should i change my minimum pressure

[palerider]

here's a screenshot with the flow limitations. is it good?

I'd be more interested in seeing a SS *after* the pressure increase, to compare.

do you feel any better?

[ufo13]

As for my old friend Den, (Wulfman)-- he is still cranking out great advice to all, and has been doing it almost since this site was started! I have NO trouble saying he is one of the smartest and helpful guys I know! Little story: Years ago I was using a prescribed pressure of 18--with the discomfort that goes with that pressure! Den posted about his prescribed high pressure caused problems for him also, and he took control of his own therapy and found a much lower pressure ( 10 if I remember correctly ) treated him perfectly! Sometimes an overnight stay in the sleep lab,in an unfamiliar bed and place, causes incorrect info! Well, I took his advice and ran a sleep test of my own with my new auto cpap, in my familiar bed and home---and was able to lower my pressure from 18 to 12 and have been using that pressure for many years now---thanks to Den!
Hi Den----Been a while---glad all is well with you and Happy New Year!

Steve,
ufo13

[Wulfman...]

Palerider gives excellent advice----hope you are feeling better now! As for my old friend Den, (Wulfman)-- he is still cranking out great advice to all, and has been doing it almost since this site was started! I have NO trouble saying he is one of the smartest and helpful guys I know! Little story: Years ago I was using a prescribed pressure of 18--with the discomfort that goes with that pressure! Den posted about his prescribed high pressure caused problems for him also, and he took control of his own therapy and found a much lower pressure ( 10 if I remember correctly ) treated him perfectly! Sometimes an overnight stay in the sleep lab,in an unfamiliar bed and place, causes incorrect info! Well, I took his advice and ran a sleep test of my own with my new auto cpap, in my familiar bed and home---and was able to lower my pressure from 18 to 12 and have been using that pressure for many years now---thanks to Den!
Hi Den----Been a while---glad all is well with you and Happy New Year!

Steve,
ufo13

Hi Steve.
Good to see you're still checking in here. Happy New Year to you, too. Hope all is well with you (including your therapy).
On a side note, I've been using one of my REMstar Autos this last year. It's the first Auto I acquired from "a forum member" who put it up for sale in 2006. His loss, my gain. I may just keep using it till it falls apart......and then rebuild it and keep using it. It's got over 9000 blower hours and over 7300 user hours on it now. Still works great and is nice and quiet. Haven't used it in a range of pressures for quite a few years, but in CPAP mode it's just what I need.
Yeah, you remember correctly. I was also prescribed 18 cm. and switched to 10 for about a year and then settled on 12, too.

Take care, my friend.

Den

.

[jt1]

well last night i switched the minimum pressure to 11. had a ahi of 0.46! i felt pretty good today, but couldn't quit yawning! sleepyhead says i had significant periods of major mask leakage. i already had a appointment with my care provider to get a different mask, since it was within the 30 day period. i ended up going to a phillips respironics amara. not sure how much i like it but i'll see if i can get my leaks down. any advice for a side sleeper with a ffm? do the cpap pillows work? maybe i should shave my beard to achieve a better seal? although i work outside and am a avid outdoorsman it does help in winter months to keep my face warm. but, i'll try anything to get better. here's the data from last night, is there anything to be learned from it? and am i including the pertinent data needed?


and also, is there a good write up on understanding how to interrupt the data and what it all means, and how to adjust to it?? thanks everyone.

[Wulfman...]

well last night i switched the minimum pressure to 11. had a ahi of 0.46! i felt pretty good today, but couldn't quit yawning! sleepyhead says i had significant periods of major mask leakage. i already had a appointment with my care provider to get a different mask, since it was within the 30 day period. i ended up going to a phillips respironics amara. not sure how much i like it but i'll see if i can get my leaks down. any advice for a side sleeper with a ffm? do the cpap pillows work? maybe i should shave my beard to achieve a better seal? although i work outside and am a avid outdoorsman it does help in winter months to keep my face warm. but, i'll try anything to get better. here's the data from last night, is there anything to be learned from it? and am i including the pertinent data needed?


and also, is there a good write up on understanding how to interrupt the data and what it all means, and how to adjust to it?? thanks everyone.

Lookin' good!
Your flow limitations are driving your pressure increases, but I can't see any other good reasons (events) that it should be going that high. So, if you find the pressure changes may be disturbing your sleep, you might want to drop your maximum pressure or just use a fixed/straight pressure.......11 or 12 might treat you very well.

