Mirage FX and ResMed S8

[johnthomasmacdonald]

I just checked out what a papcap is. I like it. It gives one that Marley's ghost look.

[jdm2857]

Last night's leak's nowhere near as good as the nap:



I'm going to have to keep at this.

[Pugsy]

Did you sleep well? Wake up often with leaks? Feel like crap today?.....If you hadn't seen the leak line would you have wondered?

Technically your leak was within acceptable limits...even better if we use the newly established baseline.
I know it isn't real pretty but if it does the job does it have to be real pretty?

Maybe I need to dig out the prong mask for you...cram those suckers up your nose so the whisker can't get too them.

[jdm2857]

I have been feeling less awake for a while now, although I can't pin it on anything. I have been having a bit more nasal congestion during the night, which may or may not be related to my re-attaching my H4i at the suggestion of a DME tech at my doctor's office. I have it set at 3.

I've noticed that my S8 AutoSet II almost never makes pressure adjustments unless my leak numbers are pretty low, even though ResMed says unintentional leak up to 24 l/m is OK. Of course at a minimum pressure of 18, the old A10 algorithm is very reticent to make pressure increases at all. I wish I could trial an S9 with its open airway (central) detection and improved algorithm. I might well be able to drop that minimum with the S9.

I could always go back to the Swift FX and see what happens. It does tend to make my nares sore, so I wanted the Mirage FX as an alternative.

Maybe I need to dig out the prong mask for you...cram those suckers up your nose so the whisker can't get too them.

Funny you should say that. I have a used Nasal Aire II on its way to me from a forum member.

[Pugsy]

Funny you should say that. I have a used Nasal Aire II on its way to me from a forum member.

If you like it let me know. I can't remember which one I have...might be the Free style but if you want it you can have it.

I rather liked it but my nostrils were and in between size. They have to inflate to see.
One size was too small when it inflated so it leaks...the next size up was too big once it inflated and it hurt and I wasn't about to use something that hurt and would likely stretchy out those holes in the process.

With proper fit you don't really notice it there all that much.

[jdm2857]

I tried as best I could to Lansinoh-up my mustache before masking up, but no success. Not quite sure where to go from here.



The prongs might just work for me. Then again, they might not.

And why does spell check flag "Lansinoh-up"?

[Pugsy]

Are those leaks waking you up at all?

[jdm2857]

I mostly slept through the night. I remember futzing with the mask one time, but that's it. I'm guessing
that's what stopped the big leak at 6 am.

Somewhere I have a webcam I rigged to "see" infrared light. With an IR LED light and some software
I used it to record me sleeping (in total darkness) at about 6 frames per minute. It never really answered
any of my leak questions (with different masks) but maybe I should rig it up again. Excluding the laptop,
the equipment cost less than $50 total.

[jdm2857]

Last night:


This is getting ridiculous. I was up for at least the first 10 minutes last night, and there's no way the mask was leaking that much.

Even adjusting for the baseline above (5 1/m) from the graph my unintentional leak was about 15.

And I didn't notice it? That's around half of the intentional leak through the vents. Doesn't seem possible.

I pushed and pulled on the mask and couldn't make it leak significantly. I really want to make it work.

I almost wish I had an old Respironics machine so I could get a gross (unadjusted) leak graph.

Thoughts? Musings? Psychic readings?

[Pugsy]

Let me get out the magic eight ball....
I assume you have checked to make sure no holes in the hose or something like that.
I also assume no secondary machine that might give us a different perspective??

So let's back up...what's the goal(s) here and are you meeting the goal(s)?

How is the sleep quality? and how are you feeling during the day? or are we basing how we think we feel on a picture?

[jdm2857]

I feel OK in the morning but am more tired later in the day. Tend to nap more than before.

No access to another machine or I would have tried that already.

No leaks or other equipment problems that I can find.

I hadn't been using ResScan for over a year; I was just monitoring the numbers on the machine.

FIred up ResScan (after a days-long search to find my SmartMedia card reader for the PC) to try to
see is going on with the Mirage FX, which I got as an alternate to the Swift FX I've been using forever.

I'm really tempted to switch the machine to Active to see what happens; Its the setting recommended for
some other masks with the same intentional leak curve, or maybe find a way to seal the face opening of the mask
and let the machine run and record leak when I know there is no unintentional leak. Think the machine will record
leak when there is no breathing?

[Pugsy]

I don't know if the S8 will record if it senses no breathing...the S9 won't.

Why not change the mask selection choice and see what happens?
What I think is happening is that.
..your leak isn't nearly as bad as the red line indicates because the generic number it is supposedly subtracting isn't enough at your pressures. It's what we talked about with the Respironics Encore reports and people using higher pressures...the baseline isn't going to be at 0.0 like it is for other folks when reporting excess leak only.

Have you tried 30 minutes at a nice low pressure to see what the leak line shows...like 8 cm or so?

[jdm2857]

Aha!

Following up on the hose leak theory, I may just have found the source of my conundrum.

When I started to use the Mirage FX, I cleverly (or so I thought) spliced the short hose from my Swift FX between the Mirage FX
and the main hose. This both makes the hose long enough to work with my homemade hose hanger and leaves me with a nice,
very flexible, small diameter tubing to run upwards and attach to the top of my PapCap.

I turns out that the (rigged) connection between the Swift FX hose and Mirage FX connector allows the connector to shift position. And
when it shifts position it leaks. This may well explain what's been happening.

I removed the Swift FX short hose from my setup, and substituted the short hose from my Quattro FX. The Quattro FX short hose is not as nice,
not as flexible, and not as small in diameter as the Swift FX short hose, but the connections are much more secure.

I'll see what happens tonight. Hopefully this is FiXed.

[Pugsy]

[jdm2857]

Laugh at me again, Puggy, and I'll personally make you treasurer of the Slushie Fund.

I'll take a lime, please.