High leak rates and Low AHI?

[nomorenaps]

I am three weeks in and had fairly good low numbers (AHI's between 5-10) and leak rates of below .40 until a few nights ago...

Leak rates shot up above 1.2! up to 1.6 one night... But the reason i didnt readjust the mask after the first night with huge leak rates was that my AI was at .5 for that night and HI was 2.8! These numbers have now been consistent for three days.

Does a real high leak rate make the AHI numbers less legitimate or have I stumbled across something that I shouldn't change since the numbers are so good.

thanks in advance

[hobbs]

I assume with a large leak the machine does not detect AI or HI as the air never stops flowing?

[Goofproof]

If your leak rate isn't under control, your treatment and data are not correct, First things first, control the leaks. Jim

[Snoredog]

you should multiply that 1.2 or 1.6 Liters per second (L/s) value by 60, it will give you the Liters per minute (L/m) found on the mask flow chart, then look up your 95% pressure and find what your leak rate should be for that mask/pressure combination.

But the machine will STOP recording and responding to events in the presence of large leak (72 & 96 L/m leak falls into that category easily).

Your leak shouldn't be getting over .6 or .8L/s

[Country4ever]

Hi nomorenaps,
Your leak rate is too high.....I think it should not be much above .10 l/s. Yes, your AHI is useless information with your leaks being so high. I know you seem happy with AHI of 5-10, but I think that's too high too. I spent alot of time denying my leak problem, but you really have to address it, or your treatment just isn't doing anything for you.
Focus on getting your leak rate down, by fixing or changing or mask. Then you can more reliably look at your AHI number, and work on increasing the pressure to help lower that.