Interpreting Leaks Charts

Having installed ResMed data software I don't understand the leaks data or graph. Does L/min mean leaks per minute? How could I have 24 leaks per minute? Seems rather unlikely. Or worse, 65.

And then there is the green bar graph with each bar having three different colored segments with the legend indicating dark green as "median", medium green as "95th percentile", and light green as "maximum."

I flunked statistics and have no clue as to what this means. Any wizards out there who can explain?

I am not making my compliance threshold because leaks are causing the pressure to ramp up to hurricane force, whereafter in my sleep I rip the mask off and wake up to find it on the floor. They're gonna send me a bill for this thing which I frankly cannot pay, so I got to do something about the leaks. Thing is, I go to sleep with mask performing okay and I get no warning of leaks that seem to develop whenever I move. Since I'm not conscious when this happens, how am I to prevent it?

Should I tighten it to the point of discomfort? Amara View minimal contact full face mask seems to fit alright, but I know nothing about fitting. I tighten to the point where leaks from under gasket stop, but not so tight that when I turn my head they start again. I sleep only on back and move little so thrashing around is not the problem. Is it mask fit? I've complained to supplier but no response from them.

Maybe I should just dump the thing on their doorstep and go elsewhere. I'm in no position to buy and try multiple face masks because by then the probationary insurance period will be over.

The "L per min." is liters of air leaked per minute. The 95 % line shows the amount of leakage was at this level or lower 95% of the time. The median is the average leak rate for the night. I would recommend you get sleepyhead software in addition. It will show your statistics as a line graph that will track your information minute by minute rather than give single values for the night. The maximum line (red) is 24 liters of air per minute. Resmed says this is the maximum leakage the machine can handle and still give you optimum treatment levels.

blownaway wrote:Having installed ResMed data software I don't understand the leaks data or graph. Does L/min mean leaks per minute? How could I have 24 leaks per minute? Seems rather unlikely. Or worse, 65.

And then there is the green bar graph with each bar having three different colored segments with the legend indicating dark green as "median", medium green as "95th percentile", and light green as "maximum."

I flunked statistics and have no clue as to what this means. Any wizards out there who can explain?

I am not making my compliance threshold because leaks are causing the pressure to ramp up to hurricane force, whereafter in my sleep I rip the mask off and wake up to find it on the floor. They're gonna send me a bill for this thing which I frankly cannot pay, so I got to do something about the leaks. Thing is, I go to sleep with mask performing okay and I get no warning of leaks that seem to develop whenever I move. Since I'm not conscious when this happens, how am I to prevent it?

Should I tighten it to the point of discomfort? Amara View minimal contact full face mask seems to fit alright, but I know nothing about fitting. I tighten to the point where leaks from under gasket stop, but not so tight that when I turn my head they start again. I sleep only on back and move little so thrashing around is not the problem. Is it mask fit? I've complained to supplier but no response from them.

Maybe I should just dump the thing on their doorstep and go elsewhere. I'm in no position to buy and try multiple face masks because by then the probationary insurance period will be over.

Go up to the top of this page and click 'members', then type in Pugsy. Click that and on the next page you'll see in bold to the right side: Search User's Posts... finally type in the term large leaks. Different software, different machines, different people all have some issues you need to be familiar with and Pugsy is an expert at sorting it all out. Reading a few of her replies is like a post-graduate course Definitely get Sleephead software... it's free and easy to use, plus a snap to backup. https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

If you want to go the ultra easy fast way of interpreting leak data just start with the "time over red line" percentage in SleepyHead. Depending on how high it is then you maybe have to dig deeper.

If the % if time over the red line is minimal or single digit...leaks aren't a huge issue in terms of therapy effectiveness....now if leaks wake a person up then that's a whole different story.
ResMed won't give a Mr Frowny face for leak management until the % of time over red line (that's 24 L/min on a ResMed machine) is 30% or more. It takes a lot of big leak to hit 30% or more. Personally I prefer to stick with single digit (less than 10%) as my own line in the sand.

You can make leak evaluation as complicated or as simple as you desire...just depends on what you want to target and what your leak numbers are.

If you are consistently seeing leak time % numbers over 30% of the night on your SleepyHead reports...you have problems that need definite work no matter how much you might understand what they mean.