Hello everyone.  I just found this forum recently and I'm glad I did.  It was comforting to find out that many other people had problems getting to sleep during the sleep studies and that there is such a large community for sleep apnea out there.

Anyways, getting to the meat of the post:  At the beginning of September I had my first sleep study, the results of that was me being diagnosed with Severe Sleep Apnea (AHI 55).  My doctor perscribed a CPAP machine and I got a loaner machine from a local company so I could see how well it worked, that was at the beginning of October.

I just got home from my second sleep study with the CPAP machine (I believe from reading the threads this is the titration study) and the results were very surprising.  Even though the doctor had my initial machine at a pressure of 7, this morning the tech told me that the entire night I only needed a pressure of 5 and I apparently had no apneas.  This seems a bit bizarre to me that such a low pressure would get rid of a case of Severe Sleep Apnea.

Unfortunately the official results don't come back for a few weeks at which point my doctor is on vacation so I have to wait a whole month to speak to him.

Has anyone else heard/experienced anything like this?  I'm quite certain I have sleep apnea.  Although I had trouble sleeping both times there was still enough time spent sleeping to give them some useful data to work with.  I've also felt better on the CPAP in the last few weeks.  In fact the first night I slept through the whole night with the mask on I felt wonderfully awake and rested the whole day.

Does a result like this possibly indicate that surgery might be a workable solution instead of a CPAP machine?

Thanks!

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Hello everyone.  I just found this forum recently and I'm glad I did.  It was comforting to find out that many other people had problems getting to sleep during the sleep studies and that there is such a large community for sleep apnea out there.

Anyways, getting to the meat of the post:  At the beginning of September I had my first sleep study, the results of that was me being diagnosed with Severe Sleep Apnea (AHI 55).  My doctor perscribed a CPAP machine and I got a loaner machine from a local company so I could see how well it worked, that was at the beginning of October.

Welcome to the club.

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I just got home from my second sleep study with the CPAP machine (I believe from reading the threads this is the titration study) and the results were very surprising.  Even though the doctor had my initial machine at a pressure of 7, this morning the tech told me that the entire night I only needed a pressure of 5 and I apparently had no apneas.  This seems a bit bizarre to me that such a low pressure would get rid of a case of Severe Sleep Apnea.

What the tech probably meant was that there was sufficient pressure at 5 cmsH2O to clear all your apnoea events.
XPAP pressure has no bearing on the severity of your apnoea. Apnoea severity is based on the average number of events per hour of sleep. Below 5 is considered normal, 5 to 15 is mild, 16 to 30 is moderate and above 30 is severe.
XPAP pressure is titrated at a pressure sufficient to clear individual events........so some sufferers with severe apnoea require a low pressure (like you), while others with mild apnoea MAY need a higher pressure...........it is individual to each sufferer.........severity doesn't come into it.

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Unfortunately the official results don't come back for a few weeks at which point my doctor is on vacation so I have to wait a whole month to speak to him.

You should also get a copy of the report.

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Has anyone else heard/experienced anything like this?  I'm quite certain I have sleep apnea.  Although I had trouble sleeping both times there was still enough time spent sleeping to give them some useful data to work with.  I've also felt better on the CPAP in the last few weeks.  In fact the first night I slept through the whole night with the mask on I felt wonderfully awake and rested the whole day.

There are numerous people with similar experiences to you.
Severity is based on numbers......Titration is based on strength of individual events..... that is why we have titration, rather than a fixed pressure for mild/moderate or severe apnoea.

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Does a result like this possibly indicate that surgery might be a workable solution instead of a CPAP machine.

Afraid not. Best suggestion is to get your condition under control with XPAP, ASAP. Plenty of time to look around after that.

Best of luck.

Daniel.


_________________
The untreated Sleep Apnoea sufferer died quietly in his sleep.......
Unlike his three passengers who died screaming !!!!!!

(Anon)

Ive done hundreds of titrations and it isnt often that a patient ends up on 5 cm h20, but it is certainly possible. Next, id be interested to know how many times an AHI of 50+ can be brought to < 5 with that low of a pressure, but again it is possible.

What is your neck circumference and BMI? Did you lose any weight from the initial titration?

It would have been nice for your technician to increase your pressure to 7 cm h20 just to see if that level of pressure was causing any centrals, then you would have a more complete picture.

In any event, I find the results odd as well, however certainly possible.

Good luck!

Thank you for the quick replies!

My neck circumference is 17" and while I can't say exactly what my BMI is at the moment I am definitely not overweight (6'4, 190lbs) and that hasn't changed since the initial study.

The technician did mention he brought the pressure up to 6cm for experimentation, but he didn't mention any specific result from that.  I too wish they would have tested at least up to 7cm where the CPAP I have is set now, but it didn't occur to me to ask.  Considering the results, I actually wish they would have taken me off the CPAP partway through the night and verified the previous results with a few hours of non-CPAP sleep.

While there are some excellent benefits up here in Canada in regards to sleep apnea, the turnaround time waiting to talk to the Doctor about the results is annoying.  I don't want to purchase a CPAP only to find out that there might be some other method of treatment that more fits the results, but that said I do agree with Daniel that it's better being safe with a CPAP and figure the rest out later than not.