Sleepyhead and Large Leak - ResMed Machine

At what point does the leak level become problematic?

Occasionally my leak level will be around 30 l/min for up to 30 minutes. Sleepyhead flags this as a large leak. But if I look at the flow waveform during times of large leak, it looks like I am breathing normally.

I use a ResMed machine and a FFM.

It's problematic if it interrupts your sleep or if you have a high AHI. If not, don't worry about it.

Setj wrote:At what point does the leak level become problematic?

Occasionally my leak level will be around 30 l/min for up to 30 minutes. Sleepyhead flags this as a large leak. But if I look at the flow waveform during times of large leak, it looks like I am breathing normally.

I use a ResMed machine and a FFM.

the further you get over 24lpm with a resmed, the less reliably the machine will be able to differentiate what type of apnea you have, and will resort to reporting an unclassified apnea, instead of a central or obstructive. when the leak gets truly huge (125-200lpm depending on pressure (there's a chart in the back of your machine's manual)) then the machine won't be able to maintain pressure, and thus won't be holding your airway open.

So basically, if I have a smiley face and AHI under 2 consistently, there's no need to be obsessive about checking Sleepyhead?

mw757 wrote:So basically, if I have a smiley face and AHI under 2 consistently, there's no need to be obsessive about checking Sleepyhead?

As long as your sleep is satisfactory

mw757 wrote:So basically, if I have a smiley face and AHI under 2 consistently, there's no need to be obsessive about checking Sleepyhead?

the leak smiley face sets a very low bar, ie large leaks for less than 30% of the night.