two weeks on the machine ...

Hi everyone,

I started my "next phase" of my life on May 16th. I have now slept with the machine (more or less) for two weeks. I would love to report that I am feeling like a kid again but truth is, I feel somewhat better,and I will take that. I have found that my attention to detail in my job is better and I no longer need an afternoon nap, so in that respect SUCCESS!

I am posting my last couple of SleepyHead screen shots because I have a couple of questions. I think my battle with leaks has been abated with my use of my chin strap. Keeping my mouth shut is hard (awake and asleep by the look of my graphs). One question is there is a lot of air coming out the vent holes on my mask. Is there a pressure limit on the FX nasal pillow? Am I getting to that point? My S9 is set for 5-15cmH2O and I seem to always be near the max (I have a 5 minute ramp at the start). Second question, I have an appointment with my PCP tomorrow for a physical, should I talk to him about the pressure or wait till my next ENT visit?

At any rate, thank you for your guidance and wisdom

The pressure-flow curve for your mask is listed here on page 5 in the user manual:

http://www.resmed.com/us/assets/documen ... er_eng.pdf

That may answer some of your question about pressure limits...

Hang in there and congrats on your first 2 weeks! You are slightly ahead of me - I'm at the 5 day mark

Vent rate will vary with the pressure used...more pressure equals more vent rate...this is normal and nothing to worry about.
Your mask is rated to 20 cm pressure (most masks are) and thus you don't have any problem in that regard.

Your reports look pretty darn good. If it were me the only thing I might consider doing is increasing that minimum pressure a bit. Especially if you think that the pressure variations during the night are causing some sleep disruptions.
Your AHI is fine though so the machine is doing a great job so no real urgent need to modify the pressure in that regard.
If your AHI was higher than we wanted then yeah do a little more minimum pressure but your AHI is acceptable now.

You have quickly come to a point where any changes you might want to do are just minor adjustments or tweaking to get things perhaps a bit more comfortable. There is no huge need to change anything unless you are having problems of some sort. Now some people do find that the pressure changes in APAP mode...like from your 5 cm to 12 and 14 are rather disturbing to their sleep and when this happens we suggest bringing that minimum number up so that the variations aren't so great. Some people like to use the 2 cm above and below average pressure as a limited range when that happens.

If you increase the minimum your AHI might come down a wee bit more (and it might not) and if you decide you want to try that modification....go about it slowly.

Again, your data is acceptable as it is now so no real urgent need to change anything unless you just want to tweak some settings as an experiment to see how things go.
If you think the pressure changes are disrupting sleep...then I would bring that minimum pressure up to maybe 9 cm and see how things go with it.