AHI INCREASING - HAVE HEART DISEASE - NEED TO REVERSE THIS TREND - HELP!

I've had severe OSA for at least 20 years and prob longer. Finally got CPAP 2 months ago. Untreated OSA was likely a big cause for the Coronary Artery Disease I now have. I started on Auto Pap with Dream Station and Red Mes full face mask at pressure of 5. Was hovering between 4 and 6 AHI according to Dream Mapper for most part. I wanted to try to improve that and so I asked my Doc to increase minimum pressure to 7. Instead of doing just that it seems he also took me off the Auto and put me on a steady 7 pressure all night. That hasn't been confirmed yet but my analysis of the data is what I am understanding. Disclaimer - I am not at all tech savvy and I am having a very hard time understanding what I am looking at on Oscar so I may be totally off base with this claim.

I desperately need some help here to interpret the data and gain any important insights the experts here can offer as to the nature of my condition and any suggestions you can offer as well to try to reduce my AHI and TTIA.

The change in my pressure setting took place on June 3rd and there is a noticable increase in my AHI on June 3rd going forward so it seems logical to assume that the change in pressure had something to do with it.

I am also experiencing Clear Apnea Events which I assume means I may have some level of Central Apnea as well?

Any insights and suggestions are sincerely appreciated.

I need to get this under control as my heart is not going to tolerate too much more of this.

Thank you in advance!!!

Hi JoeyC.

I doubt that I can be much help Im sorry.

Almost everything to do with CPAP can be stressful and confusing.

If you have severe apnea then an AHI of 7 may not be ideal, but it would seem like it is still a significant improvement.

I wonder if the main question might be how are you managing with the treatment?

What steps or alterations or consultations would make you feel better and enable you to gain more benefit from the treatment?

Is there anybody involved in your current treatment that you can confide in and trust?

Are there other medical or lifestyle issues that you could address to improve your overall health?

Sometimes the anxiety can be as dangerous as the illness.

From the limited information you have provided I think you are correct. The reduction in pressure has caused your obstructive apnea and hypopnea to go up. There is nothing wrong with using a fixed pressure, but it has to be the correct pressure. Auto mode tries the find that pressure. I see from your older data that your 90% pressure was about 8.5 cm. I think that would be a more appropriate pressure for you. Perhaps show your results to your doctor and ask if you could increase the pressure to about 8.5 to see if things improve. Sometimes if the pressure is too high it can cause CA events, but I don't see excessive CA events which would suggest you could benefit from a higher pressure.

It would be helpful if you could post another Daily screen shot when the CPAP was in auto control. Be sure to drag the pressure graph up so it shows. The idea is to see when and at what pressure your events are occurring.