ResMed AirCurve 10 ASV - How to Tell If I'm Doing Well

[JIMCHI]

I have been using this machine for about 9 months and while I'm feeling good, I think I have been having problems with mask leakage. I seem to have no quick and definitive way of determining if the leakage is excessive. My machine has an indicator that shows green or red for leakage over the entire course of the night. 95% of the time it's green in the morning. I also have ResMed myAir. It rates my leakage on a scale of 20 (perfect?) to 1 (terrible) and says either "GOOD" or "ADJUST". 99% of the time it says "GOOD" even when I had a score of 12 out of 20. I also have SleepyHead. It gives me a % of the night when the leakage was above 24 Lpm. All I want is a simple parameter to determine if leaks are interfering with my treatment -such as a specific number for % of night above a certain percentage or some other indicator. Any suggestions?

[palerider]

I have been using this machine for about 9 months and while I'm feeling good, I think I have been having problems with mask leakage. I seem to have no quick and definitive way of determining if the leakage is excessive. My machine has an indicator that shows green or red for leakage over the entire course of the night. 95% of the time it's green in the morning. I also have ResMed myAir. It rates my leakage on a scale of 20 (perfect?) to 1 (terrible) and says either "GOOD" or "ADJUST". 99% of the time it says "GOOD" even when I had a score of 12 out of 20. I also have SleepyHead. It gives me a % of the night when the leakage was above 24 Lpm. All I want is a simple parameter to determine if leaks are interfering with my treatment -such as a specific number for % of night above a certain percentage or some other indicator. Any suggestions?

less than 10% of the night over the leak threshold on sleepyhead, or if the leaks are bothering you.

[JIMCHI]

Ok, that's a good starting point. But my data ranges all over the place. In the course of 2 weeks I'd say I'm under the 10% threshold about 50% of time time and under 15% about 85% of the nights. So, am I doing OK?

[Okie bipap]

If the leaks are not disturbing your sleep, and you feel good, I wouldn't worry about the leaks. Personally, I cannot sleep if my mask leaks that much. I am very sensitive to mask leaks. My leaks normally are less than 10 liters.

[Pugsy]

Assuming the leaks aren't disturbing my sleep I don't even give it a second glance if it is under 10% of the time in large leak territory and maybe give it more than a glance if it is 10% to 20%.
What I do when I am seeing 10 % to 20 % of the time in large leak is look to see just how far above 24 L/min I might have gone and how long was I up there.
As long as I don't spend much time over 35 L/min (need to look at the leak graph itself to see) I just keep one eye on things. Like is it 3 or 4 nights in a row where I go over 35 L/min for very long or is it a once in blue moon when I go over 35 L/min.
From my own personal experience I can trust the data up to 30 L/min then I start seeing unknown flags...once I go past 35 L/min I start wondering about the data accuracy but as long as the time up there that deep in large leak territory is minimal I don't get too alarmed.
5 or 10 minutes out of 7 or 8 hours isn't that big of a deal.

All this assuming the leaks aren't waking me up...if they wake me up they need to be fixed no matter how big or small they are.
And I look at how far into large leak territory I go and how long was I deep into large leak territory.
The bulk of my "large leaks" are in the 24 to 30 L/min range anyway. It's very rare that I go higher.

Now I had some nights a while back where I was getting Mr Frowny face (over 30 % of the night in large leak) but I was trying a new mask (Brevida) and didn't have the tension adjusted just right.....so not alarmed when I know there is a reasonable explanation for it that I know to work on.

[klv329]

I think it depends on how you feel during the day. I can't handle very much leakage at all without feeling daytime tiredness.

[JIMCHI]

Thanks everyone. I generally don't wake up with the leaks so I guess I shouldn't worry. I just spoke with my DME and he said that so long as myAir is showing "GOOD" for mask leakage and for AHI that I should go on with life.

Pugsy - I have been trying the Breveda mask as well and have had mixed results. I don't know if it's too tight or not tight enough. In therory it should be better than the P10 as it has easily adjustable straps and the pillows are gently compressed against your nostrils by air. I have rather large nostrils so I'm sure I'm going to have some difficulties with any pillow type mask.

[Pugsy]

My problem with the Brevida was with the back strap. It needs to be a little shorter for my small head and I can't adjust it and can't make it up by adjusting the sides.

It moved around a bit and was annoying in the middle of the night with the moving so I have mixed feelings about it for me. I was going to try shortening the back strap some way but loaned it out before I did. When I get it back I will revisit trying to shorten the back strap.
Otherwise I like it just fine...it's so soft and seals well otherwise and it's silent.

FWIW...I don't look at my data daily...either on the machine or using the software.
My number one thing I go by....how I sleep and how I feel. I might go months between downloads and even then I might do it just because I am trying something new.
Like right now I am trying the new DreamWear Gel nasal pillow so I am watching things just a little closer but not under the microscope.

[JIMCHI]

One more question. Looking at my SleepHead data, last night my average leak rate was 8.73 and then it shows the 90% leak rate of 37.20 and the % of time above Leak Rate Threshold at 37%. My weekly stats are about the same. Last night I had steady leak rates above 50 for about 45 minutes at 4 a.m. My weekly stats are about the same. What does the 90% Leak Rate mean?

[Pugsy]

90/95% number of anything (leak or pressure) just means that for 90/95 % of the time you were at OR BELOW that number.
People often forget about the or below part of the definition.

90/95% numbers are easily skewed by short periods of time at higher numbers so I tend to take them with a grain of salt when looking at them from night to night but looking at them long term (6 months or so) they might be a bit more useful.