I went from apap to cpap to apap now to bipap??

[echo]

You might eventually want to try a Hybrid or Liberty since they also have nasal pillows but also the mouth piece. Taping does get annoying after a while. I slept with my activa last night and taped because the ffm leaks too much some nights. It was annoying trying to cough and yawn again even though I slept like this for 3 years already! I think I still prefer a good fitting ffm. I can send you all my failed ones

Feed us more graphs

[joeattardi]

This may be slightly OT, but is that giant "Unregistered Version" from ResScan, or your screen capture tool?
Just curious.

[elena88]

Oh geez, louise! I WAS so tempted to go back to apap.......


Go ahead......make my day.
Den

Well, I have big plans!

But they got squashed last night because the tranformer on the telephone pole blew up about ten thirty pm.. and we had no power till eight thirty
this morning.. they worked on it all night long because I told them I HAVE A CPAP!!! (make note to self, get more candles)

Soooo, no experiment last night, however, I practiced at pressure 11 this morning for a few minutes! Then twelve for a few minutes, then I cranked that
sucker up to thirteen I will have you know! I lasted about five minutes... I slept about five hours last night without the apap but feeling pretty chipper and refreshed today!
********************************************************************************************************

Interesting, thanks for posting! Please post your progress.

oh gee, thanks! maybe it will help other little tadpole pappers Maybe the old frogs in this pond can withstand the higher pressures!
I can feel I may be starting to grow some legs here!
*********************************************************************************************************************

You might eventually want to try a Hybrid or Liberty since they also have nasal pillows but also the mouth piece. Taping does get annoying after a while. I slept with my activa last night and taped because the ffm leaks too much some nights. It was annoying trying to cough and yawn again even though I slept like this for 3 years already! I think I still prefer a good fitting ffm. I can send you all my failed ones

Feed us more graphs

I tried both the hybrid and liberty and failed.. YEs, its annoying to try to cough or yawn, and what about burping echo, now thats an important issue!
So you slept with your activa last night and taped, going back to the dark ages were ya?
You can send me all your failed masks, I bet you have quite a collection! I cant feed you any more graphs today because of the power outage last night,
slept without the creature! I will post some tomorrow.. I now have a deadline! I meet with sleep doc next monday.. and I want to dial in my perfect
pressure and show her I MASTERED IT.. and brag about all you guys!

************************************************************************************

This may be slightly OT, but is that giant "Unregistered Version" from ResScan, or your screen capture tool?
Just curious.

ahhh, grasshopper, that is from the screen capture tool, good question!

Oh, I am in such a good mood today, going to go out and conquer the world!

[DreamOn]

But they got squashed last night because the tranformer on the telephone pole blew up about ten thirty pm.. and we had no power till eight thirty this morning.. they worked on it all night long because I told them I HAVE A CPAP!!!

Elena, I thought I'd mention that many electric companies offer a Medical Baseline Allowance Program that provides additional baseline allowance (electricity at the lowest rate) for people with specific medical needs, including CPAP. I believe it also puts you at higher priority for power restoration in the event there's an outage.

[DoriC]

Yes, we are listed on a similar program here in NJ and I think it actually worked a few weeks ago when we had a power outage. Our power was restored after about 2hrs but our neighbors waited for 3hrs.

[elena88]

Wow, Dreamon, thanks for the great tip on the energy allowance,I will check that out.
How was your night last night dreamon?
Glad you are signed up for it too DoriC!
Thanks to all of you for your tips and tricks! (and bets)


Well, we had power last night! So back to the graphs!

As you know I tried cpap at ten pressure.. then I was going to try cpap at eleven pressure, but we had a power outage.. so that day I practiced
and tried 12! I forgot to put it back to eleven! So last night I slept with it at twelve by accident!
The results? One itty bitty eensy weensy twelve second obstructive!
All the rest are the usual centrals
A and B = where I was not sleeping

[Wulfman]

Maybe you should try leaving it at 12.


Den

[elena88]

Maybe you should try leaving it at 12.


Den

I was thinkin the very same thing! But wont you lose your bet?

oh wait, the week is still young!

[DreamOn]

Good job, Elena!!! Do you feel like you're sleeping more soundly? You certainly are getting more hours of sleep than you were, so once you settle into things longer you should begin to feel better during the day too.

My suggestion would be to keep pressure just as it is -- set CPAP pressure at 12 with EPR at 3. See what your results are over time (at least a week) at that level, and then you can make a decision as to whether further adjustment is necessary.

LEAKS continue to be a very big problem. You really need to find out just what the problem is and fix it! I suspect that you're losing therapy air from your mouth, probably when you're in deep sleep/REM. If mouth-taping (without a slit in the tape) and a chin strap together don't do the trick, then you'll probably have to use a full face or hybrid mask that covers your mouth. Evaluate your hose management system too.

Your very high leak rates can definitely be affecting the effectiveness of your therapy, since the therapy air is coming out your mouth/nasal pillows rather than keeping your airway open. Once you get the leak problem totally fixed, you may be able to back off the pressure. Your goal is a leak line that looks more like that period between 2:00 and 5:00 on this last chart. Those large leaks that go above the 24 L/min red line are not good.

