LEAKAGE AND AHI

[jdk1700]

My Res Med S9 shows my AHI at .5, but my leakage is 66 and I always have an unhappy smile for mask fit; should I be concerned about the leakage and unhappy smile when my AHI are so low?

[sleepstar]

Yes.
The leak can cover up the AHI. Meaning that more could be going on with your breathing and the machine can't detect it because the leak is too high.
Try to lower the leak. *Some* leak is okay - and it is usually only when it's annoying and going into your eyes (or annoying your partner!) that it is an issue. But a leak of 66 is too high. With the s9 you want the leak below 24 L/min. (However, you actually want it lower than this. 24 is suppose to be like a 'maximum')

[Pugsy]

should I be concerned about the leakage and unhappy smile when my AHI are so low?

Your AHI is likely low because the leak is so bad that it doesn't know what is going on. We can't trust the AHI numbers when leaks are bad.

Mr Frowny face doesn't show up until the leaks are over 24 L/min for at least 25% of the night.
Your 66 L/min number off the machine is a 95% number which means for 95% of the night you were at or below that number.
From my own past experience with short term large leaks in the 30 to 40 L/min range...the machine can't sense events when leak is over 40 L/min so it just misses them.

You need to look at the software reports to evaluate the leak most accurately. You may have had half the night where leak was acceptable so it might not be the entire night's therapy was in the toilet. But going with the 66 L/min 95% number we have to assume the worst till we see just how long you spent in large leak territory...for it to be 66 L/min...you had some massive leaks an some lasted a long time.

Do you have the software so you can best evaluate your data?
SleepyHead works and I have links for it in my signature line.

[Mary Z]

It's good you're paying attention to your leak percentage. I used to not know about leaks and the doctor would tell me my leakage was too high.
How do you feel? What kind of mask are you using? It may be you nees a different mask. I have good luck with the gel cushions and I believe it's Respironcs who has a boil and fit cushion for a custom fit.
Good luck, keep us posted on your progress in this thread.

[Kenwood]

should I be concerned about the leakage and unhappy smile when my AHI are so low?

Mr Frowny face doesn't show up until the leaks are over 24 L/min for at least 25% of the night.

With my leak problems, Mr Frowny face would be flipping me off

[jdk1700]

What does leakage of .72l/s mean? My Res Med s9 shows leakage of 66l/m, but my old machine shows leakage of .72/s. What is the difference between l/m and l/s? Is l/s a measurement in seconds which translates(when using .72/s) to 4.2l/m meaning no real leakage?

[Pugsy]

The S8 machine reports leaks in Liters/per Second...L/s (ec)
The S9 machine reports leaks in Liters/per Minute...L/m (in)

To convert the S8 leak rate which is per second to Liters/per Minute you have to multiply by 60 seconds (because there are 60 seconds in a minute).

Your S8 leak number of 0.78 is NOT a percent of a second..meaning minimal to none leaks. It means .78 Liters of air.
In fact it points to massive leak 0.78 L/sec X 60 seconds equals 46.8 L/min which is nearly twice the acceptable limits for a ResMed leak where they say that up to 24 L/min is acceptable.

Your S9 showing 66 L/min....that's a big leak number too....over 40 Liters more than acceptable.

S8 large leak number to avoid 0.40 L/sec (multiply that by 60 seconds and you get 24 L/min)
S9 machines already report in L/min so no need to multiply anything.

Either way you look at things...
66 L/min is excessive leak and 0.78 L/sec is excessive leak.

From my past experience with my S9 machine and some time spent in large leak...anything over 35 to 40 L/min and the machine can't even sense what is going on. Between 24 L/min and 35 L/min the machine might be able to sense that some sort of event is occurring but not know what to call it...so it gets an "unknown" flag. I have seen a few of them myself.

[idamtnboy]

S9 machines already report in L/min so no need to multiply anything.

Very minor point, but since you are so well versed on all this I want you to know the nitty gritty details also, or maybe you already do!

The S9 records leak in liters/second but the machine display and Resscan convert it to L/m. The data on the SD card is l/s. Is this TMI??

[Pugsy]

The S9 records leak in liters/second but the machine display and Resscan convert it to L/m. The data on the SD card is l/s. Is this TMI??

Yes, that's TMI You know I don't go that deep in those SD card files...it's enough that I know they are there. If they aren't...I'm screwed.

Everyone else reports L/min...I don't know why ResMed wanted to be different but it totally messes everyone up...oh and why can't they report Total leak like everyone else? Or at least give us a generic number to use that they use because I know they use one.

At least they changed it with the S9 machine but the poor S8 machine users who don't have the software and were never even told about leak numbers are left trying to do some math that they didn't know they needed to do...
After all..0.40 leak...that's really good huh? I hate to burst their bubble when they have been merrily sliding along thinking "hey, my leak is less than 1.0 and Pugsy never gets below 10 " " I've got her beat" pats self on back and then tells me they are using an S8 and the number is off the screen...then I get to burst a bubble.

I would really rather not have to be so negative and the bearer of bad news all the time.
I like it so much better when I get brag on someone because I know how good it makes a person feel to get a pat on the back and affirmation that all their hard work has produced some positive results that can be quantified on a report somewhere.