Apap machine setting questions

[grega60438]

I have a few questions I hope I can get some help with:

1. It does not seem that much water is being used as I can get three nights out of a fill of the water container. Water level also seems to decrease faster when container is full and decrease slower when water level in container is less. I was wondering if more humidity is being added when full. Perhaps this is not an issue, but I noticed and figured I would ask.

2. Initial ramp time was bugging me so I turned it off.
I am always slightly congested, due to slight allergies.
With ramp off, I think the congestion decreased faster and I feel I can breathe better faster.
Can temperature, humidity, or other, improve congestion decreasing faster?

3. Min 5 cmH2O presently. Should I increase min cmH2O some?
I was reading some older posts that suggested higher min cmH2O, but also that newer models may not be as affected as much as older models.
So I am trying to get educated. Do my Oscars for the last three nights help?

4. Any other suggestions from reviewing my Oscars?

Thank you!
Grega60438

AutoStart 10 Auto
ResMed Airfit F30i
Machine Settings:
Mode: Standard
Ramp Time: Off
Min 5 cmH2O and max 20 cmH2O
EPR enabled, EPR Level 3 cm H2O
Climate Control: Auto 80F
Tube Temperature: Auto 76F
Humidity Level: Auto
SmartStart: Auto

[Pugsy]

How is your sleep quality? Waking often during the night and spending much time with mask on and awake?
I see some breaks in therapy....why?

and yes...humidity can help (or hurt congestion). It helps a lot of people. Google "cpap rhinitis" and start reading.
Some people need more moisture and some people need less moisture...it's a YMMV thing.
Temperature not so much. Starting pressure...maybe a little bit in terms of congestion relief.

Water consumption will/can vary for several reasons.
Ambient humidity is a big factor...when it rains I use very little water. When the air is drier I will use more.
Pressures used will also affect water usage...more pressure will use more water so the nights where your pressures are up more you can expect to use more water. Nights when pressures don't go very high..expect to use less.
And leaks will affect water consumption....the higher the leak the greater the water consumption.

[grega60438]

Yes, you are correct, I have significant issues sleeping, and typically wake up about 6-12 times a night. The Oscar gaps are when I actually wake up and get up. I wake upon the slightest sound or movement.
I appreciate the suggestions and will continue to play with the settings.

Thank you!
Grega60438

[Pugsy]

Ahhh....not so great sleep quality. Been there lately myself.
So we wonder why....and the thing is the machine can't tell if what it is flagging is real asleep apnea/airway related events or awake breathing irregularities. So it makes for a bit of difficulty in deciding "do I need to tweak my machine" or "do I need to work on my sleep quality if at all possible".

First of all you have to learn to figure out if what you are seeing flagged is asleep events or awake/arousal flagged events.
Watch the videos here.
Bear in mind while it talks about mainly central/CA apneas....it isn't limited to centrals. We can have false positives in any category.
http://freecpapadvice.com/sleepyhead-free-software

So we have to figure out if the bad sleep is airway related or related to something else. We can fix airway related bad sleep with machine tweaking but not that easy if the bad sleep is from something else.

So the first thing is to try to figure out if what you are seeing flagged is sleep related or awake/arousal related and go from there.

[grega60438]

Thank you!

Grega60438