Need help with CPAP Stats

I thought I'd provide some stats I see from my CPAP display. Looking for any helpful feedback. Me being rather ignorant of some of these numbers any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here are two numbers I'm seeing:

System Leak 7 Day Avg 51.7 L/min (This 7 day number is higher than the 2nd Avg displayed for a longer period. Basically telling me the leak is getting worse? I'm using those P10 nasal pillows now which may be contributing to that?)
APN-Hyp index 7 Day AHI .4

Playing with my pressures has increased the number of hours using the machine from 4.25 to more than 5 hours. Not enough but better.

tazmania wrote: any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated

What are your current plans about getting an up to date machine with a SD card and using Sleepyhead to manage your therapy?

ChicagoGranny wrote:

tazmania wrote: any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated

What are your current plans about getting an up to date machine with a SD card and using Sleepyhead to manage your therapy?

Not everybody has insurance that will help pay for a new machine on a regular basis. And if you can't afford to replace the machine out of pocket and it works, you can still get decent therapy using older equipment.

tazmania wrote:I thought I'd provide some stats I see from my CPAP display. Looking for any helpful feedback. Me being rather ignorant of some of these numbers any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here are two numbers I'm seeing:

System Leak 7 Day Avg 51.7 L/min (This 7 day number is higher than the 2nd Avg displayed for a longer period. Basically telling me the leak is getting worse? I'm using those P10 nasal pillows now which may be contributing to that?)

In general if the 7 day average is larger than the 30 day average, that does mean that the last 7 days have been worse in terms of leaks. If you just started using the pillows in the last 7 days, that could have something to do with the change in leak numbers.

But to really be able to interpret that 7-day Leak average, I'd need to know what your pressure setting is as well as the mask type. The M-Series machine's LCD reports the average total leak, and if the average total leak is around what the expected total leak rate for the mask is, then that's evidence that the leaks are most likely under control---if you don't have other signs that indicate leaking is a problem

APN-Hyp index 7 Day AHI .4

This is the seven day average AHI as I recall. If the leaks are are under control, that's a great AHI which would indicate your machine is doing its job in terms of preventing the apneas. If the leaks are not under control, this number may not be accurate. How do you feel?

Playing with my pressures has increased the number of hours using the machine from 4.25 to more than 5 hours. Not enough but better.

How long have you been using this M-Series machine?

ChicagoGranny wrote:

tazmania wrote: any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated

What are your current plans about getting an up to date machine with a SD card and using Sleepyhead to manage your therapy?

I just got back from my trip and haven't taken the time to get my prescription from the sleep institute. Once I have that I do plan on purchasing a new machine.

Are you telling me the stats my machine provides on the display are useless? Is sleepyhead the only way to truly monitor the machine's effectiveness? If it is then I won't bother looking at and providing anymore stats.

robysue wrote:

tazmania wrote:I thought I'd provide some stats I see from my CPAP display. Looking for any helpful feedback. Me being rather ignorant of some of these numbers any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here are two numbers I'm seeing:

System Leak 7 Day Avg 51.7 L/min (This 7 day number is higher than the 2nd Avg displayed for a longer period. Basically telling me the leak is getting worse? I'm using those P10 nasal pillows now which may be contributing to that?)

In general if the 7 day average is larger than the 30 day average, that does mean that the last 7 days have been worse in terms of leaks. If you just started using the pillows in the last 7 days, that could have something to do with the change in leak numbers.

But to really be able to interpret that 7-day Leak average, I'd need to know what your pressure setting is as well as the mask type. The M-Series machine's LCD reports the average total leak, and if the average total leak is around what the expected total leak rate for the mask is, then that's evidence that the leaks are most likely under control---if you don't have other signs that indicate leaking is a problem

APN-Hyp index 7 Day AHI .4

This is the seven day average AHI as I recall. If the leaks are are under control, that's a great AHI which would indicate your machine is doing its job in terms of preventing the apneas. If the leaks are not under control, this number may not be accurate. How do you feel?

