MyEncore stats, leaks, variable breathing, FLI, AHI vs press

Received my goodies last week from BillMyInsurance.com & CPAP.com... Respironics REMstar CPAP, C-flex, Humidifier, Masks, Filters, EncorePro, SmartCard Reader & also downloaded MyEncore... they are GREAT! Favorite part of my morning is running to the PC to put in the smartcard; I love information.... problem is I don't understand all the stats.

What does mask leak% mean, average leak, lpm? Several times I felt an accumulation of water in the nasal mask and I lifted the corner of it to dry it off - and placed it back on; would that contribute to my leak index?

What is FLI?; Variable Breathing?; and AHI vs pressure? What can I do to improve my scores, & how can I learn more about what my daily reports mean?... I need to know more. Thank you everyone who swam here first & knows the water so more than I do.

just treading water... Deb

Hi Deb.

Welcome to the "Land of Statistics".
In the package your mask came in, there SHOULD be a little pamphlet that shows (maybe) a graph with the "Vent flow rates" (leak rates) at various pressures. If your average leak rate is pretty close to those numbers, then that's where you want them to be. Those graphs are in liters per minute. ResMed (I believe) puts theirs in liters per second.

As far as water accumulation in the mask.....otherwise known as "rainout"......you want to make sure that your machine is lower than your head. That way, the water will drain back to the humidifier. You may also have the humidifier setting a little higher than you need. Other options are "hose covers" or a heated hose, or no heat (passover humidification).

Flow limitations are sort of like hypopneas.....a limitation of the flow of air, but not to the degree that a hypopnea is.
Variable breathing. Nobody seems to know.....but SOME is definitely a good thing. Mine seems to average in the mid to upper 20's to lower 30's.....depending on what my pressure is.

Of course, the AHI is the sum of the AI (apnea index) and the HI (hypopnea index). "Normal" is considered to be under 5.0. The lower the better. Mine is generally under 1.0.

Watch your numbers for a few nights while you get used to using this stuff. It's definitely a new way of sleeping. Try to sleep with your equipment as much as possible.....naps, too. Try to get caught up on the sleep your body has been missing for so long. You might fill in your "Profile" so we'll know what equipment you did get and what your settings are.

Glad to hear you're therapy is under way. Don't give up.....the recovery period can have it's ups and downs......hang in there.

Best wishes,

Den

Hi Den.

Thanks for statistics info. I don't see any leak details in the 406 phamplet but there is a graph with bias flow info. My encore said my leak stats are:
avg. max leak: 157.0 lpm
avg. leak: 38.4
avg. 90% leak: 62.7
avg. time in large leak per night: 6 mins.
I have no clue what it means, hopefully it will get better.

Good tip about the humidifier at a lower setting; good tip about getting a hose cover; great tip about having the machine lower than the head, mine is higher/equal right now.

I looked up Variable Breathing; according to the Resprionics patent it is, erratic breathing, ie. "a situation when a person is not undergoing the quiet steady breathing of several stages of sleep, in particular it happens during REM, wakefulness, or distress. Since REM sleep is a desirable state, some variable breathing is obviously a good thing." My variable breathing percent of the night is only 6.1%.... that must mean you are doing better than me, you said you have variable breathing in the mid 20's to lower 30's... or maybe you have other factors involved.

You offered good advice to keep track of the numbers; I believe there's power in gaining control over one's life journey and health issues. It gives me something to look forward to every a.m. and being able to track my daily success is a great feeling of accomplishment.

Best of luck to you all, too. Peace.
Deb

1. obtain the flow chart data for your mask (should have come with it).
2. find your 90%/cpap pressure, find the corresponding mask flow rate.
3. compare your "avg. leak" to that flow rate.

If your avg. leak flow rate exceeds that suppled by mask mfg. that is the actual amount of leak.

For example, if at 10cm pressure it shows 32L/m, and your report says 38L/m avg. leak, you have 6L/m of unintentional leak.

avg. leak: 38L/m
mask leak: -32L/m
----------------------
Actual Leak: 6L/m

Thanks Snoredog, you made it easy to understand. I figured it out and it was almost exactly like your example... mine was 38L/m minus 33L/m equals 5L/m actual leak. Is that amount kind of normal? If not, what is?

Wulfman wrote:
Welcome to the "Land of Statistics".

Reading back that made me laugh... remember a long time ago Disney put out an animated black & white TV feature called , "Donald Duck in Mathmatics Land"? Donald duck was a scientific professor wearing glasses standing at the classroom chalkboard with a pointer.... It just shows my age, I guess. lol.

We're all in Statistics Land now. Have a great day, y'all. Deb

SleepyHibiscus wrote:Wulfman wrote:
Welcome to the "Land of Statistics".

Reading back that made me laugh... remember a long time ago Disney put out an animated black & white TV feature called , "Donald Duck in Mathmatics Land"? Donald duck was a scientific professor wearing glasses standing at the classroom chalkboard with a pointer.... It just shows my age, I guess. lol.

We're all in Statistics Land now. Have a great day, y'all. Deb

Hey, Deb.

Are you sure it was in black & white? Or was it that long ago.....when we ALL had B & W TVs?
Glad it gave you a chuckle. We HAVE to find ways to put humor in this situation.....dealing with OSA.

Best wishes.

Den

Hey Den.

You're right... way back when, in the day of the Wonderful World of Disney, on Sun. nights, us kids would gather round the big B & W console TV arguing over the seating arrangement. Fussing got us sent to bed without watching Walt. lol. Yea, we have to find humor in this stuff.

PS I LIKE my Respironics REMstar with smart card and software!!! Now if I could just find a comfy mask that doesn't feel like a cement weight on the bridge of my nose.

Deb

SleepyHibiscus wrote:Now if I could just find a comfy mask that doesn't feel like a cement weight on the bridge of my nose.

Hmmmmmm. That might put you into "Adventureland"?

Good luck with your quest for that one. When you find it you WILL know. (and fall in love with it)

Actually, I ALMOST used "Statistics land" in my original post, but then changed my mind at the last minute.

Best wishes,

Den

SleepyHibiscus wrote:I looked up Variable Breathing; according to the Resprionics patent it is, erratic breathing, ie. "a situation when a person is not undergoing the quiet steady breathing of several stages of sleep, in particular it happens during REM, wakefulness, or distress. Since REM sleep is a desirable state, some variable breathing is obviously a good thing."

Does anyone know if there is a way to correlate Variable Breathing with the time of the night? I know that in EncorePro, you can see when the apnea and snore events are occurring by looking at the summary data. I'd like to see when my Variable Breathing is occurring also.

Hi,

In MyEncore, I cannot see the graphs plotted on the two pages labelled "Daily Pressure" and "Daily Leak". In both pages, the vertical axis is marked with "0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2", I think the scale is too small to display the data points and hence no graph is display. If this is the case, how to rectify it, I've try to uninstall and then re-install the software, but the problem still exist.

Thanks
Alex