Gaps in Encore Reports

I mentioned this offhand in another thread, but thought bringing the specific topic might make it easier for others to find, as well as to get a concrete answer. I'm seeing some "gaps" for lack of a better word in my Encore data, and given that I am certain I'm not taking off the mask during the night, I'm not sure why they are occurring. Last night's (screenshot below) was particularly bad.

One culprit could be that I've started using my chin strap with my F&P 432 mask -- when my mouth was flopping open, it would mess up the seal, whereas I find I'm keeping a better seal with the chin strap on. I can't really see how or why this would create these reporting gaps, but they did seem to start when I began to use it.

Any advice or thoughts would be, as always, much appreciated!

Looks to me like the leak went so high the machine may have shut itself off??? Do you have any sort of leak alarm and/or is the machine set to turn off with large leak? I know it seems unlikely that a person could sleep for that length of time with machine off but that is what appears to have happened. It shut off instead of reporting large leak. I am not familiar with your machine but I have an alarm that will sound (big whoopie, very faint beep) and I have it so my machine will not turn off in the event of large leak, instead it will continue to flow and I would see a large line in large leak. Doesn't happen often now but it did when I first started therapy.

I just took a walk through the provider mode, and I don't see anything suggesting that it will auto turn-off with a large leak. I know that the DME did turn off the alarms prior to giving them to me. She said they go off when it detects an apnea, I think? Maybe that's not right, but in any case, she did say that it would unnecessarily disturb sleep.

I really do think I'd notice if it were shutting off. I am certain that I didn't turn it back on during the night, though -- I would remember that. My sleep on this thing is so poor right now that I'm pretty aware of stuff...I think!

Maybe the leak went so high it quit reporting cause it didn't know what to do but the machine stayed on??

Maybe your machine does that instead of showing large leak? Whatever the gap reason, I think it is related to leak somehow.
Everyone of those gaps is preceding by an upward leak near 100.

BrianInTN, does your PR S1 Bi-PAP ST provide Wave Form pages? I have used a PR S1 Bi-PAP Auto which can produce Wave Form pages in EncorePro2 and the relationship between large leak and what appears to be the PAP shutting off and I'm quite convinced that large leaks do contribute to confusing the PAP so much that it doesn't know how to respond so just blows along at a minimum pressure until either it figures things out or the large leak ceases. It would be nice to know for sure tho, wouldn't it? I was trying out a new mask for the first time when this Wave Form page occurred.

Unfortunately, as best I've been able to figure out, the BiPAP S/T doesn't produce the waveform reports. There are never any of the .005 data files on the card, and the properties.txt file on the card doesn't list "5" as one of the supported logging types. From what I've gleaned, it sounds like the current BiPAP S/T is really just an evolutionary version of the much older versions that didn't support breath-by-breath data, so despite it being mucho expensive, it has inferior data capabilities to the PR S1 CPAP I have sitting in a corner of my bedroom. Bummer for me!

BrianinTN wrote:it has inferior data capabilities to the PR S1 CPAP I have sitting in a corner of my bedroom. Bummer for me!

Well.... if your data speaks true as in your other thread, you may be going down the road to yet another machine to better deal with the centrals.. When is next doctor visit? I forget if you have mentioned it.

Ah, well, it is just a theory on my part anyway.

Pugsy wrote:

BrianinTN wrote:it has inferior data capabilities to the PR S1 CPAP I have sitting in a corner of my bedroom. Bummer for me!

Well.... if your data speaks true as in your other thread, you may be going down the road to yet another machine to better deal with the centrals.. When is next doctor visit? I forget if you have mentioned it.

Next Monday, unless I reschedule because I'm dying to go down to Florida this week for spring training.

I'm totally worried about the insurance side of this. I've already had a CPAP and a BiPAP S/T paid for by them, at 100%, in the past year. I know the DME won't take the BiPAP back, either. So while it seems like I should have been put on an ASV from the very beginning, and that fact that I haven't is by no fault of my own, I worry about someone at Blue Cross deciding they're tired of taking care of me as a patient.

Well, if you end up being switched to the ASV make sure it is the ASV Enhanced!

Often to satisfy insurance a person needs to have failed on the other machines before trying the high dollar machine. Just part of the hoops we have to jump through.

Pugsy wrote:Lo... I know it seems unlikely that a person could sleep for that length of time with machine off but that is what appears to have happened. ...

I woke up about a week ago with the machine off - the power cord had pulled out. I woke up because is was difficult to inhale I think, at least it was difficult when I woke up

When I ran the reports for that night, the machine had a gap of 90 minutes that ended when I woke up and restarted the machine.

So ... I found out I could breathe through the FK Oral 2 mask with the machine off.

Who would've thunk.

I agree with Pugsy and I thought I had said as much but I must not have hit enter before logging off.

JDS74 wrote:

Pugsy wrote:Lo... I know it seems unlikely that a person could sleep for that length of time with machine off but that is what appears to have happened. ...

I woke up about a week ago with the machine off - the power cord had pulled out. I woke up because is was difficult to inhale I think, at least it was difficult when I woke up

When I ran the reports for that night, the machine had a gap of 90 minutes that ended when I woke up and restarted the machine.

So ... I found out I could breathe through the FK Oral 2 mask with the machine off.

Who would've thunk.

Now that's just funny!
I have wondered what would happen if that happened to me without my backup power; now I know.

Yes, Mr. Bill:

After the fact it was funny - not at the time though.

It does show how well engineered these machines are in their efforts to make sure the patient doesn't / can't get hurt.
Plus one for Respironics.

JDS74 wrote:Yes, Mr. Bill:

After the fact it was funny - not at the time though.

It does show how well engineered these machines are in their efforts to make sure the patient doesn't / can't get hurt.
Plus one for Respironics.

It was insensitive of me to write that, and I apologize. I am not sure why that struck me as funny last night. I think it was "I woke up because is was difficult to inhale I think, at least it was difficult when I woke up ". I was thinking of the funniness of noticing it was difficult to breath, (after 90 minutes!). Back when I first got my unit, I put on my own mask and hose and decided one could not breath through such a long straw. However, you apparently did. I wonder if that is because you get a bit of newer air from the mask vent? In the event of a power failure, I would have had that mask right off and then lolled around for an hour or more before I realized I was not sleeping well and restarted my machine. I "feel" I could never last 90 minutes breathing through my hose. But, maybe we can.