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robysue wrote:

sleepyowl wrote:Again, this is only one night with all new stuff, and I'd like to confirm that the mask leak was to blame. Any help/insights would be greatly appreciated.

The leaky mask is to blame for only some of this ugliness. Your leaks are excessively high for an excessively long period of time. The data when large leaks are detected could be even worse than it looks here because the machine can lose track of your breathing.

But there's a whole lot of ugliness that can't be blamed on the large leaks. In particular, that cluster of events between 5:15 and 6:00 can't be blamed on a leaky mask. The clusters that happen between 7:40 and 8:15 (between the large leaks) and the clusters that happen after 8:30 also cannot be blamed on a leaky mask.

Now as palerider and others have commented, your machine is limited with a max pressure of 11cm. And the machine zoomed right up to 11cm at the beginning of the night and sat there except for the pressure decreases when the machine was trying to "fix" the large leaks.

Question: Did you have a titration study? If so, what was the recommended pressure setting? If not, why did the doc decide to tell the RT to set the machine up in Auto mode with a pressure range of 4-11cm?

Next Question: How long were you awake before falling asleep at the beginning of the night? How long were you lying in bed awake before deciding to get up this morning?

Final Question: What was your AHI on your diagnostic test?

We need that kind of information to tease out exactly what might be happening here.

sleepyowl wrote:Also - I think it's incredibly stupid for the Airsense 10 to give all smiley faces with the little "sleep report" after a night like this. A smiley for mask seal? Really?

sleepyowl wrote:I think I'll be stuck going a few days and contacting my doctor for him to up the pressure.

sleepyowl wrote:Hey robysue, I did have a study but it was 6 years ago (and 30lbs ago). I didn't have another this year b/c I couldn't meet my deductible, so my doctor got me the auto cpap. He's working off of 6 year old data.

In lieu of a new study, I think I'll be stuck going a few days and contacting my doctor for him to up the pressure.

I was awake for maybe 10 minutes. I went right to sleep.

Also - there was a period around 5am when my wife woke me up due to a massive leak. I also went to the restroom and fell right back asleep.

Julie wrote:And if you're a back (vs sides) sleeper, which provokes many more apneas, do whatever you can to keep off your back overnight, even if it means wearing a backpack (or sewn-in ball) til you've converted. I also suggest using a soft cervical collar to keep your head off your chest (if it applies), your airway more open (you could be cutting off air quite a bit otherwise) and your mouth closed.

sleepyowl wrote:Can you recommend a soft cervical collar?

ChicagoGranny wrote:I recommend a cervical collar over a chin strap. The collar works better for me and doesn't interfere with the mask headgear like chin straps tend to do. A collar is also very cheap to try.

Currently, I am using DMI Universal Firm Foam Cervical Collar - http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=DM ... l%20collar (Shipping is free if you pickup at a local Walmart store.)

Note that the firm comes in sizes from 3 to 4 inches wide. I recommend 3.5-inch for average size person and 3.0-inch for small person as a starting point. After using one for a while, you might need to go up or down a size when you reorder.

sleepyowl wrote:Wow. Switched back to my Wisp mask and increased the pressure. This is good stuff. I have so much energy.

sleepyowl wrote: Isn't there a possible condition associated with high pressures? Seems like I read about it on this forum but can't remember.

robysue wrote:You have no central apneas at all on this night so chances are you won't have any problem with pressure induced central apneas.

sleepyowl wrote: Isn't there a possible condition associated with high pressures?