Total Average Leak Rate on PR System One (Spiky Graphs!)

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

From your data it really looks like a mask leak issues, which in my personal experience are caused by either mask fit, mask stability which comes from improperly adjusted headgear or even your hair length/composition (fine, oily, etc.) or hose your hose tugging on your mask when you move around. If you haven't tried a different size cushion you might try that first, as far as moving around goes that might require a different pillow and hose tugging can be a tough one, I tried many things and finally ended up making a custom headboard that makes my hose glide around and never tug on my face in conjunction with a hose strap on my head gear. Hope something here helps. Good luck.

How can you tell its probably that and not mouth breathing? Thanks

[WontGiveUp]

With mouth breathing usually (nothing seems to be always with sleep apnea) you'll see a higher vibratory snore (VS), yours is almost non-existent. Sometimes what I do to figure what kind of problem I'm having is to test what I suspect. It's easy to do just lay down with your mask while you are awake and do things like tug on your hose, roll around, shake your mask around, open your moth, etc and see what the data looks. It takes a long time, but to me it's worth it. Good luck.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

OK. Tonight I am sleeping with the Mirage Soft gel nasal mask. This thing feels great on my face! I hope it goes well.

[jbn3boys]

I have to echo what others have said...it really looks like a problem with leaks. BUT I think the biggest problem is that you are mouth breathing. You need to address that issue, in order to know if any of the other things area also causing leaks. You need to search the site for mouth breathing treatments/tips/suggestions. You may find it easier to search using google--to do that, enter what you are looking for followed by "site:cpaptalk.com". Enter everything between the quote marks, with no spaces (and no quote marks). Then you will get results from this website only. This is often a better way of searching than using the search function on the site itself. You need to address the mouth breathing, IMHO, before you get concerned about anything else. If/when you get the mouth breathing under control, then you can focus on seeing if the mask is fitting correctly, the pillow is compatible, the hose needs to be routed differently, etc, etc, etc. First things first, daddy.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

Ok, maybe Papcap?

[jbn3boys]

Papcap, chin strap, ace bandage, tights, nylons, anything that you can wrap around, under your chin, to keep your mouth closed. If you are not able to stop mouth breathing, you will have to try a full face mask. They aren't as bad as you may have heard, although it may take some trying to find the one that will fit you the best. Mouth breathing IS effecting your therapy. If you want to get the most benefits from your therapy, you need to address this issue.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

This is this mornings data with the Res Med Soft Gel. I guess mouth breathing may not be my problem after all?
I love the Soft Gel except the bridge of my nose is a tad bit sore, but look at the leak graph!! Disregard the stuff to the left, that was me playing.

[WontGiveUp]

I think your average leak is much better because you had fewer leaks, which is great. Your graph looks better because of the fewer leaks, but mostly because the scale changed from 0 to 150 to 0 to 250 making the magnitude of each leak "event" look smaller when they are actually about the same as before. In my experience it usually takes me a good number of days without changing anything to know if I have an issue addressed, especially with leaks (including mouth breathing), this is because I don't sleep the same each night (I toss and turn). I have no idea why your scale change, but that's too big of a scale. All of this aside your average leak looks pretty good, indices look great, AHI is good, personally if I could maintain those numbers I'd be pretty happy as long as I felt rested too. If I was you I'd watch your Min in Large Leak though, if you continue to see any reading there (ideally it should be 0.0) you might have an issue that needs further attention.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

I think that small "large leak" was when I was awake and trying the new Soft Gel and Activa LT masks, the small spread out area of data around 4 to 5.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

Well I really love this Soft Gel mask. Its more comfortable on my face than the Micro. Anyway, here is my graph from last night. AHI 1.1!!!!!! But, I am mouth breathing a bit, total leak rate 34% and no large leaks.

[jbn3boys]

Well I really love this Soft Gel mask. Its more comfortable on my face than the Micro. Anyway, here is my graph from last night. AHI 1.1!!!!!! But, I am mouth breathing a bit, total leak rate 34% and no large leaks.

Congrats on finding a mask you like!

AHI looks good, but, I'm going to sound like a broken record here, you have to get the mouth breathing under control. Nothing is accurate if you are mouth breathing.

Also, as robysue explained, your leak rate is NOT a percent. 34 is the leak rate measured in Liters/minute. This is not a percent. 34 L/min is higher than the expected leak rate of 28 L/min. Once again, if you get a handle on your mouth breathing, your leak rate may improve. Or, it may worsen. There is no way to know for sure unless you deal with the mouth breathing.

Bottom line: You really need to NOT breathe through your mouth at all unless you have a full face mask. Period. Only then will you really know how your therapy is working.

[DadscreepyCPAPmask]

I called my DME today and they are sending me a Tiara ? Chin strap to try. I refuse to tape

[jbn3boys]

Great! I pray that does the trick for you!
Just remember to be open to a full face mask IF the chin strap doesn't do the trick (and you don't want to tape).

[jetcpap]

This thread is very interesting to me. I have the same machine and a Mirage mask. Every morning I check how it went the night before via the encoreviewer software. My AHI is coming down and staying constant but I do have a large leak rate. Reading the OP comments on numbers, mine average in the mid to upper forties. Everything seems to be working, I wear a chinstrap but still wake up with a dry mouth and can even feel little burbles of air in the mouth at times.

My AHI is staying between 1.5-2.3 just about every night. Could this be lower without all the leaks?

thanks

[NightMonkey]

This thread is very interesting to me. I have the same machine and a Mirage mask. Every morning I check how it went the night before via the encoreviewer software. My AHI is coming down and staying constant but I do have a large leak rate. Reading the OP comments on numbers, mine average in the mid to upper forties. Everything seems to be working, I wear a chinstrap but still wake up with a dry mouth and can even feel little burbles of air in the mouth at times.

My AHI is staying between 1.5-2.3 just about every night. Could this be lower without all the leaks?

thanks

You sound very much like a mouth breather - chinstraps do not stop it for most people.

You AHI may be much higher than reported. When you are having those large leaks and breathing through your mouth you are likely having apneas. The machine cannot detect them because of the large leaks.

You are a candidate for a Full Face Mask. I have a variety of FFMs and all of them work well for me.

Good luck.