Nasal Mask / AHI data

[hostcr]

Hello!
I'm a newbie. Using CPAP for about 2 weeks.
AHI during checkup in hospital was 79 (without CPAP). Now it is 2-5 accordind to the morning data on the screen of my Airsense.
I use nasal mask (N20), feel comfortable at night with it. Also tried full face mask for few nights, but could not sleep well at all.
As far as i know, sometimes i'm a mouth breather.
The question is - whether AHI data is correct with nasal mask (machine thinks that i breath, but it is only because my mouth is open)?
Sorry for my english - not a native speaker
Thanks.

[ChicagoGranny]

The question is - whether AHI data is correct with nasal mask (machine thinks that i breath, but it is only because my mouth is open)?

It is correct unless you are having a large leak. You could have a large leak when your mouth opens. You can check all of this by looking at the breath wave forms in Sleepyhead.

https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize
https://sleep.tnet.com/reference/tips/imgur

Note that Sleepyhead will not work if your CPAP machine does not provide full data. Let us know the machine model, and someone will advise you.

[hostcr]

Hello.
these are two nights for comparison. Both nights i woke up and found that my mask is not on me, i don't remember why i removed it. On both grafs there is a gap 4.30-5.30am - any reasons?
Machine module is AirSense S10 Autoset.

First night 10/03 - nasal mask N20 (fits me better, almost got used to it)
https://imgur.com/O0MVkrc

Last night 10/05 - full face F20 (this time it was pretty comfortable).
http://imgur.com/U8ro0Kp

It seems to me that both masks fit, but nasal is more comfortable, and also it doesnt have much leak.
Is my data OK, any advices for usage?
Thanks a lot.

[Pugsy]

Do not need Exp time graph...might be more useful to have the flow limitation graph.
No need to redo these images though. I just mention it for future image sharing.
Also turn the pie chart off so the more important statistics column gets included.
To turn pie chart of...Preferences/Appearance tab and remove check mark for "show pie chart".

Except for the breaks in therapy it appears that the settings are doing a good job.
The break in therapy is likely mask removal. No other real explanation. You took it off and put it back on about an hour or so later. You may or may not remember doing either.

As far as mouth breathing/opening leaks...if you are doing it then it sure isn't very much and unless it is causing you to wake up often I wouldn't worry about it and I would use the mask that I liked the best in terms of comfort and sleep quality.
You aren't getting any large leak flags (see the LL on the events graph..that's large leak and if you had any it would show up there) with either mask.
And even if you were unless it was a really prolonged and big large leak I wouldn't worry about it.
Small brief large leaks aren't worrisome unless they wake us up.

Your data is accurate...Use the mask that you like the best.
A lot of people think they are mouth breathers but end up not being significant mouth breathers. Their mouth breathing pre cpap was more from gasping for air from the apnea events. And some people find that if they were doing some mouth breathing because of nasal congestion that the humidified air actually helps clear up the nasal congestion and so there is no real physical need to mouth breathe.

We all will open our mouths from time to time...I do it too...but unless it causes really big prolonged large leaks or wakes us up then it isn't that big of a problem. I don't see any large leaks on these reports your shared.
Mouth breathing/opening leak will show up if it happens. A leak is a leak no matter where it's from when it comes to the machine reporting.

All in all good reports except for the break in therapy where the mask likely was removed.
Not unusual for someone just starting therapy to remove the mask and not remember doing it. I did it myself.
With time the brain learns that it wants to keep the mask on...if you start doing it too often what you can do while the brain is learning to accept its new best friend is just tape the straps to the cheeks in a couple of places so that when you try to remove the mask in your sleep the momentary discomfort from the tape pulling on the skin will hopefully wake you up enough to stop the mask removal.

[Pugsy]

I thought I would share a report where there is evidence of large leaks that are easy to spot.
This happens to be mask movement leaks...I was trying a new mask and hadn't got the tension on the straps dialed in good yet.
Mouth breathing leaks would look similar.

[hostcr]

Wow! Awesome! Thank you for the info!