How much is too much leakage

dorourke wrote:I have a mirage swift ii mask, the specification for leakage at 9cm pressure is about 33. My data is showing averages of 40 to 48 per night. Is this too much leakage?

Best regards

I spent a long time trying to do the same thing you are doing only to believe after being told this several times that I was breathing through my mouth. Full face masks accommodate small leaks ok, but nasal pillow masks do not work well with almost any leak. Look carefully at this thread: viewtopic.php?p=282156#282156
It shows leaks that don't look too bad, but totally destroy therapy and finally achieving a good leak line. I had to go to a Ultra Mirage Full Face Mask in a small to work properly. The DME first gave me a medium and it leaked like a sieve!

I know it is hard to understand, but a leaking mask basically gives you no therapy and almost totally defeats an auto machine. I find that using the machine as a cpap at fixed pressure works much better to finally arrive at a good pressure for you, then use the auto on a small set of limits. I am now using mine as an auto set to 11 min and 15 max. That works a little better than just a cpap of 11 especially when the nightly requirements for pressure change slightly from night to night!

Don't believe that you can fix your problem by adjusting pressure with an auto until you solve your leak problem completely. Some are able to do it with a chinstrap or taping, but I finally had to give up and go to the full face mask to get the proper therapy. Good Luck.

WW
Thanks for the Link, I definitely found a pretty big leak in the swival joint on the swift ii, I taped it last night and got much better leakage results, I but I need to do a better job on the taping because I could still hear the air leaks from the when I moved the hose around, the data also showed jumps in the leakage at these points.
I Still have not ruled out mouth breathing as part of the problem, I just need isolate and fix each problem as I find them and see what their contribution is to the overall problem is. I believe the mask is poorly designed, especially the hose joint. My DME and RT were useless, the plummonary specialist didn't spend any time discussing what potential problems may occur with the equipment he prescribed. I think I am like everyone else here, on their own to figure out how to do it right .
I will probably get a full face mask at the end of this week or next week, but I would still like to get the kinks worked out of this one, so I know that if I don't like the full mask I can allways go back to the pillows.

As for small leaks ruining the therapy, I am not using an Auto machine, and my pressure is set relatively high with respect to the needed threshold according to my Doctor, but as I learned from this forum, my leakage chart is totally unacceptable, way too many fluctuations, other numbers like AHI, etc, may not be reliable.

Thanks to everyone who responded, best of luck with your treatment