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brankom
+0 points
·
over 3 years
ago
Original Poster
I am 70 years old. About ten years ago when I lost my job at the company where I had worked for 25 years, the problems with breathing during sleep, high blood pressure, weight management, have began. Two years ago, my wife convinced me it was time to start treating apnea. The results of sleep polygraph examination (Weinnmann effort 2) confirmed the following sleep history: Neck circumference 48 cm (19 inch). Obstructive apneas and hypo apneas mean AHI 49.7 (OAI 90, Hy 192, Max A 128, CAI 13) occurred mainly during sleep. The mean saturation of O2 was 93.4%, the lowest 75%, the ODI 48.8 / h. The time with sat O2 below 90% was 41 minutes. During sleep, snoring occurred in 42% of the recording time.
I was prescribed a CPAP therapy. I am using AutoCPAP Philips Respironics and Amara View minimal contact full-face mask every night. The apparatus is set to titrate the pressure between 4-17 cm (1.6-6.7 inch) H2O; the device accepts each night therapy as valid if it has been continuously longer than 4.5 hours. With these apparatus, at each night breathing has nicely stabilized. After six months of therapy, the results were as follows: CPAP adherence 70%, for more than 4 hours 65%, AHI 3.4 / hour (OAI 1.1, CA 0.3, Hy 2), the mean titrate pressure was 8.8 cm (3.4 inch) in 90% . I am going on to use CPAP until the next control examination (6 months).
AHI – Hypo apnea Index;
CAI – Clear Airway Apnea Index;
OAI – Obstructed Airway Apnea Index
It sounds like you are doing quite well. Some comments on your settings:
The default minimum setting on these machines is 4 cm of pressure. Many can find that too low for comfort. You may want to ask about increasing that pressure up to 6-7 cm.
Most of your events seem to be obstructive and not too much clear airway. You may be able to get your AHI lower than 3.4 with a bit more pressure. The 90% pressure of 8.8 cm is not that high. You should ask about increasing that minimum even higher up to 9 or 10 cm. So you don't have too much pressure when going to sleep you should ask about using a ramp with a ramp start pressure somewhat lower at 6-7 cm.
Your diagnosed AHI was fairly high at 49.7. You should get a lot of benefit from a CPAP.
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