old dude wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:55 am
zoocrewphoto wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:25 am
Dog Slobber wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:39 am
old dude wrote: ↑Sat Mar 30, 2019 3:33 pm
Thanks for the sage advice and explanation, Den.
I think I'll try backing the EPR down one notch at a time and see what happens. If that fails, I'll try increasing the minimum pressure a little at the time and see what happens.
I've worked with a very narrow pressure range in the past and it seemed to work fine for me, although at some point you do have to ask yourself why not just go with a fixed pressure.
I'm really having trouble understanding what possible advantage switching from
Auto to
Fixed would have.
Some people are more sensitive to the changes in pressure, thus causing them to wake up frequently and/or sleep poorly. I can sleep through wild pressure changes, so I am lucky. But I can't sleep through a tiny hissing leak, while others can. It really depends on each person, what they can tolerate and what bothers them.
I'm pretty much the same way. The smallest leak will put me instantly on high alert.
This is why I typically try to limit the max pressure setting. I seem to tolerate an occasional missed event more easily than the leak often caused by the pressure rise.
I've been pretty lucky. Once I mastered the mask (smaller headgear was the trick for me), I am pretty good about not having leaks. I may get a little bit later in the night. I just do a bathroom break and then restart the mask process which is usually short. My pressure is 11-17, but it rarely ever spikes past 15. When it does, I am on my back. My cheeks start to flap a little, so I roll back onto my side and the pressure goes down. If it does wake me up, I just hit the power off/on so that it goes back to 11 quickly. I roll over and back to sleep. Most pressure spikes, I sleep through.
Before my sleep study, I was sure I would not be able to sleep with a cpap mask. The tech fit me perfectly, I rolled over and slept over 5 hours straight. I knew we weren't supposed to ask the tech about results since they aren't allowed to tell us that kind of info. So I simply asked, did the pressure go up while I was asleep. They said yes, and I thought, cool, I slept through it without any problems. This can work.
When I first got my machine and mask, I had huge problems finding the sweet spot to eliminate leaks. People here helped me get rid of the air blowing into my eye. They also helped me figure out that I needed smaller headgear and that the DME was lying to me. So, I am very grateful to those who helped my get past the part that bothered me the most.
Who would have thought it would be this challenging to sleep and breathe at the same time?
