Newbie - Need some help with leaks?

[sleeplesshead]

Hello, Newb here. I've been using my APAP for about 2.5 months now. Ever since I started, I feel like I've consistently had leaks with my mask and would be woken by the mask basically farting on my face . After self-troubleshooting it a bit, I realized my oily face was the problem and so I started using a piece of cloth between the mask and my face and I stopped being woken at night - which was awesome.

Now I just uploaded my data to Sleepyhead and it was surprising to see that it's still reporting leaks.

Could someone help me read this and troubleshoot what might be going on?

Sleepyhead screenshots:
http://imgur.com/a/EU95Z
http://imgur.com/a/wOcqu
http://imgur.com/a/4PEVn

[palerider]

Hello, Newb here. I've been using my APAP for about 2.5 months now. Ever since I started, I feel like I've consistently had leaks with my mask and would be woken by the mask basically farting on my face . After self-troubleshooting it a bit, I realized my oily face was the problem and so I started using a piece of cloth between the mask and my face and I stopped being woken at night - which was awesome.

Now I just uploaded my data to Sleepyhead and it was surprising to see that it's still reporting leaks.

Could someone help me read this and troubleshoot what might be going on?

congrats, you've discovered mask liners.

when you post things, you need to post the link to the picture itself, not just to the page it's on, if the link doesn't end with .jpg or .png, don't click the 'img' tag.

more importantly, read these pages, and please, please, follow the directions:
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize
https://sleep.tnet.com/reference/tips/imgur

[sleeplesshead]

Thanks, screenshots fixed.

[palerider]

Thanks, screenshots fixed.

not really, look back at that first link, please.

[Pugsy]

Are you talking about the statistic saying that you spent 4.34% of the time in large leaks?
Because I don't see any large leak flags on the events graph.

The statistic is in error because it is using a red line threshold number for calculations that is meant for a different brand machine than you are using.
SleepyHead defaults to a ResMed large leak threshold of 24 L/min and Respironics machines don't use that number as a threshold.

You can fix things or ignore what you are seeing and just look over on the events graph to see if any LL (Large Leak) flags are showing up.

How to fix...go to Preferences/CPAP tab and either turn off that reporting statistic for large leak threshold by removing the check mark or change the 24 L/min number to something more along the lines of where Respironics might have the threshold. The problem is Respironics doesn't ever give us an exact line in the sand like ResMed does and we can't use ResMed's line in the sand because they are 2 different brands and each does the leak calculations and reporting differently and have different leak threshold.

From my past experience with Respironics and trying to figure out just where the threshold is...it moves with pressures used and mask used....
somewhere around 60 L/min would probably be a conservative close number to use. Maybe 50 L/min if you get even more conservative.
The real indicator is the Events graph...that's the report from the machine and if it doesn't flag any large leak time then you didn't have any despite what SH might be telling you in the Statistics.

I would suggest turning it off and just using the Events graph to see if large leaks happened.
Or just ignore that little statistic when you see it saying something...just look over at the Events graph and there aren't any LL flags...you didn't have any large leaks.
If the machine thinks you went into large leak territory it will flag it and it will show up on the Events graphs.

[sleeplesshead]

Thanks Pugsy. Very helpful response!!