Problem with leaks

[bettiola]

I have been using a cpap for a year and a half now and thought I had pretty much gotten all the kinks straightened out. But lately I have been having a lot of problems with leaks. A couple of weeks ago I spoke to my DMS and they suggested trying a new mask, which I did, and there was a great improvement, but the last few days my leak rate has gone way up again. I've tried everything I can think of to problem-solve - loosening the mask, tightening the mask, changing how the tubing is suspended, etc. Nothing seems to help. In spite of the leaks my AHI rate has been pretty good - in the 2's and 3's. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[snoozysue]

I find the Pad A Cheek Anti Leak strap very effective with the Quattro for stopping leaks

http://www.padacheek.com/PAC_AntiLeak_Strap.html

[LSAT]

Here's a bunch of videos you can look at...maybe there's some help here.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/v ... k&fr=yfp-t

[bettiola]

Thanks very much for these suggestions - I will check them out!

[Pugsy]

In spite of the leaks my AHI rate has been pretty good - in the 2's and 3's. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Only one thought...with your machine if you are spending any time in a large leak over 35 L/min the AHI might not be all that accurate. The machine will start losing ability to sense, record and respond at around the 30 L/min mark and the further you go the worse it gets. Between 30 and 35 you might see some unknown apnea flags meaning the machine sensed something but didn't know what it is. Over 35 and it an totally miss events.

So if you are spending much time up there in that area the AHI might be falsely low just a little because of the inaccuracy of the data during that time of prolonged leak.

Now if you don't spend much time up there the AHI is likely fairly accurate but if you spend half the night up over 35 L/min the AHI data would definitely be questionable....you wouldn't know for sure that the AHI is nice and low because the machine prevent the events and they didn't happen or they happened and the machine was clueless and missed them.

[bettiola]

Thanks, Pugsy, I thought of that, too. Last night my leak rate was better but my AHI were higher - 6.5, which I know is not good. (I got Sleepyhead and read your tutorial, which was very helpful, but there's still so much I don't know, and I haven't figured out yet how to post the data here. That's a next step for me.) After a year and a half as a cpap user, I seem to go through good periods and then for no apparent reason I start having problems again with leaks and/or high (over 5) AHI scores. I've never liked my mask, Quattro Air, but all the other masks I've tried were worse and I can't tolerate a nose mask or nose pillows because I feel as if I can't exhale. If you have any other thoughts or suggestions please let me know. You are such a godsend to us cpap strugglers!

[Pugsy]

When you feel up to it and have time try to post a couple of typical detailed reports so we can see what you are seeing and get a better idea what might be going on.
Without my seeing the reports it's real hard to come up with much more than a WAG (wild ass guess) and I don't really like doing that if I can help it.

How to post images
https://sleep.tnet.com/reference/tips/imgur

How to organize the graphs (we don't need all the graphs that SH spits out)...3 pages be sure to read all of them
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize

and some examples of the final product in this thread
viewtopic/t103468/Need-help-with-screen-shots.html

[bettiola]

Thanks, Pugsy, this is a good motivator for me to make the effort to figure out how to post the data and I know it would be very helpful for me to have you take a look at it! I will check it out and post asap.

Later.......
I just followed all the steps, but I can't figure out how to do the very last step. I tried copying the BBCode that I got from IMGUR into a post, but it just stayed in code. How do I get the actual graphic to appear in the post? I must be missing something. I'm getting tired so I'll go to bed and try again tomorrow.

Thanks again!

[Stormynights]

I use those stretchy wide knit headbands to help stabilize my masks. You just have to make sure you don't cover your exhaust. They are easy to find at most stores and are very inexpensive. It is a good thing because I have a few under my bed that I can't reach.

[sleepychar]

I just followed all the steps, but I can't figure out how to do the very last step. I tried copying the BBCode that I got from IMGUR into a post, but it just stayed in code. How do I get the actual graphic to appear in the post? I must be missing something. I'm getting tired so I'll go to bed and try again tomorrow.

You won't see the graphs in your post until you click on the Preview button. Then look above your message that you are typing and you will see the preview and it should have the graphs. That confused me at first... Then when you click on the Submit button, the graphs should be included in your message.