Could use help understanding the data from my IntelliPAP

JDM, your leak line looks a lot better now. Wish I could get my peak leak line as flat as yours! Last night was especially finicky-- but the IntelliPAP worked through it, and I had a good AHI.

I'll lass on another useful IntelliPAP tip as well. Many who have the heated humidifier complain about how hard it is to fill. But if you look at it carefully, DeVilbiss built a natural funnel into the top of the humidifier tank. just hold the tank at an angle, and dump the water on the tank top. The angled sides ensures the water goes right in the narrow slots at a fairly high rate.

Never got the fuse answer, but I used a 3 amp fuse, which I suspected was a not unreasonable guess. Normally, it is a simple matter to measure current on something like this. But having to measure it when your machine is at the high end of the pressure range in the middle of the night is a lot tougher-- you have to catch it there, and have everything set up to make the measurement without powering the machine off or causing the machine to reduce your pressure. I didn't blow any fuses, and the battery performance data suggests an average load on the order of 2 amps. That's about 24 watts of power, easily believable for a device with a blower producing significant pressure. In any case, I am ready for this weekend's astronomy event/camping trip. One 38 AH battery for the telescope, the other for the AutoPAP.

timbalionguy wrote:JDM, your leak line looks a lot better now. Wish I could get my peak leak line as flat as yours! Last night was especially finicky-- but the IntelliPAP worked through it, and I had a good AHI.

I bet that peak leak difference is a result of mask difference , "DeVilbiss-Math" which considers a 0.25 part of hour equivalent to 0.33, and the chart's extreme roughness (lack of granularity).

Knowing what I know of my mask leaks on a program that gives far more reliable and detailed information (SilverLining 3, for Puritan Bennett machines) and what I get on the DeVilbiss chart with the same mask - I would say that peak leak drawing can be safely considered non-informative.

O.

By the way, according to DeVilbiss marketing viewtopic.php?p=355874#p355874,
the DeVilbiss Intellipap treats apnea and hypopneas just the same -- so by changing the sensitivity of the apnea response from 10% to 20% you would make absolutely no change in the pressure response to the events. It would only change you statistics from having more hypopneas to having more apneas.

DeVilbiss Marketing wrote:2) Apneas and hypopneas are equally rated in our algorithm, so our unit responds much as a sleep lab protocol would respond.

Here's what happen: Anything below 50% of the flow gets rated hypopnea. Until it reaches the defined apnea percentage, the default for which is 10% of the flow on the Intellipap - surprisingly lower than either Respironic's 80% or Resmed's 75%.

On April 19 (my time...) yardbird wrote:Your data looks almost exactly like mine. Last night I had ZERO apneas recorded and I think that's a first for me. However I had a LOT of hypopnea events and they wake me up so I need to track them down. I also think it's important to know what a particular setting MEANS if we're going to make changes.

<snip>
If the machine pressure is set, such that I have ZERO apnea events recorded, but lots of hypopnea events. Do I want to CHASE the hypopnea events by making these small and granular adjustments or do I do something much simpler and INCREASE my low pressure setting in an effort to keep the airway splinted open and PREVENT the hypopnea events?[/quote]

The reply to the big question is: IF YOU WANT TO COMPARE A RESPIRONICS' OR RESMED'S AI RESULTS TO A DEVILBISS -- MOVE THE APNEA % DEFINITION UP.
The total AHI is the important one on the DeVilbiss, not the parts. And you can start making things better by either taking the minimum higher, or instructing the machine to respond sooner -- when relevant to your way of breathing.
That ability to change % definition for an apnea is pure window dressing. Affecting only the relative statisics on apnea and hypopneas, but not changing the therapy one whit.

On the otherhand, if you want to make the machine more sensitive to your events, and you want it to start responding faster, you can do it by setting the hypopnea % lower.
All hardware and software hints to the contrary -- hypopnea percentage is measured down from 100, while apnea percentage is measured up from zero - you can see hear that in the Webinars, and find it defined in the quick setup guide (thanks, -SWS for pointing out the info in the quick setup guide).

Apnea % :The absolute value below which the respiratory flow must fall to be considered as an apnea.
Range: 0-20%, increments of 5 (my comment: this means you can't set it up to equal Resmed's 75%)

Hypopnea % : The percent which the respiratory flow must fall from its normal value to be considered as a hypopnea.
Range: 30%-70%, increments of 5
O.

timbalionguy wrote: I'll lass on another useful IntelliPAP tip as well. Many who have the heated humidifier complain about how hard it is to fill. But if you look at it carefully, DeVilbiss built a natural funnel into the top of the humidifier tank. just hold the tank at an angle, and dump the water on the tank top. The angled sides ensures the water goes right in the narrow slots at a fairly high rate.

That's exactly what I do. I hold the tank in my left hand with the fill slots pointed to the right and up at about a 45 degree angle. I hold the jug of water in my right hand with the pour spout pointed left, and pour the water on top of the tank so that it runs down into the fill slots. I've discovered that this is the only way to fill the tank from a completely full jug without spilling a drop.

I thought I would show my last night's data-after gradually tightening the chin strap and mask, I have a much flatter leak line. Any thoughts on the hypopneas and apneas now?

let's see if it will show up now. Much better leak rate.

Hmmmm. Let me try this again, and if it doesn't work, here is the link to the report. http://bertholdolson.winkflash.com/

Berthold wrote:Hmmmm. Let me try this again

If you go to the image, then right click the mouse, you should see "copy image location" as a choice. Click on that choice.

Then go to where you are creating the post
Click on the IMG button
you will then see 2 IMG in brackets like this [IMG] place the mouse cursor in between the 2 IMG boxes, right click mouse, then paste

your image location will appear between the 2 IMG boxes and if you click on preview your image should show up.
If you don't use the IMG bracket boxes, you get the "image" word only that you see in the post.

Thanks Pugsy, I will try and hopefully succeed the next time I need to post a report.