how long to wait before increasing pressure?

how long should I wait between adjustments before I increase or decrease my pressure?

my leak line is looking better I think....(Still higher than I would like)........but OA are up a bit as is VS. Increased from 9 to 10 on 030109.

Thinking about bumping up to 10.5 or 11 tonight.

Any opinions?

Thanks

Todays:


Yesterday:

You are on an auto machine, why not put it on 9-13 and see what happens? When I ran mine at 9-12, my best numbers were at 10cm. Go figure. Whats with all that snoring? Are you expecting that will improve when you raise the pressure?

Elader is making a good suggestion.....You've got the tools....try out "auto" mode and see what happens.

Leak lines are good when they are fairly steady.

Ideally the line will be flat but a zipper-like pattern is ok too. If it has mountain and vally pattern it is not good.

You should wait about a week or two and use average values to base any changes off of.

Setting it to APAP is a good idea as already mentioned ... but only if leaks are under control, else the APAP may run away on you and give false reality of your treatment efficacy

Odds are with that snore level on APAP it will run to your top setting and hang there, so don't set it too high. Jim

Goofproof wrote:Odds are with that snore level on APAP it will run to your top setting and hang there, so don't set it too high. Jim

This is too true. I tried 9-20 on my first night. I woke up in a hurricane. I would widen the range just one down and two up and try it for a week, look at the numbers, see if it's helping or hurting or not doing anything to go up 1 or 2 cm.

It's not too soon to up your pressure by 0.5 or 1 cm. The suggestion of running it in auto at a 9 -13 cm is also a good thought. You could try one of those tonight.

After a week or so, if you choose the auto settings, your "Average 90% CPAP" and your "Average cpap Pressure" will give you a good idea what your optimal pressure is. You can then go to that pressure in straight cpap mode or stay in auto at a range that will give proper therapy for you, whichever is most comfortable for you.

I think the leak line needs a bit work still though.

Leaks and snores will more than likely cause a "runaway" (self-feeding problem) if set in APAP mode.
As per part of Hawthorne's suggestion, I'd take it up 1 cm. for about 5 nights and see what happens. Then, depending on what those results look like.......maybe another 1 cm. Just be sure to use each setting enough time......as you have already done. I think you're getting pretty close.

Den

I also think you are close. But I also think your leak line is pretty good too. So bump it up or put it in auto 2cm up. You are closer than you think.

oh and yea an increase in pressure will or should reduce the snores also, but may increase your leaks too.

ChipsXJ wrote:how long should I wait between adjustments before I increase or decrease my pressure?

Give any adjustments at least one week before making more adjustments.

That gives you enough time to gather data to make the next adjustment, if any, on the basis of analysis of the collected data and how you feel.

To answer your question directly -- I would leave it for at least a week before making another change -- unless you determine that the change you made is totally off base. A week is my minimum and it's usually a month so I have more data to average.

Your leak rate is a bit high, but as Dreamstalker said, it's the mountains you want to avoid. Zippers aren't all that bad. I chased leak rates for a long time, before I found that what I was chasing was a ghost....Look at your masks documentation to see what the leak rate should be at your pressure -- that will be your baseline. Higher pressure can cause higher leak rate, and also will have a higher "expected leak rate" -- so keep it all in perspective.

In my case, I had my APAP machine in CPAP mode for nearly a year, had good numbers (AHI 2.5) but still felt like crapola.....I changed to APAP mode with a narrowish range 11-15 and the numbers stayed the same, but I'm feeling much better!!! So I don't chase numbers anymore. I use them to validate how I feel.....

Good luck!!!
take care
cheers
goose