Wisp Nasal Mask to P10 Nasal Pillow, AHI went up

[ISnoreBadly]

I've only been using my CPAP since the end of last week. I originally had a Wisp nasal mask, light night I changed to the P10 nasal pillow and SleepyHead says my AHI went up. The first few nights were 3.44, 2.75, 2.78, 1.92 and then last night (with the P10) it was 5.11. Should I be worried? Do I need to make any changes to my CPAP machine for the different mask?

[49er]

I've only been using my CPAP since the end of last week. I originally had a Wisp nasal mask, light night I changed to the P10 nasal pillow and SleepyHead says my AHI went up. The first few nights were 3.44, 2.75, 2.78, 1.92 and then last night (with the P10) it was 5.11. Should I be worried? Do I need to make any changes to my CPAP machine for the different mask?

I wouldn't worry after one night. But if this trend continues after 3 to 4 days, than it might be worth investigating what is going on.

49er

[Pugsy]

There is the Resistance Control thing that you could maybe change on your machine if it was setup for the Wisp.
It isn't a critical issue though and wouldn't be the cause of the increase in AHI.
Respironics masks all have a resistance control number
http://www.healthcare.philips.com/main/ ... ontrol.wpd#
Non Respironics masks won't have one. It isn't a critical issue though...Supposedly when using a non Respironics masks we are told to simply turn it off (set it to 0).

I have played with this resistance control setting thing...in all settings and for me it never changed by results or how it felt to me in general.

Most likely your change in AHI was just a normal variation that can and will happen from time to time.
Heck, even now after over 6 years of boring therapy I still might have and AHI of less than 1.0 one night and the very next night have an AHI of 6.7 or more. Sometimes it just happens.

If your AHI stays over 5.0 for several days in a row and you are sleeping decently....let's take a look at the software reports to see what might be going on. Just using the AHI as a benchmark for evaluation doesn't tell us much. Really need to see the detailed data.

[ISnoreBadly]

Ok, thanks for setting me straight. If it stays higher than it was for the first few days then I'll panic a little bit and will post some Sleephead data. Otherwise I'll be fine.

One other thing I could add, I don't know if it has anything to do with anything but I wasn't able to sleep on my side with the Wisp, the pillow would push on it and break the seal. With the P10 I was able to sleep on my side and think I slept that way all night. I fell asleep on my side and woke up in the same position so I can only assume I did.

[ISnoreBadly]

1.72 last night with the P10, the lowest it's been so far!

[Pugsy]

WTG on last night.
Now we just wait and see which results are the pattern/trend and which are the fluke.
I am thinking the high AHI night will be the fluke but we won't know till you get more nights.

This is why we don't go changing things that appear to be working for the most part based on one night's maybe not so great results. The AHI is going to sometimes vary a lot depending on any number of things and if we go worrying about 1 night and changing stuff frequently we never know if the change in settings was the culprit or if it was just a random fluke thing that happened.

I once had 17 centrals in 17 minutes and they looked like centrals to me but I can't swear that I wasn't partially awake at that time. It was ugly and totally unexpected...but it was a fluke whatever it was.
Those fluke times are when we joke about the aliens paying us a visit and messing with us. Sometimes we just have unusual results and we don't know why and alien experimenting is a good joke to blame it on.

[SewTired]

Glad to read that your results are better. I was going to mention that when I went from Wisp to P10, I had to increase the exhale rate to 3. I think those of us who don't have a lot of time yet on the cpap maybe get wide variations when there is a change of equipment.

[ISnoreBadly]

There is the Resistance Control thing that you could maybe change on your machine if it was setup for the Wisp.
It isn't a critical issue though and wouldn't be the cause of the increase in AHI.
Respironics masks all have a resistance control number
http://www.healthcare.philips.com/main/ ... ontrol.wpd#
Non Respironics masks won't have one. It isn't a critical issue though...Supposedly when using a non Respironics masks we are told to simply turn it off (set it to 0).

I have played with this resistance control setting thing...in all settings and for me it never changed by results or how it felt to me in general.

Where do I find the resistance or the exhale setting (that SewTired mentioned) in the settings menu?

[OkyDoky]

There is the Resistance Control thing that you could maybe change on your machine if it was setup for the Wisp.
It isn't a critical issue though and wouldn't be the cause of the increase in AHI.
Respironics masks all have a resistance control number
http://www.healthcare.philips.com/main/ ... ontrol.wpd#
Non Respironics masks won't have one. It isn't a critical issue though...Supposedly when using a non Respironics masks we are told to simply turn it off (set it to 0).

I have played with this resistance control setting thing...in all settings and for me it never changed by results or how it felt to me in general.

Where do I find the resistance or the exhale setting (that SewTired mentioned) in the settings menu?

The System One resistance settings is in the Clinical setup portion. Here is a link that shows you how to access that area. http://www.apneaboard.com/pr-system-one ... structions
And to get a copy of the Clinical manual you can use this link. http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual Scroll to the bottom of the page and follow the email instructions.

As for SewTired suggestion she has a ResMed machine which has different settings. On Respironic machines we have flex settings. You probably see Bi-flex on your initial LCD screen. You can click on that and it will have an area where you can demo the different settings to see which feels more natural.

[ISnoreBadly]

Got it, thanks.