Playing with my pressures has increased the number of hours using the machine from 4.25 to more than 5 hours. Not enough but better.

How long have you been using this M-Series machine?

I have my machine pressure set at 11 currently. It originally was 12, I played around with lowering it (per the Doc's advice) to 10 and then to 9 but I didn't see a real drastic change in effectiveness regarding the mouth breathing like the Doc thought I would.

I have been using the P10 Nasal Pillows for over 2 weeks now. I believe the 2nd set of averages are for the last 365 days or so (I can look again tonight to be sure).

How do I feel? Well, better in the last couple of days now that I'm back home. I spent 5 days bunking with a golf buddy who has undiagnosed apnea and snored like a grizzly bear so I didn't sleep very well. However I haven't felt real great in a long time due to the short time I actually use CPAP every night. Hoping by trying some of the things suggested here I can increase the number of hours I use it every night.

I have had this M series for the entire duration of my CPAP therapy which is somewhere around 7 or 8 years if I remember correctly. I'm really bad with dates and don't have that one written down.

tazmania wrote:

ChicagoGranny wrote: What are your current plans about getting an up to date machine with a SD card and using Sleepyhead to manage your therapy?

I just got back from my trip and haven't taken the time to get my prescription from the sleep institute. Once I have that I do plan on purchasing a new machine.

Are you telling me the stats my machine provides on the display are useless? Is sleepyhead the only way to truly monitor the machine's effectiveness? If it is then I won't bother looking at and providing anymore stats.

When you get a current generation machine, it's worth downloading SleepyHead. It's not that SleepyHead is the only way to monitor the machine's effectiveness. It's that the wealth of data that you can analyze with SleepyHead is genuinely astonishing.

In general, however, if things are going well and you're feeling good, the numbers on the machine's LCD are enough to let you know that therapy is continuing to go well.

Where SleepyHead is important is when things are not going well and/or you're not feeling good in spite of using the CPAP all night, every night. All the extra data that is available through SleepyHead can make it much easier to identify what the cause of the problems are. And knowing the cause makes it easier to come up with ideas for fixing the cause of the problems.

tazmania wrote:re you telling me the stats my machine provides on the display are useless? Is sleepyhead the only way to truly monitor the machine's effectiveness? If it is then I won't bother looking at and providing anymore stats.

Granny's idea of painting fine detail is to use a roller...

tazmania wrote:I just got back from my trip and haven't taken the time to get my prescription from the sleep institute. Once I have that I do plan on purchasing a new machine.

tazmania wrote:Are you telling me the stats my machine provides on the display are useless?

No, I did not tell you that, and I will not tell you that.

With a person that looks at the display, and has a low AHI and low leak nearly every day, the display is very helpful. But, a CPAPer who is having problems, especially unacceptable AHIs and high leak levels, the display becomes less useful.

I monitor my own therapy with the display. Every morning I check the AHI, leak and pressure. It's usually very good, so that's it for monitoring. Occasionally, I might get an increased leak or AHI. Then I pull the SD card and look at the data in Sleepyhead.

Go with what robysue said:

robysue wrote:When you get a current generation machine, it's worth downloading SleepyHead. It's not that SleepyHead is the only way to monitor the machine's effectiveness. It's that the wealth of data that you can analyze with SleepyHead is genuinely astonishing.

In general, however, if things are going well and you're feeling good, the numbers on the machine's LCD are enough to let you know that therapy is continuing to go well.

Where SleepyHead is important is when things are not going well and/or you're not feeling good in spite of using the CPAP all night, every night. All the extra data that is available through SleepyHead can make it much easier to identify what the cause of the problems are. And knowing the cause makes it easier to come up with ideas for fixing the cause of the problems.

tazmania wrote:I have had this M series for the entire duration of my CPAP therapy which is somewhere around 7 or 8 years if I remember correctly.

Your machine is quite old. I think you will really enjoy a newer machine and Sleepyhead.

ChicagoGranny wrote:Your machine is quite old. I think you will really enjoy a newer machine and Sleepyhead.

she's right about that.

