Is my leak rate killing my therapy?

[Gilley]

I seem to be waking up mostly at night for mask adjustments due to leaks or mouth leaks!
I have my mask selected on my cpap machine.
Here are a few numbers from the past few nights.
Should I be looking for another mask???
Pressure is 11.2

24th
Median: 13.2
95th Percentile: 49.2
Maximum: 58.8

23rd
Median: 3.6
95th Percentile: 42.0
Maximum: 60.0

22nd
Median: 2.4
95th Percentile: 40.8
Maximum: 54.0

[KatieW]

For a ResMed cpap, the upper limit for leaks is 24 liters/minute. Going just by your numbers, yours seem to to exceed that. But how do your graphs look? If the leaks are continuous during the night, then you definitely need to fix that. But, if for example, you take off your mask without turning off the cpap, resulting in big leaks for a short time, then that's another matter.

[Gilley]

For a ResMed cpap, the upper limit for leaks is 24 liters/minute. Going just by your numbers, yours seem to to exceed that. But how do your graphs look? If the leaks are continuous during the night, then you definitely need to fix that. But, if for example, you take off your mask without turning off the cpap, resulting in big leaks for a short time, then that's another matter.

Sorry here are the graphs....




I have tried not to pull the mask off I try to reach over and hit the stop button....

[ozij]

Gilley, pulling the mask off before turning off the machine will not have that much of an effect on you leak results - those are a few meaningless minutes of leak when the rest of the night is stable.

What we see is that you're leaking a lot -- during therapy time which means your mask isn't sitting properly on your face.
It could be because of the mask's size
It could be because of the way you fasten it
It could be because of the way you route your hose.
It could be because of your head pillow.

Any one of these can cause disruptive leaks -- which is what your's are. By March 25 you were spending about 30% of time at leaks the machine can't even handle -- and even lower leaks may disrupt your sleep.

Even a perfect seal created by pefectly fitting masking which was adjusted perfectly, can't survive being dislodged by a dragging hose or intrusive head pillow. You can't tighten a mask against those.

O.

[bdp522]

Another thing to look at is mouth leaking. Try a full face mask or taping your mouth shut or using a chinstrap for a night or two just to see what kind of leak result you get.

Brenda

[Komodo]

Gilley, my leak graph looks the same as your's does when I use my nasal mask, and that is NOT a good thing!!!
I know that all MY leaks are all from my mouth, not the mask. I switched over to a FFM and got rid of 99% of the leaks.

[dtsm]

I had similar but not as high leak rates and 75% of it was definitely mouth related. I use #2080 3M blue painters tape, 1 inch for nasal mask or 2 inch for nasal pillow. Others recommend paper medical tape, J&J or Nexus or even house CVS brands. Short term I'd tape up mouth and see the leak line. If it improves, then you can tackle the mask next.

Btw, do you get dry mouth in the mornings? That's another sign of mouth leaks.

[KatieW]

Thanks for posting your graphs. Yes, your leaks are too high. If you were to line them up with your apneas and hypopneas, you would likely see a strong correlation. Toronto cpap guy has posted that he started went to the Wide Activa LT and got a better fit. If you really like that mask and are willing to try taping, that would be an option. Or, try a full face mask.