P.S. To answer your question regarding my own sleep quality, "I've been sleeping like a baby." I'm back at set CPAP with pressure of 7.4 now. I had my third zero-AHI night the other night, and I'm not having any obstructive apneas. Yay!

ADDITIONAL NOTE: See those periods of greater flow limitations on your chart, where the lines go low? They correspond to the times that you're having high leaks (compare the two graphs). That is an indication that your airway is not being kept open during those periods due to the therapy air escaping from your mouth (most likely) or nasal pillows.

[Wulfman]

Maybe you should try leaving it at 12.


Den

I was thinkin the very same thing! But wont you lose your bet?

oh wait, the week is still young!

No. I already "won" that one on July 27th.

Actually, it wasn't really a "bet". I just told "echo" not to hold her breath waiting for you to be able to stay on fixed pressure for a whole week. I'm still waiting.......


Den

[elena88]

oh great, so Im a putz if I dont stay on for a week!

Just watch me baby! I can take it!

(besides I practiced, Im moving out of bush league status to the B team!)

[Wulfman]

oh great, so Im a putz if I dont stay on for a week!

Just watch me baby! I can take it!

(besides I practiced, Im moving out of bush league status to the B team!)

Now you're talkin'!
This is kind of like getting a young child to eat some vegetables from their plate......"Don't you DARE eat those!"


Den

[DoriC]

DreamOn, thanks for that Additional Note which explains what happens with large leaks. I just checked back on one of Mike's reports where he had a LL for 30minutes with auto setting and on the M Series the pressure line just goes flat for that LL period rather than the little vertical probe ticks all along the line. The Flow Limitation flag scored as 0.2. So now I can better analyze that part of the data and see for myself. Thanks.

Elena, never bet against Den! I've tried that several times(I still do it) and I lose all the time. A word to the wise!

[elena88]

Good job, Elena!!! Do you feel like you're sleeping more soundly? You certainly are getting more hours of sleep than you were, so once you settle into things longer you should begin to feel better during the day too.

My suggestion would be to keep pressure just as it is -- set CPAP pressure at 12 with EPR at 3. See what your results are over time (at least a week) at that level, and then you can make a decision as to whether further adjustment is necessary.

LEAKS continue to be a very big problem. You really need to find out just what the problem is and fix it! I suspect that you're losing therapy air from your mouth, probably when you're in deep sleep/REM. If mouth-taping (without a slit in the tape) and a chin strap together don't do the trick, then you'll probably have to use a full face or hybrid mask that covers your mouth. Evaluate your hose management system too.

Your very high leak rates can definitely be affecting the effectiveness of your therapy, since the therapy air is coming out your mouth/nasal pillows rather than keeping your airway open. Once you get the leak problem totally fixed, you may be able to back off the pressure. Your goal is a leak line that looks more like that period between 2:00 and 5:00 on this last chart. Those large leaks that go above the 24 L/min red line are not good.

P.S. To answer your question regarding my own sleep quality, "I've been sleeping like a baby." I'm back at set CPAP with pressure of 7.4 now. I had my third zero-AHI night the other night, and I'm not having any obstructive apneas. Yay!

ADDITIONAL NOTE: See those periods of greater flow limitations on your chart, where the lines go low? They correspond to the times that you're having high leaks (compare the two graphs). That is an indication that your airway is not being kept open during those periods due to the therapy air escaping from your mouth (most likely) or nasal pillows.

Oh my gosh, Im sorry I missed this by not scrolling up! I dont know how Im sleeping, I still feel like crap during the day, and I will ask my sleep doc
about that.. I feel great the nights I dont sleep with my machine, so Im doing something wrong, obviously.. probably those darn leaks! It must
be disturbing me when I sleep, because having events certainly doesnt bother me the next morning at all..
Thanks for the tip on flow limitation, I did not know what that was all about.. minute ventilation is still a mystery to me too.
My husband thinks I was on my tummy when I had the flat leak line, maybe I will try on some more masks next monday at the docs office..
I tried the hybrids, didnt work but Ill find something.. I did tape my mouth last night the first part of night, with NO slit, and my mouth got so dry, I
took it off.. I have a weird theory about that, I will post that later.. Okay, I will keep it at twelve again tonite!
Im so glad you slept like a baby, that is wonderful! Boy, you must have that machine dialed in to perfection! yahoo for you!

DreamOn, thanks for that Additional Note which explains what happens with large leaks. I just checked back on one of Mike's reports where he had a LL for 30minutes with auto setting and on the M Series the pressure line just goes flat for that LL period rather than the little vertical probe ticks all along the line. The Flow Limitation flag scored as 0.2. So now I can better analyze that part of the data and see for myself. Thanks.

Elena, never bet against Den! I've tried that several times(I still do it) and I lose all the time. A word to the wise!

I know, isnt Dreamon a fountain of information? So, never bet against Den?? silly goose, now you tell me!

Thanks for all the wonderful advice you guys!

[elena88]

oh great, so Im a putz if I dont stay on for a week!

Just watch me baby! I can take it!

(besides I practiced, Im moving out of bush league status to the B team!)

Now you're talkin'!
This is kind of like getting a young child to eat some vegetables from their plate......"Don't you DARE eat those!"


Den

"dont you DARE eat those!" thanks Den, Im going to use that on my grandkids this weekend!