Sounds good. Thanks for the info.

I don't think it is going to do me any good to check my display for a daily check due to the fact the machine only provides a 7 day and 80 day average. It doesn't tell me what happened for the last use.

I've been looking at some new machines, namely a Respironics. I noticed I don't even need a prescription for many of the machines.

For instance on Amazon I see this machine:

Respironics REDS560S PR System One 60-Series Sleep Therapy System - Respironics REDS560HS - REMstar Auto with humidifier and SD card for $465 and is Prime eligible.

Is this a decent machine and does it work well with SleepyHead?

tazmania wrote: Respironics REDS560S PR System One 60-Series Sleep Therapy System - Respironics REDS560HS - REMstar Auto with humidifier and SD card for $465 and is Prime eligible.

Is this a decent machine and does it work well with SleepyHead?

PR System One Series 60 model 560 is an APAP that works very well with SleepyHead. My hubby uses a 560 and he likes it very much.

One word of advice: Make sure the machine is indeed a 560 before accepting delivery. There are a lot of System One Series 60 models and the el-cheapo one (Model 260) does not record full efficacy data and does not work with SleepyHead.

Will do.

Thanks robysue

When you're ready and have a data capable machine (Note: some of the newer machines aren't completely supported by SH yet, but that support is supposed to be coming soon):

First: Here’s the link on where to get free Sleepyhead software:
http://www.sleepfiles.com/SH2/?TestingVersions
If you like Sleepyhead and use it, please try to donate to Mark for his great work… the ‘donate’ link/button is about halfway down this page.
-------------------------------
Here, in order, are the three excellent links that graphically show you how to get the correctly sized Sleepyhead images to show up in your CPAPtalk post:
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepy ... screenshot
https://sleep.tnet.com/reference/tips/imgur
Don’t worry if you blow it the first time… most of us did!
------------------------------------
Here’s some additional info on Sleepyhead, in case you’re interested.
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

tazmania wrote:

robysue wrote:

tazmania wrote:I thought I'd provide some stats I see from my CPAP display. Looking for any helpful feedback. Me being rather ignorant of some of these numbers any knowledge passed on would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here are two numbers I'm seeing:

System Leak 7 Day Avg 51.7 L/min (This 7 day number is higher than the 2nd Avg displayed for a longer period. Basically telling me the leak is getting worse? I'm using those P10 nasal pillows now which may be contributing to that?)

In general if the 7 day average is larger than the 30 day average, that does mean that the last 7 days have been worse in terms of leaks. If you just started using the pillows in the last 7 days, that could have something to do with the change in leak numbers.

But to really be able to interpret that 7-day Leak average, I'd need to know what your pressure setting is as well as the mask type. The M-Series machine's LCD reports the average total leak, and if the average total leak is around what the expected total leak rate for the mask is, then that's evidence that the leaks are most likely under control---if you don't have other signs that indicate leaking is a problem

I have my machine pressure set at 11 currently. It originally was 12, I played around with lowering it (per the Doc's advice) to 10 and then to 9 but I didn't see a real drastic change in effectiveness regarding the mouth breathing like the Doc thought I would.

I have been using the P10 Nasal Pillows for over 2 weeks now. I believe the 2nd set of averages are for the last 365 days or so (I can look again tonight to be sure).

At 10-11 cm of pressure, the expected, intentional leak rate for the P10 nasal mask is 33-35 L/min according to the chart at http://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/ ... er_eng.pdf

If your 7-day average leak rate is currently running 51.7 L/min, that means you've got some serious leaking going on. The problem with mathematical averages, however, is that we can't tell whether you leaking at a rate of 50 L/min most of the night, every night OR whether you've got a some long stretches with the leak rate down where it should be and some stretches where the leak is really, really high---as in up in the 80-100 L/min range, which is into the official Large Leak territory for Resprionics machines.

Out of curiosity, have you ever looked at the detailed data your M-series machine records with Encore? You really need to find out just what your leak line looks like on a typical night.