A week after using the Resmed F30 mask ... what am I missing?

[Pugsy]

Did you know you can turn off the short sessions if you want to and then your events graph won't look so wonky and will be easier to evaluate not scrunched up?
Look on the left side under the machine settings for the sleep sessions.
You can click on the short one and change it from green to red and this turns it off to make your graphs easier to see? This removes that short session.
You can always click on it again and turn it back on.
This is also a way to remove known awake time if you happen to have turned the machine off and then back on again and created another session.

We don't need both pressure graphs either. Omit the masked pressure for now. This will let you resize your other graphs so that some of them aren't so tiny.

While those large leaks you see might be mouth opening leaks....might also be mask movement leaks....or a combination.

If you look at when those hyponea clusters got flagged the bulk of them were in periods of large leak. I don't know that I would be in a rush to be increasing that minimum to 12 just yet. It's very possible that if the large leaks didn't happen the machine could have prevented those hyponeas from ever happening. The leak is compromising the effective therapy pressure.
Gotta fix the leaks first.
The only way to know for sure if mask movement or mouth opening is to tape the mouth shut....one night just to get the answer so you can then best go about fixing the cause of the leak.

[Biomed_ZZZ]

Thanks Pugsy!

I have tried to read up on Oscar and Sleepyhead but unfortunately by skimming I have missed some things. I adjusted the graphs and hopefully they're good now.

I hesitate taping my mouth shut as I get acid reflux at times and want to make sure it has a way to escape.

I have a FF mask on order and it should be here tomorrow, I'll start there and see how it goes.

[zonker]

Thanks Pugsy!

I have tried to read up on Oscar and Sleepyhead but unfortunately by skimming I have missed some things. I adjusted the graphs and hopefully they're good now.

I hesitate taping my mouth shut as I get acid reflux at times and want to make sure it has a way to escape.

I have a FF mask on order and it should be here tomorrow, I'll start there and see how it goes.

as an alternative to mouth taping, may i suggest jay's method-

viewtopic/p1089718/viewtopic.php?f=1&t= ... s#p1086296

this rig uses hairbands rather than tape across the mouth. so no sticky bits to remove so it comes off easier and faster.

my apologies if i've mentioned this to you before. i tend to go on and on about it because i find it works for me so well.

actually, i have NO idea if this works with a full face mask. but does work well with nasal pillows.

[Biomed_ZZZ]

Thanks Pugsy!

I have tried to read up on Oscar and Sleepyhead but unfortunately by skimming I have missed some things. I adjusted the graphs and hopefully they're good now.

I hesitate taping my mouth shut as I get acid reflux at times and want to make sure it has a way to escape.

I have a FF mask on order and it should be here tomorrow, I'll start there and see how it goes.

as an alternative to mouth taping, may i suggest jay's method-

viewtopic/p1089718/viewtopic.php?f=1&t= ... s#p1086296

this rig uses hairbands rather than tape across the mouth. so no sticky bits to remove so it comes off easier and faster.

my apologies if i've mentioned this to you before. i tend to go on and on about it because i find it works for me so well.

actually, i have NO idea if this works with a full face mask. but does work well with nasal pillows.

Thanks Zonker! You hadn't mentioned it before and looks like an interesting way of keeping a mouth shut. I think I am going to wait just 1 day to see what happens tomorrow night as I seem to also get gurgling and at times my mouth fills with air as well. It seems to happen when I am just starting to dose off and it wakes me; I am hoping that a FF mask may keep all that stuff under control along with hopefully fixing the large leaks. I have to say that so far I have not notice any leaks when I have woken up at night and I don't think I consciously have fixed a leak at the times indicating a large leak but did wake last night to a burning throat and air coming out of my mouth around 1:30.

[palerider]

Last night, I raised the pressure to 10 and used ramp starting a little lower pressure. I think I need to raise the minimum pressure a little to 12.8 or 13 If I'm reading the data correctly.

