Exhale Puff Index (EPI)

Exhale Puff Index (EPI). What is the normal/acceptable number of events per hour for that?

Sorry, don't use your machine and thought I would give your post a bump up so Intellipap users could see it near the top.

How much EPI are your seeing?

Short answer, the lower the EPI the better. Expiratory puffs are presumed to lead to mouth breathing which bypasses that which the xPAP is intended to do.
So think of EPI as an early warning signal that you might be doing some mouth breathing. If it becomes too much of a problem, especially if you notice a trend in which EPI increases with time, a mask which covers the nose and mouth might be needed. But the EPs might also be handled by taping the mouth closed using a strip of painter's tape.

Sleeping position influences EP. The wife says I do it when I'm sleeping flat on my back. That usually doesn't last long; I usually roll onto my side after a couple of puffs and then they cease.

Pugsy wrote:Sorry, don't use your machine and thought I would give your post a bump up so Intellipap users could see it near the top.

How much EPI are your seeing?

Well, my mensal report is pointing a medium of 16 events per hour, which is around of what I'm getting daily, from 13 to 20.

Slartybartfast wrote:Short answer, the lower the EPI the better. Expiratory puffs are presumed to lead to mouth breathing which bypasses that which the xPAP is intended to do.
So think of EPI as an early warning signal that you might be doing some mouth breathing. If it becomes too much of a problem, especially if you notice a trend in which EPI increases with time, a mask which covers the nose and mouth might be needed. But the EPs might also be handled by taping the mouth closed using a strip of painter's tape.

Sleeping position influences EP. The wife says I do it when I'm sleeping flat on my back. That usually doesn't last long; I usually roll onto my side after a couple of puffs and then they cease.

I see, but I thought about getting to know if the amount of events I have is in a regular level or not. Like the apnea itself, that you can see if it's severe or not by the numer of times it happens in one hour. Is there something like that for the exhale puff problem?

My EPI is usually under 1. Often, if I have a score at all, it is around 0.3. So, I'd say yours are a bit high.....

Although there is no formal acceptable EPI levels, those numbers seem to be a bit high. I would agree that you need to manage the "puffing" with a full face mask or other options.

Maybe I just found my perfect setup. The last two nights I had EPI of 6 and 4. I did some changes and my config now is 7-min/12-max. Also, I set the delay at 7 (minimum) instead of lower numbers which were making me struggle to breathe.

Today I finally received my Intellipap Smartlink software with Module. I guess I'll be able to have a more precise monitoring.

Glad you got the software! You have pretty low pressures like mine..... I turned off the Delay completely after about 3 nights. Jumping at 7 from the get go is easy to do! Once you get data and see your 90/95th%tile readings, you can adjust your pressures to 2 notches above and below that figure. For example, if the 90th%tile pressure is 9, your settings would be 7 - 11. Your machine is capable for .5 adjustments so don't be afraid to move things up or down by half notches until you find your sweet spot.

EPI
The Exhale Puff Index (EPI) is the number of exhale puff events detected per hour. Exhale puffing is caused by inhaling through the patient circuit and exhaling through the mouth.

Do a search of the forum on Exhale Puff Index- there are a number of prior discussions.