The yawning is not unusual. I experienced it myself.

Edit to add: A narrower range or straight pressure should help with your leaks, too.


Den

.

[jt1]

well last night i switched the minimum pressure to 11. had a ahi of 0.46! i felt pretty good today, but couldn't quit yawning! sleepyhead says i had significant periods of major mask leakage. i already had a appointment with my care provider to get a different mask, since it was within the 30 day period. i ended up going to a phillips respironics amara. not sure how much i like it but i'll see if i can get my leaks down. any advice for a side sleeper with a ffm? do the cpap pillows work? maybe i should shave my beard to achieve a better seal? although i work outside and am a avid outdoorsman it does help in winter months to keep my face warm. but, i'll try anything to get better. here's the data from last night, is there anything to be learned from it? and am i including the pertinent data needed?


and also, is there a good write up on understanding how to interrupt the data and what it all means, and how to adjust to it?? thanks everyone.

Lookin' good!
Your flow limitations are driving your pressure increases, but I can't see any other good reasons (events) that it should be going that high. So, if you find the pressure changes may be disturbing your sleep, you might want to drop your maximum pressure or just use a fixed/straight pressure.......11 or 12 might treat you very well.

The yawning is not unusual. I experienced it myself.


Den

.

first off, i want to thank you wolfman for all your advice throughout this thread. greatly appreciated. is there a way to know if the high pressure really is disturbing my sleep? im a hard sleeper, i dont believe i gain any sort of consciousness. or by disturbing do you mean knocking me down to a lighter stage of sleep? should i leave it on auto a while longer or go to say 11.6 and try that for a week or so starting tonight? what would you do if it was you?

[Wulfman...]

well last night i switched the minimum pressure to 11. had a ahi of 0.46! i felt pretty good today, but couldn't quit yawning! sleepyhead says i had significant periods of major mask leakage. i already had a appointment with my care provider to get a different mask, since it was within the 30 day period. i ended up going to a phillips respironics amara. not sure how much i like it but i'll see if i can get my leaks down. any advice for a side sleeper with a ffm? do the cpap pillows work? maybe i should shave my beard to achieve a better seal? although i work outside and am a avid outdoorsman it does help in winter months to keep my face warm. but, i'll try anything to get better. here's the data from last night, is there anything to be learned from it? and am i including the pertinent data needed?


and also, is there a good write up on understanding how to interrupt the data and what it all means, and how to adjust to it?? thanks everyone.

Lookin' good!
Your flow limitations are driving your pressure increases, but I can't see any other good reasons (events) that it should be going that high. So, if you find the pressure changes may be disturbing your sleep, you might want to drop your maximum pressure or just use a fixed/straight pressure.......11 or 12 might treat you very well.

The yawning is not unusual. I experienced it myself.


Den

.

first off, i want to thank you wolfman for all your advice throughout this thread. greatly appreciated. is there a way to know if the high pressure really is disturbing my sleep? im a hard sleeper, i dont believe i gain any sort of consciousness. or by disturbing do you mean knocking me down to a lighter stage of sleep? should i leave it on auto a while longer or go to say 11.6 and try that for a week or so starting tonight? what would you do if it was you?

FRICK!!!! I had a response typed up and hit the wrong button and closed my browser window.......GRRRRR!

But, using a narrower range or single pressure should help eliminate some of those leaks you mentioned previously.
The pressure changes MAY disrupt some peoples' sleep, but that's an individual thing. However, I would suggest trying to eliminate whatever can disturb your sleep........pressure changes, leaks, etc.
Nothing wrong with using a range for some amount of time to see what happens. I learned what I needed to know with my therapy and you will, too.
I'm an extremely sound sleeper, too. I've slept through some horrendously large leaks and never knew it till I looked at the reports. But, when I used a range of pressures, I was constantly waking up and glancing at my LCD screen to see what pressure it was on. Everybody's different.

Your call with your pressure settings now. I think I've given you some of my opinions as to what may happen but you need to see for yourself. Feel free to ask any amount of questions you wish to have answered. I'll do my best to try to answer them.


Den

.

[jt1]

Ok thanks wolfman. Guess I'll try a constant pressure and see what happens, and if it helps with my leaks. I'm also looking on cpap.com at some mask liners and possibly a pillow. Thanks again .