I'm not understanding the non large leak being reported from the machine. I'm thinking the large leak is from mouth being open and I have ordered a FF mask for that but the non large leak especially in the beginning of the night has me baffled - I was awake and I didn't think my mask was leaking. I did notice that I woke myself up a few times lying on my back as I was dosing off because I was gurgling which I guess is the leak but that was a little while from when I started.

I know the chart isn't a good chart as far as therapy but I will say from my past bad experience that it really is much better than I expected. I'm thinking I just need to figure out the large leak if it turns out not to be my mouth opening, get the minimum pressure correct and get used to being on a PAP device to get longer and better sleep. I see I have CA's being reported and once I get the other things straightened out I guess I'll address it with my sleep doc if it continues.

I do appreciate the help you all are providing! Thanks!

1, turn off the calendar.
2) drag the 'mask pressure' chart down off the screen, make the 6 charts that are left (event flags through flow limit) fill the screen.

Try a minimum of 11.

When you have a large gap because you have a short session then a long gap, go to the left pane at the bottom, and click on the short session to turn it off in the display, and calculations.

[zonker]

Thanks Zonker! You hadn't mentioned it before and looks like an interesting way of keeping a mouth shut. I think I am going to wait just 1 day to see what happens tomorrow night as I seem to also get gurgling and at times my mouth fills with air as well. It seems to happen when I am just starting to dose off and it wakes me; I am hoping that a FF mask may keep all that stuff under control along with hopefully fixing the large leaks. I have to say that so far I have not notice any leaks when I have woken up at night and I don't think I consciously have fixed a leak at the times indicating a large leak but did wake last night to a burning throat and air coming out of my mouth around 1:30.

i've had good luck combating those chipmunk cheeks you mention with the scuncis. from what i've read here, the majority control that by pushing their tongue to the roof of the mouth.

this has never worked for me. i think it's because of the high arch of the roof of my mouth.

whatever works for you.

[Biomed_ZZZ]

Last night, I raised the pressure to 10 and used ramp starting a little lower pressure. I think I need to raise the minimum pressure a little to 12.8 or 13 If I'm reading the data correctly.

I'm not understanding the non large leak being reported from the machine. I'm thinking the large leak is from mouth being open and I have ordered a FF mask for that but the non large leak especially in the beginning of the night has me baffled - I was awake and I didn't think my mask was leaking. I did notice that I woke myself up a few times lying on my back as I was dosing off because I was gurgling which I guess is the leak but that was a little while from when I started.

I know the chart isn't a good chart as far as therapy but I will say from my past bad experience that it really is much better than I expected. I'm thinking I just need to figure out the large leak if it turns out not to be my mouth opening, get the minimum pressure correct and get used to being on a PAP device to get longer and better sleep. I see I have CA's being reported and once I get the other things straightened out I guess I'll address it with my sleep doc if it continues.

I do appreciate the help you all are providing! Thanks!

1, turn off the calendar.
2) drag the 'mask pressure' chart down off the screen, make the 6 charts that are left (event flags through flow limit) fill the screen.

Try a minimum of 11.

When you have a large gap because you have a short session then a long gap, go to the left pane at the bottom, and click on the short session to turn it off in the display, and calculations.

Thanks Palerider! Some people (ME!) need to be hand held through the easiest of things at times!!

I can give 11 a shot.

Nothing new in the chart ... just corrected as instructed!

[Biomed_ZZZ]

Thanks Zonker! You hadn't mentioned it before and looks like an interesting way of keeping a mouth shut. I think I am going to wait just 1 day to see what happens tomorrow night as I seem to also get gurgling and at times my mouth fills with air as well. It seems to happen when I am just starting to dose off and it wakes me; I am hoping that a FF mask may keep all that stuff under control along with hopefully fixing the large leaks. I have to say that so far I have not notice any leaks when I have woken up at night and I don't think I consciously have fixed a leak at the times indicating a large leak but did wake last night to a burning throat and air coming out of my mouth around 1:30.

i've had good luck combating those chipmunk cheeks you mention with the scuncis. from what i've read here, the majority control that by pushing their tongue to the roof of the mouth.

this has never worked for me. i think it's because of the high arch of the roof of my mouth.

whatever works for you.

