Are leaks causing the increase in pressure?

It's going pretty well for the first week. I've used my machine every night. For the last two nights I've successfully taped my mouth, thanks to GoofProof's suggestions. (Another tip: Take your melatonin before you put on the tape ). Based on what I see in my data, though taping, I'm still having leaks, though they are relatively small ones. So they must be mask leaks.

One problem: every night I'm awakened by the noise of my mask (Swift) because my machine (RemStar classic Auto w/C-Flex set at 5-9) is running at it's highest pressure (the Swift is comfortable but noisy). From my reading of the software graph, it looks as though the machine is responding to mask leaks and boosting the pressure. But since they are small leaks, I'm wondering about this.

Does this seem like the likely cause to you? If so, I'll pursue ways to make the mask leak less. Thanks for any suggestions.



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No, what's causing the rise in pressure there is the events, not the leak. You might search for a quieter mask though. I'd fiddle with the pressures too if it were me since your AHI is still rather high, but that's another debate.

That looks like what's going on, I'd bump the top and bottom 1 cm and try a few nights. It looks like the leaks are pretty good. Sometimes we just have a few poor nights, it takes time to adjust, and masks do differ in how they work for each of us. Jim

For whatever reason, there are more events (and "clusters" of them) after your "break" at about 3 hrs. 40 min......when your "leak line" got nice and flat.

I think that at least moving your bottom pressure up and watching the results would be in order.

Den

Hi.

I'm using ResMed's Mirage ACTIVA nasal mask. I'm new to CPAP. I notice this air leak through these holes in the mask. It looks like it's supposed to happen, but I'm not sleeping any better so I´m wondering if there´s a problem with the mask. The air leak happens even when I inhale. Is this normal, or is all the air supposed to go into your nose when you inhale? I keep on feeling like a need more air when I put the mask on and inhale, but I don´t know if it´s becaus of this, or because I need more air preassure. Any advice? Thanks.

John.

The air leaks in Activa is needed to clean up your CO2

So however tight it is - you still have leaks at about 30 L

My leaks is btw 30-50 nightly and ferquently I have large leaks of 60-100 L when the mask was way off due to movement

check this leak table for most masks:
http://www.internetage.com/cpapinfo/leak-rates-1.html[/url]

John, every mask has exhaust (intended leaks). Otherwise, you would blow up and pop like a balloon.

I would suggest starting a new thread. Please be sure to list your equipment in your profile section. Also, indicate what pressure/pressures you are using. We should be able to help you.

Rosemary, this is a question for the guys that have responded to your post.

Why would you raise her pressure? She is having the fewest apneas at 7 and below. Above 7, her apneas go sky high.

Linda3032 wrote:John, every mask has exhaust (intended leaks). Otherwise, you would blow up and pop like a balloon.

I would suggest starting a new thread. Please be sure to list your equipment in your profile section. Also, indicate what pressure/pressures you are using. We should be able to help you.

Rosemary, this is a question for the guys that have responded to your post.

Why would you raise her pressure? She is having the fewest apneas at 7 and below. Above 7, her apneas go sky high.

From my perspective, it's spending a good portion of the night raising the pressure anyway......all of those little pressure "bumps". It looks to me like she's having events before it has time to respond.

Den

Thank you Blarg, Jim, and Den for your insights. I can see what you mean about the events happening during the time when my leak line is straight. I was wondering about what would happen if I raised the bottom pressure to 6. The point about all the little bump-ups makes sense. The lab tech set my pressure at 5, which seemed low to me. I think it may be easier to breathe at 6, too.

Blarg, I bought another mask on cpap.com (Comfortlite 2), mainly because my nose is getting sores and I want a way to switch off and on to let them heal, but I'm hoping that will be quieter, too. I'm supposed to be getting a conversion kit for the Swift II, but don't know when that will come. During my sleep study I used the Somnotech which was exceedingly quiet, but not very comfortable compared with the Swift or CL2.

Linda3032 wrote:Rosemary, this is a question for the guys that have responded to your post.

Why would you raise her pressure? She is having the fewest apneas at 7 and below. Above 7, her apneas go sky high.

Linda, thanks for the question. I've been wondering about the apneas that happen in the higher ranges. I'm wondering if I go into REM or turn on my back or something and need more pressure and the pressure tops out, like in hour 6 of the graph above (5/2/07) and if it would rise and stop apneas if the ceiling weren't there. In the graph below (5/1/07), before and after hour 4, it goes up and then comes down and there are fewer apneas on the down slope, but you can't see what would happen at 10 or 11. IOW, would it be taking care of some peak in my sleep? (That's a theory from a total newbie, me, which I realize could be way off base).

To give more data, here's the previous night. I took the tape off partway through the night, though I can't remember it very well, or why I did it.



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