Tonights the first night

[Sleepless in Indiana]

Well I did get my machine today, and have listed the details down at the bottom. So I'm ready to start a new chapter of my life. Hope I can get some sleep before the sun comes up. Mask seems to seal at low pressure, but starts leaking as the pressure goes up. Have tried to loosen the fit up, and the only way I can get it to work is to tighten the head-gear up real tight. Will have to see how I do tonight. I did order a different mask (nasel) along with the Software today from the good folks here at the site.

I will shoot for 8 hours tonight, and see if I can make it through. I guess even a few hours will be better than none. The prescribing doc wanted to perscribe straight 20 right off the bat. No ramp or nothing. I understand I may end up there, but whenever the sleep-tech went above 14 I started waking up with air coming out all around the mask, and my sleep stages started to degrade again. So I think the auto and ramp will be good to help get use to things. Also if I can keep from sleeping on my back (which I don't do all the time anyways) I think I may be able to get by with a lower pressure. The software should help with getting everthing dialed in afer awhile.

Well got to go and get it all set up.

[preemiern]

If you are needing pressures of 20, I would look at getting a bipap machine. Hopefully with the auto machine and the software, you will get everything fine tuned and find that you don't need that high of a pressure
Good luck tonight...hope you get a good night's rest!!
Cindy

[Gerald]

Welcome to the tribe!

Your attitude is great.....and you'll do well. You have good equipment....and with the software, you'll quickly take charge of your own therapy.

The key to good therapy is to minimize the air leaks.......both leak areas....mask....and mouth.

You may have to change masks a bunch of times before you find "the one"....but, stay after it.

You can do it.......and there's a bunch of nice people on this forum who'll do all they can to help you.

Gerald

[BleepingBeauty]

The prescribing doc wanted to perscribe straight 20 right off the bat. No ramp or nothing.

Yikes! Your prescribing doc is either a nitwit or a masochist. I say use the ramp. You can adjust it later (or do without it altogether) once you're used to the therapy.

Good luck tonight! Let us know how it goes. Of course, post when you have questions or problems. We're all here to help.

[ww]

Good luck. You have a good machine if you don't really require a pressure of 20. The ramp is kinda worthless after a while, but the afex should be set to on and set at 2 to start with and can be reduced to one. This will make breathing against your pressure seem much easier. The real problem may be the mask. You may want to look into the ResMed Ultra Mirage UMFF or the ResMed Quattro. They are a more stable mask than the one you have and stay put better at higher pressures.

[Sleepless in Indiana]

Well I made it through the night. And seemed to get some sleep.

Thanks to all that have replied with encourgament & help. I think I did pertty good, but this morning as the pressure went up (I think my apnea and sleep is worse the longer I sleeep) I started to have more issues with the mask leaking. But I made it through. Pressure seemed to stay around 13 early on, and was as 15 when I woke about 5:30 As I drifted in & out of sleep the rest time before I get up, the pressure increesed up to 18, and that is when I started fighting the mask leaks.

I will have to try the other mask that was suguested.

I did use the machine for 7.4 hours, but it doesn't look like I can read any of the other data yet. Guess I need to use it for a few more days, so the machine can compute the 7 day average. But I have ordered the software and reader already, which should arrive around the end of the week.

[Sleepless in Indiana]

Well I just went back in to empty the water out of the humidifier (do I need to empty this every morning?) and noticed that my numbers are now up on screen. May not have had quite as good as night as I thought, but still a vast improvement. Going to have to work on the leaks.

AHI - 3.3 (I was tested at 66.7)
leak rate - 50.0 l.
90% pressure was 16 cm H2O

I presume the AHI numbers may come down as the leaks are taken care of. Am I thinking right?

[Pugsy]

Do you have the paper work that came with your mask to tell you what the intentional leak rate is at the pressure you were at for most of the night?

The higher the pressure the higher the acceptable leak rate. You need to see what is acceptable for your particular mask. You may not be as far off on the leak as you think you are. AHI of 3.3? There are people who haven't seen that good of a number despite weeks of treatment.

I would be happy with those results for a first night. You can reset your machine to zero if you don't want to mess with the 7 day average thing which really seems confusing. That is what I did till I got my software. 7 and 30 day average doesn't give a clear picture and even more so once you actually get the software and see things.

A huge leak spike will skewer the overall average but yet the leak itself (with the exception of a spike) might be very good. Not saying that is what you had but just giving this as an example.

All in all I think you did extremely well for a first night. You should be very pleased.

[LinkC]

I presume the AHI numbers may come down as the leaks are taken care of. Am I thinking right?

They may...or not. But 3.3 AHI the first night is darn good! Anything under 5.0 is considered effective therapy. Obviously the goal is to have an AHI as low as possible. Odds are yours will get lower as you "fine tune" everything (not just leaks).

Congrats! You're well on your way...

[Pugsy]

If the mask you used is the one listed in your profile these numbers will give you an idea of the acceptable leak rate.

If you want to watch daily data instead of averages you will need to reset your therapy usage data to zero, then your 7 day "average" will be daily data.

[Sleepless in Indiana]

So if you subtract the mask leakage rate, does that mean that my actual leak rate was about 6.5 l. - Is that a good rate. I'm guessing that is just last nights average of no leaks, and largee leaks as the pressure increesed.

[Pugsy]

So if you subtract the mask leakage rate, does that mean that my actual leak rate was about 6.5 l. - Is that a good rate. I'm guessing that is just last nights average of no leaks, and largee leaks as the pressure increese

In an ideal world we want the leak rate to be as close to zero as possible. It is so hard to gauge leak rates just on this one number that you have. What if you had one or two big spikes that caused the leak rate to show an elevated average numerically where in actual use you were really pretty much close to zero except for the spikes? Even if your leak was at 6 L/min the entire night at your pressures, it still isn't that bad especially for the first night.

We rarely get an ideal world and leak rates will vary from night to night. I think you did great and I wish my leak rate last night had only been 6. Try not to dwell on one number from one night. Instead look at the overall picture and factor in how you feel.

[Gerald]

Sleepless.....

Pat yourself on the back...."you done good!"

Achieving an AHI of 3.3 on your first run is great.

I respectfully disagree with LinkC concerning his opinion that anything under 5.0 is acceptable. Based on my experiments with an Oximeter, I believe that one must stay under an AHI of 2.5 to achieve effective therapy. I fully realize that my opinion flies in the face of "conventional wisdom"....but, I'm not afraid to say that I think conventional wisdom is wrong.

Congratulations for a good job on your first night.

Now....start "tweakin"

Gerald

[cflame1]

The thing that could have happened with that AHI though, is that the leaks... could have been classed as large leaks in which the AHI won't be accurate as it stops recording.

[Gerald]

With cFlame raising the possibility of large leaks, it's easy to see why software is vital.

Without it is like driving in the dark......no way to see we're going....and no way to see where we've been.

Sleepless....you're moving in the right direction. The picture will become more clear when you get your software up and running.

Gerald