Zonker I can do OK for a while and then all of a sudden out of nowhere my cheeks do expand and it's not like I noticed something different has happened ... glad to hear it's a thing others go through as well. I can get them back down and they come back - it's a vicious cycle! LOL!

[palerider]

Nothing new in the chart ... just corrected as instructed!

Looks good now, keep that format going forward

[Biomed_ZZZ]

I received the Dreamwear FF mask parts last night and this is the result. It looks like the previous large leaks were maybe from mouth leaks. I know that this chart is far from great and my AHI is high. I still had a couple of large leaks that occurred, I woke up to the sound of the mask fluttering from the pressure, tried to adjust the headgear, unhooked the magnets and caused even bigger leaks ... I have to work on that part of it.

Does a FF mask tend to need higher pressures? It seems that the Dreamwear nasal mask ran at slightly lower pressure. I plan on giving this mask a few days to see how it goes. I do like the idea that I can sleep on my stomach with this mask but if it's not working out I'm thinking to try the Resmed F30 which looks like I'll have to alter sleeping on my stomach.

[Pugsy]

Does a FF mask tend to need higher pressures?

Seems like it is common to need a little more minimum pressure when going to a full face mask from a nasal interface mask.
So yes.....while not everyone will need more pressure enough people do for us to say it is common.
I think it is because that lower strap needed for full face masks pull the jaw back ever so slightly and alter the basic airway structure just enough to make it a little more difficult to hold open.

[Biomed_ZZZ]

Does a FF mask tend to need higher pressures?

Seems like it is common to need a little more minimum pressure when going to a full face mask from a nasal interface mask.
So yes.....while not everyone will need more pressure enough people do for us to say it is common.
I think it is because that lower strap needed for full face masks pull the jaw back ever so slightly and alter the basic airway structure just enough to make it a little more difficult to hold open.

Thanks for the explanation!

[Biomed_ZZZ]

It's been a week since I changed from the Dreamwear FF to the Resmed FF and this is about the type of results I'm getting although I did have 1 or 2 nights that I had AHIs below 5. I know that the machine is not a diagnostic tool and I don't understand why I can get AHIs below 5 but then something like this. I do try and sleep on my stomach so maybe that's the reason, If so i'l try and train myself to sleep on my side. I did notice here that ramp time said 45 minutes, I thought it was on Auto and I plan on putting it in Auto.

I believe I have adapted to falling asleep OK, seem to have mostly small leaks although large ones pop up every so often but not like the Dreamwear mask. I noticed last night that my pressure rose for some unknown reason and maxed out a few times. I tried looking at 10-15 minute time frames and not sure why the pressure rose ... is this the best I can expect?

Here's the full night and a 26 minute time frame where the pressure rose with what looks like to me nothing happening for it to rise.

Any insight is appreciated!

[Pugsy]

Flow limitations are part of what will drive the pressure up.
Snores
Flow limitations
OAs
Hyponeas
all are a factor in the auto adjusting algorithm.

Your FL graph clearly shows what is the main driving force behind the pressure increases.

[Biomed_ZZZ]

Flow limitations are part of what will drive the pressure up.
Snores
Flow limitations
OAs
Hyponeas
all are a factor in the auto adjusting algorithm.

Your FL graph clearly shows what is the main driving force behind the pressure increases.

Thanks Pugsy!

I thought only snores, leaks and apnea events caused the machine to raise the pressure. I guess sleeping on my stomach and having my head twisted to one side does limit flow. I'll be training myself to sleep on my side.

Thanks again!