CPAP pressure control
The (CPAP pressure control) Too high? Too low? Precisely! Your apnea and snoring will be very well controlled if your CPAP pressure is too high. However, results such as dry mouth, mask leaks, and general distress may occur.
On the other hand, if your CPAP pressure is too low, your apnea and snoring won't be controlled very much and you might wake up tired! Our CPAP pressure should always be just right! The video above shows how we can use our sleep data to improve our CPAP pressure control.
In case you have another machine, I will send you a link if you comment your “make and model” in the video. Our therapy levels should be as low as possible while maintaining a healthy night's sleep free of sleep apnea and snoring with a healthy AHI (Apnea-Hypopnea Index).
You can view your sleep therapy data directly on the machine screen or in a smartphone app. There could be just a few data variables that we can undoubtedly use to calibrate our therapy control from the comfort of our own home without the need for costly clinic visits, testing and therapy reports! You can only adjust your device with some experimentation as you approach your AHI (Apnea-Hypopnea Index).
CPAP
The rule of thumb shows that if our AHI value is below 5, we should further lower our CPAP pressure. Simply reduce your prescribed pressure by 0.5 each night, or 1 if you are on a fixed pressure machine. When using an AUTO CPAP, the APAP value (the maximum pressure your device can give) should be lowered from 0.5 or 1 every night.
Our main goal should be to keep our pressure as low as possible. This can be done while maintaining a healthy AHI of under 5. Investing a little energy into fine-tuning and evolving your therapy will at this point go a long way towards healthy and COMFORTABLE sleep! Positive airway pressure therapy is not BLACK and WHITE! It is a good balance between healthy sleep and comfortable therapy.
You'll have to experiment with your pressure to find the right balance! Please don’t be afraid to find out how to adjust your therapy pressure and experiment with your therapy.
If you have access to your sleep data on your device, you can use it as a guide at this point or just do some trial and error! How would you feel?! Is it true that you feel better and more aware, or would you say that you feel flat and sluggish? Focus on the signs your body is telling you, then experiment to see if these change at different pressure levels.
Always use your AHI as a guide, but therapy equals comfort. So if you can't sleep with the stuff, at that point you should lower your pressure to increase the comfort and consistency of the therapy! 90% of the patients I have seen have resources that are way too high for their needs! You have to work at it and find the BEST CPAP PRESSURE LEVELS for your needs!
Your AHI levels may fluctuate a little from night to night depending on a few factors such as how tired you are, the position you sleep in, your diet (i.e. alcohol consumption), and various factors.
So once you've experimented with your pressure levels and found what you think is optimal, use it for a week and then look at your 7 day AVERAGE DATA. Please also understand that the AHI is intended to serve as a guide.
Some of you don't have the option to get your AHI below 5, and that's totally okay! Keep trying to experiment at different levels and see how low you can get it. However, keep in mind that you also need to balance sleep apnea control with comfort.
Simply set the pressure as low as you like (4 is lowest for most devices, but some can go as low as 3) if you are struggling with therapy. First of all, don't try to stress your AHI. Just try to settle for comfort over control.
After some time, you can slowly focus on more authority as your body gets used to breathing with the opposition. It's like a race! But far away. Stop worrying about things and take your time. Then you can increase the pressure on your machine step by step.
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