneas, why are we bothering to use it?

At this point It appears that I often achieve AHI numbers below 5. BUT, there are random nights during which the numbers shoot way up- 23, 24, 13, etc. Only a few of those but they do warp the average and are the source of some concern to me. Like Corelli72, I can't identify any obvious issue with the mask and/or the CPAP machine itself.

Any event reported by the machine is not being treated. If it were being treated it would not happen and therefore would not be reported. The occasional night with an elevated AHI is not panic time but is worth investigating. Does it correspond with an occasional change in your routine like having a few drinks or taking a medication? It may just be something like you OSA getting worse in supine REM (lying on your back while dreaming - generally the worst combo for OSA) which may only happen rarely. If the increase in AHI is becoming more frequent, it would be wise to have another study for some tweaking.

I think everyone has a bad night now and again. There is always a bad night when nothing appears to go right, you fight to stop leaks, you wake up in the morning with the mask half off or you just have that tiny annoying leak that will not stop and you can't get to sleep for it. Then there is just the odd night when it all goes to pot! Sometimes there is no real reason for it, but the next night everything is fine again. I get very few of these but when I do get one I just get annoyed with myself and and usually the mask.