How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Mark55 · Post by **Mark55** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:20 pm

before it really impacts therapy? I know Pugsy, and others have talked about this before, but I can't seem to find what I am looking for now.

For whatever reason, I have started having issues with mouth leaks again recently. I started with mouth leaks, but trained myself to quit breathing through my mouth,....or at least I thought I had.

I am averaging somewhere between 3 to 10%, and sometimes more, of the night with leak levels between 25 and 30, and up to 38 L/min. It's not mask leak, and I am breathing through my nose, but for some reason my mouth keeps dropping open. I have even felt it happening a few times as I start to drop off.

Surprisingly it really doesn't bother me, or keep me awake, but I am concerned at what point the machine can't keep up, or ceases to function properly.

Thanks as always for any and all information.

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:59 pm

Mark55 wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:20 pm
before it really impacts therapy? I know Pugsy, and others have talked about this before, but I can't seem to find what I am looking for now.

For whatever reason, I have started having issues with mouth leaks again recently. I started with mouth leaks, but trained myself to quit breathing through my mouth,....or at least I thought I had.

I am averaging somewhere between 3 to 10%, and sometimes more, of the night with leak levels between 25 and 30, and up to 38 L/min. It's not mask leak, and I am breathing through my nose, but for some reason my mouth keeps dropping open. I have even felt it happening a few times as I start to drop off.

Surprisingly it really doesn't bother me, or keep me awake, but I am concerned at what point the machine can't keep up, or ceases to function properly.

Thanks as always for any and all information.

Any leak that wakes you up is too much.

As far as "before it impacts therapy... generally well over 100lpm, somewhere above there is where the machine loses the ability to maintain pressure.

Before it affects the machines ability to tell what kind of apnea you're having? around 30-35lpm.

Okie bipap · Post by **Okie bipap** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:03 pm

I have noticed that our machines will identify events up to 40 lpm. If it gets much higher than that, I start to see "Unclassified" events which means the machine cannot identify what type of events they are. To be on the safe side, I have set Sleepyhead to identify anything over 35 lpm as excessive leak.

Mark55 · Post by **Mark55** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:16 pm

So it sounds like anything up to 30 (to be safe) is ok as long as it isn't causing you to wake up.
Thank you for the replies.

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:19 pm

Yep...and for me actually I use the 35 L/min line and then I only look to see how long I was maybe up in that territory.
I don't even really bother to look much until I see well over 30 L/min leak.

Assuming the leaks don't wake me up and I have slept through some really, really big and prolonged leaks.

D.H. · Post by **D.H.** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:04 pm

It was already stated, but I'll state it more succinctly.

A leak is too large if (1) it is bothersome to you or your bed partner, or (2) it is so large that the machine can't compensate enough to deliver the set pressure.

I really think the second one wouldn't happen without the first one also happening.

How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Re: How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Re: How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Re: How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Re: How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Re: How large does a 'large leak' have to be,.........

Machine	Mask

Additional Comments: Auto PAP; 13.5 cmH2O min - 20 cmH2O max