23 days on cpap and still nothing?

[UkuleleDez]

I've read so many stories of people feeling better after just one night or one week on cpap, but after 23 days, I feel no different. I'm still as tired and sleepy as I have always been.
My sleep study at the clinic showed I had 33 events an hour and stopped breathing for about 30-40 seconds and longest time was 71 seconds.
Im doing the 4 week trial cpap which cost $300
Here's my readings so far:
23 days
7.4 average sleep
10.8 pressure
11L a min average leak
AHI: 0.5
Total AI: 0.3
Central AI: 0.2
Face mask seal good

I use the Air Touch F20 mask with the memory foam, instructions say air passes/leaks through the foam to create a more comfortable experience on the skin. I had tried 2 masks previous, but the rubber irritates my skin, this Air Touch is very comfortable. The mask fits good and I dont feel any air leaks, its a good seal.

Are these readings acceptable including the 11L a min air leak?

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.

Where are you getting the numbers you reported? Off the machine LCD screen???
If so that 11 L/min is not an average leak number. It is what is called a 95 % number and all that means is you were AT OR BELOW that number for 95 % of the night. The or below part is very important and often people don't understand it or they forget that part.
24 L/min is the red line in the sand and even then it's not set in concrete. It's not like things go totally in the toilet if you have 27 L/min.

Leaks are not impacting therapy quality. Now they might still be impacting sleep quality if they wake you up.

Do leaks ever wake you up?

Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?

Do you wake up often during the night for any reason?

[raisedfist]

Well, if you're doing a 30 day trial of an APAP, and it's set at default settings in order for them to gather data and determine an appropriate pressure or pressure range for the future, you should not expect to feel any better than before until you get the pressure range honed in - the minimum pressure being the most important one.

[Julie]

It looks like a plain Cpap, not Apap...

[NoOnesPerfect]

It looks like a plain Cpap, not Apap...

While that IS what is shown in the OPs profile, a lot of people don’t realize the Autosense version is shown further down on the drop down menu, under “R” for ResMed, rather than “A” for autosense, so it is possible this is about an APAP machine.

[Pugsy]

Need to see the software detailed reports to really know what machine and what settings and what all those numbers really point to.

That 10.8 pressure might be a fixed cpap pressure for all we know. Unlikely of course but not impossible.
Someone might have used their crystal ball and pulled 10.8 out to use.

[UkuleleDez]

Yes you are right, the ResMed one was further down the list, I have changed it

[UkuleleDez]

OK, would that info be on the SD card? If so I should look at it?

[NoOnesPerfect]

OK, would that info be on the SD card? If so I should look at it?

Detailed information on both the machine settings and the daily graphs of therapy “results” are on the SD card. You absolutely should download the OSCAR software and use it to look at the data. That will also make it easy for you to post screenshots of the pertinent info for people here to review and comment on.

[Pugsy]

See my sticky at the top of the Announcement section of the forum....Newbies please read
in it you will find information on how to get and use the software to see the detailed data your machine gathers.

Answers to my other questions would also maybe shed some light on why you aren't feeling the good numbers yet....

[UkuleleDez]

ok found the software thanks

[UkuleleDez]

Many thanks for your help.

I have attached my read out, if someone can explain it, that would be great

[Julie]

Need to see the graphs as per Pugsy's sticky.

[zonker]

I've read so many stories of people feeling better after just one night or one week on cpap, but after 23 days, I feel no different. I'm still as tired and sleepy as I have always been.
ace mask seal good

welcome to the zoo! you are already in the capable hands of other forum members. i've nothing to add at this point EXCEPT-

yes, there are a tiny minority of folks who can turn on their cpap machines and get relief almost at once! but we don't see them here. and why should we? we can't help them!

but for the lot of us over here in this forum, it's taken a bit of time to see good results. now that you've found us, you are going to get all kinds of good suggestions.

it's going to take time, even with your therapy optimized.

but stick with it. you can do this.

good luck!

[Okie bipap]

The numbers actually look good. You are using the machine over 7 hours every night and your AHI is averaging around 0.6 which is very good. Your leak rates look good. You have had a small amount of high leakage, but if it is not disturbing your sleep, I wouldn't worry about it.