Hi,

What exactly does it mean when it goes up and down.  I know it's when I am having apneas but is it my breathing that causes it to change?  I peeked at the reading a couple of times during the night out of curiosity and it didn't go up much, from 4.0, to 6.0, then to 5.5.  I guess I am still not convinced I have sleep apnea so does this prove that I do have it mild because the pressure reading is going up a bit?  My apneas were 7/hr in the sleep study which I know is very low.  

My final question, if someone doesn't have a sleeping disorder and is "normal" and they use a CPAP would the pressure reading stay the same at 4.0 or does it always go up and down?

Thanks!

Wendy

If you were to put the mask on while sitting in bed and try different things with your breathing, you will notice the pressure changes on the display. That was the first thing I did when I got my APAP machine. When you hold your breath, the pressure increases. When you make snoring sounds, the pressure goes up. When you breathe normal, the pressure goes back down (though slowly).

Sounds like your apnea may be pretty mild, though in comparison to mine, it is almost non-existant. I was having up to 109 apnea's per hour during my sleep study. With my APAP, I am down to .8/hour. My snores were about 100/hour before and I am down to 0.0 per hour now.

I suspect that if a "normal" person were to put a CPAP on with pressure set at 4-20, the machine would remain on 4 most of the time, unless they snored, it would up the pressure to compensate for the snores.

-Marc

AHH, I see.  That makes sense and I did notice that it increases as my breathing changes.  Yes, mine is extremely mind compared to a lot of other people and I never thought the CPAP would work but I am a totally different person now and it's only been 3 days.  Not miserable and tired as much, no headaches , more energy.  I can go the entire day now without getting tired.  I am able to deal with my kids better and my husband has noticed a big difference so it just goes to show that it doesn't have to be severe for it to work.  Now if I had just been diagnosed 12 years ago ...

Wendy