Scars1978 Sleep Journey

Hello Everyone,

I'm new here and seen this form has a lot of wonderful information. I've being using My CPAP for two months now and am looking for help to dial in my settings. I'm currently using the AirSense 11 AutoSet with a ResMed AirFit F20 mask and heated tube. I currently wake up once or twice a night after falling asleep usually about two to three hours in and most times with dry nose and mouth. I do have allergies and live in the Midwest so I figured that the winter has something to do with it. I do feeling like I'm sleeping better and not as tired during the day as I used to be. My pressure is a 9 and my machine has the following settings.

Ramp Off
Pressure Relief - On
Climate Control - Auto
Tube Temp - Auto
Pressure Range - 5.0-9.0
EPR - Full Time
EPR Level - 3

I have attached my past two nights charts below

You are doing really well for just starting. Well done!

I can’t help with the divination of your graphs, but others qualified will jump in as needed.

Regarding the dry nose and mouth, it happens to many of us regardless of the weather. Any idea what the humidity in your sleep space is currently? Having a hygrometer there helps in understanding the room. As a general rule of thumb, when you add more humidity it may help to increase hose temp to avoid rainout (water in the hose and mask). With a humidity level at 6 and hose temp at 77F (25C), you have a little bit of play in humidity. I use 81F and humidity at 4, but Pugsy uses a lot of humidity and a higher hose temp, if she sees this she may chime in with other suggestions.

Keep up the great work!

Welcome to the forum!
Those two charts are identical, and don't have therapy breaks, but what does stand out is that pattern or gradual reduction in pressure, and then zooming up in response to flow limitations.

I wonder of a higher minimum will prevent those flow limitations which will lead to less dramatic pressure changes, and better sleep.
You may want to make the change gradually, but it does look to me that based on this chart, you basically have no reason to let machine go any lower than 7.4 or so.

I accidentally posted them same chart twice and have since updated it. I will have to set my hygrometer in room tonight to check the temperature

Scars1978 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 1:39 pm

I accidentally posted them same chart twice and have since updated it. I will have to set my hygrometer in room tonight to check the temperature

welcome to the zoo!

want to echo that you look to be off to a great start. cpap is a marathon and not a sprint. it can take some time to get used to it and to stop your brain from waking you up.

good luck!

btw? that hygrometer is for measuring humidity not temperature.

zonker wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 6:21 pm

Scars1978 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 1:39 pm

I accidentally posted them same chart twice and have since updated it. I will have to set my hygrometer in room tonight to check the temperature

welcome to the zoo!

want to echo that you look to be off to a great start. cpap is a marathon and not a sprint. it can take some time to get used to it and to stop your brain from waking you up.

good luck!

btw? that hygrometer is for measuring humidity not temperature.

Yes, my bad humidity

Scars1978 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 1:39 pm

I accidentally posted them same chart twice and have since updated it.

They are so similar that it's not wonder posted the same one twice in the beginning.
Both have all those ski jumps in them - and then the zooming up, so basically the second chart confirms what I thought about the first:
Your minimum pressure is too low, once you get below 6 or 7 you start having flow limitations.

Take a look at your median pressure - it's the pressure you spend half your night at or above. Look at about a week of median pressures and set your minimum according to the number most prevalent.

zonker wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 6:21 pm

Scars1978 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 1:39 pm

I accidentally posted them same chart twice and have since updated it. I will have to set my hygrometer in room tonight to check the temperature

welcome to the zoo!

want to echo that you look to be off to a great start. cpap is a marathon and not a sprint. it can take some time to get used to it and to stop your brain from waking you up.

good luck!

btw? that hygrometer is for measuring humidity not temperature.

The humidity was 23% and the air temperature was 69.

ozij wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 18, 2022 7:04 am

Scars1978 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 1:39 pm

I accidentally posted them same chart twice and have since updated it.

They are so similar that it's not wonder posted the same one twice in the beginning.
Both have all those ski jumps in them - and then the zooming up, so basically the second chart confirms what I thought about the first:
Your minimum pressure is too low, once you get below 6 or 7 you start having flow limitations.

Take a look at your median pressure - it's the pressure you spend half your night at or above. Look at about a week of median pressures and set your minimum according to the number most prevalent.

Thank you for the information. I got a little overzealous and bumped the minimum pressure to 6.4 and it was hard to get use to. I think I will bump it back down to 5.2 tonight. You are correct at look at last night's chart there is a lot of ski jumps with the pressure.