Help, Leak?

[TheTwinsMom1]

Hi, Anybody know what is considered an ok leak rate on the S9 Autoset. I use the Swift FX for Her with a papcap. I had gastric bypass several months ago and have dropped quite a bit of weight. My settings are still wide open (10-20) right now as I am constantly changing. The weird though is my machine is showing alot of Centrals, which is not normal for me. I normally have Obstructive ones not centrals. Trying to dial in the problem.

This is what my leak rates have looked like lately:

95% 15.6/Maximum 21.6 AHI: .08 Obstructive .1/Central .6
95% 9.6/Maximum 19.2 AHI: 1.4 Obstructive .4/Central 1.0
95% 27.6/Maximum 45.6 AHI: 1.4 Obstructive .1/Central 1.0/Unknown .2

Pressures are running from 11-14 or so. Other than losing weight, I have changed nothing else. Same mask, same machine, same pressures. I am stumped.

[Pugsy]

24 L/min is the red line with the S9 machines. Up to that point ResMed says that they can do a good job compensating for any leak. Above that line they say that therapy could be impacted and also the ability of the machine to sense and score events correctly.

[TheTwinsMom1]

Ok most nights are below that, but I guess I need to look into leak control some more.

[Pugsy]

I don't really look for the 95% leak number to guide me.
I mainly look at the leak line on the graph itself. I spot the 24 L/min line area and eyeball any time spent above that line.
If I am close but don't ever reach it I don't even worry about the leaks. If I spend a few minutes above that line I don't really worry about that either. As long as I don't spend a prolonged length of time above 24 L/min and I never wake up from the leaks I don't worry about it. Sometimes I might see 10 minutes of leak above 24 L/min. 10 minutes out of 7 or 8 hours is unlikely to impact things all that much. Besides...say if it happens to reach 28 L/min...it's not like I have totally no therapy pressure at all. There is still some value there. Might not be ideal be it's not like the value goes down to nothing.

So it depends on how high I go and more importantly how long I might be at leaks greater than 24 L/min that would make me worry about leaks.

Now if any leaks (even small) are waking you up..then they need to be fixed because they are disturbing your sleep.

I have found that 95% number don't always give me the greatest picture of how my leaks went. All it means is that for 95% of the time I was at OR below that number and we tend to forget the "or below" part. I have seen reports where my 95% number was 22 L/min but when I look at the leak line I might have spent 15 minutes with a large leak and the rest of the time almost no leak at all.

So before panic sets in and you think you have a major problem....evaluate the actual leak graph when you are looking at the numbers.