New large leaks after 18 months of normal leaks... (w/ chinstrap)

[vintage]

I've used an Resmed 10 for about 18 months with no unusual leakage. My Resmed iOS app would generally be 100/100 points per night. But for the last 4 months it's started dipping to as low as 88 (e.g. 8/20 for leaks).

I have the nasal mask (AirFit n20) and I've used a chin strap since about month two.

Here's my Oscar data for last night:



You can see in June my average leak rate went up 68% from May. This month it's almost double what it was in May.



Min/max pressure is 5/10.

Anecdotally I was in bed for 9 hours I took the mask off around hour 7. I feel destroyed today - feels like my pre-CPAP days

If anybody has ideas about how to get to the bottom of what might be going on so I can reduce leaks I'd be super grateful.

Thanks in advance!

[zonker]

I have the nasal mask (AirFit n20) and I've used a chin strap since about month two.

ahoy!

might be that your chinstrap has hit it's end-of-life and has become too stretched out. i'd suggest a new one or use a firm foam cervical collar.

good luck!

[vintage]

might be that your chinstrap has hit it's end-of-life and has become too stretched out. i'd suggest a new one or use a firm foam cervical collar.

That is highly probable - good call. So the theory is that I'd be seeing mouth leak due to the stretched chinstrap? Is my Oscar chart consistent with mouth leak? Not sure how to read it.

[clownbell]

How old is your mask cushion? The silicone can harden up and become deformed/cracked over time, which can result in leaks.

[zonker]

might be that your chinstrap has hit it's end-of-life and has become too stretched out. i'd suggest a new one or use a firm foam cervical collar.

That is highly probable - good call. So the theory is that I'd be seeing mouth leak due to the stretched chinstrap? Is my Oscar chart consistent with mouth leak? Not sure how to read it.

i'm not so good at reading charts myself. but take heart-someone will be along shortly who can.

[vintage]

> How old is your mask cushion? The silicone can harden up and become deformed/cracked over time, which can result in leaks.

I've had this happen before without realizing and it was the source of much frustration. Thankfully I know to avoid this now! The cushion is about a month old and in good shape.

> i'm not so good at reading charts myself. but take heart-someone will be along shortly who can.

thanks!

Update - used a new chinstrap last night, here's my Oscar stats:



Anecdotally feel like a got a good sleep. Large Leak time is down to 4.22% from 15.34% too. Hopefully it was the chinstrap, though would love any insights from reading the Oscar tea leaves (or a pointer on where I can learn to do so!)

[palerider]

Here's my Oscar data for last night:



You can see in June my average leak rate went up 68% from May. This month it's almost double what it was in May.

You need to use something besides dropbox to post the files, because that isn't working. Most people recommend imgur.

[palerider]

though would love any insights from reading the Oscar tea leaves (or a pointer on where I can learn to do so!)

Your min pressure should be more like 8.4, it's too low for you.

[vintage]

> Your min pressure should be more like 8.4, it's too low for you.

Can you help me understand how you came to that conclusion?

[zonker]

> Your min pressure should be more like 8.4, it's too low for you.

Can you help me understand how you came to that conclusion?

i'll take a crack at it and palerider can correct any of my errors.

see the chart that is labeled "pressure"? it has a green line those goes up and down, up and down and so forth. this chart has numbers on the left hand side. this tells you what pressure the machine putting out for each minute that you have the mask on.

the pressure starts at 5, of course, because that's what the machine is set to start at. but then, the pressure slowly goes up as it begins to react to the events happening while you sleep. it rises to 9, then falls back. it ten raises again until in reaches 10. it can't go any further than that because the machine is capped at a maximum of 10.

and so it goes throughout your sleep, up and down. BUT it never goes back to 5. the lowest it gets is just under 7. if you set the minimum at the recommended 8.4, your machine will have a better chance at doing it's job in reacting to the events.

is that clear?

oh and btw. if you want to get someone's attention when you are replying, use the quote feature. there are a lot of users and a lot of posts. not everyone reads every post for many and sundry reasons.

good luck!

[vintage]

i'll take a crack at it and palerider can correct any of my errors.

see the chart that is labeled "pressure"? it has a green line those goes up and down, up and down and so forth. this chart has numbers on the left hand side. this tells you what pressure the machine putting out for each minute that you have the mask on.

the pressure starts at 5, of course, because that's what the machine is set to start at. but then, the pressure slowly goes up as it begins to react to the events happening while you sleep. it rises to 9, then falls back. it ten raises again until in reaches 10. it can't go any further than that because the machine is capped at a maximum of 10.

and so it goes throughout your sleep, up and down. BUT it never goes back to 5. the lowest it gets is just under 7. if you set the minimum at the recommended 8.4, your machine will have a better chance at doing it's job in reacting to the events.

is that clear?

oh and btw. if you want to get someone's attention when you are replying, use the quote feature. there are a lot of users and a lot of posts. not everyone reads every post for many and sundry reasons.

good luck!

Thanks! This is super helpful. When I look at the chart it seems like it bottoms out at 6. The average seems like 8.4. Wouldn't 8.4 be more than necessary? Based on the chart I'd guess that 6 would be more appropriate. I'm a newbie to tweaking this stuff!

[zonker]

Thanks! This is super helpful. When I look at the chart it seems like it bottoms out at 6. The average seems like 8.4. Wouldn't 8.4 be more than necessary? Based on the chart I'd guess that 6 would be more appropriate. I'm a newbie to tweaking this stuff!

look again.

that green pressure line shows you are spending more time above 8.4 than below it.

btw, close on the quote feature, but no cigar.

when you see this message, you'll see two symbols ! and ". choose the second. that will quote me in full AND give me a notification.

continued good luck!

[Okie bipap]

It's the minimum pressure that does the most to prevent apneas. Yes, your minimum pressure waws six, but the machine never stayed there for any length of time. Almost as soon as it dropped to six, it immediately went back up to around 8.

[palerider]

> Your min pressure should be more like 8.4, it's too low for you.

Can you help me understand how you came to that conclusion?

... an excellent explanation...

Oh, man, you make me proud. That's SPOT ON! I do love people that pay attention.

I might add that raising the max pressure would be good too, since 10 is too low. (yeah, as usual I'd say to set it to 20 and forget it).

oh and btw. if you want to get someone's attention when you are replying, use the quote feature. there are a lot of users and a lot of posts. not everyone reads every post for many and sundry reasons.

Yeah, I just stumbled back on your reply.

[palerider]

Thanks! This is super helpful. When I look at the chart it seems like it bottoms out at 6. The average seems like 8.4. Wouldn't 8.4 be more than necessary? Based on the chart I'd guess that 6 would be more appropriate. I'm a newbie to tweaking this stuff!

Where it "bottoms out" is too low, because when it 'bottoms out', it immediately jumps back up because you had more breathing events.