dream mapper reading charts

thanks Palerider, thats reassuring. And interesting to see opinions about the fx.
I discovered last night my leaks are happening through my mouth.
I don't really fancy taping my mouth shut but is that the only option?
Or do i need to use a full face fart mask?

Is there anything going on with your nose that is causing you to breathe through your mouth?
Allergies? Congestion? Or is it just habit?

When I first started therapy I thought I was a mouth breather because mouth was often dry, sore throat, etc but come to find out my mouth breathing was more related to gasping for air during the night from the apneas than anything else.
I have always been a nose breather during the day....nose is clear most of the time.

So I did have to break the mouth breathing habit and I did try various ways to try to keep the mouth shut but taping worked best for me.
Others use chin straps or some other sort of way of keeping the mouth closed.
I always thought Jay's idea had merit. Which I had known about it when I was taping. I would have tried it.
See what forum member JayAitchsee says about how he uses the Scunci to help him keep his mouth closed.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=112758&st=0&sk=t&sd ... i#p1086296

I still mouth breathe occasionally now. Usually when I am on my back and the jaw drops down but it's never for very long and most of the time barely makes it into large leak territory....so I just don't care.
I did tape for about 3 months initially though....to help break the habit.

Now if you are mouth breathing because the nose is stopped up and you can't get it open....full face mask is what is needed.

Marcusstephen wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:52 pm

thanks Palerider, thats reassuring. And interesting to see opinions about the fx.
I discovered last night my leaks are happening through my mouth.
I don't really fancy taping my mouth shut but is that the only option?
Or do i need to use a full face fart mask?

what pugsy said has merit. i've used jay's method and i don't mouth breath. i've modified it a bit to keep my own big yap closed, but it's basically what he posted.

Marcusstephen wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:52 pm

I don't really fancy taping my mouth shut but is that the only option?

Taping isn't a big deal, honestly.

There are other options though, a double sided boil and bite mouth guard (without the breathing hole in the middle) works for some people, as does Jay's technique of wearing a cloth headband (scunci) over your lips.

Hey Guys thanks again for the replies.
Yes my SNOZ can be fickle, I lie down and then some nights it seems to
constrict, but not completely. I tried salt and bicarb soda mixed in water and used
in an atomizer. I don't use a humidifier however I may need to start.
I will try a full face and see if there are less leaks.
The head band sounds like something worth trying as a last resort.
cheers

You need to fix something in SleepyHead....the statistics are saying your large leaks are MUCH worse than they really are.

Go to Preferences/CPAP tab and change the red line leak threshold from 24 to maybe 60 or 70 L/min.
That 24 is a ResMed red line threshold and it won't work on Respironics machines.
You are having some large leaks but not horribly high or deep into large leak territory. Certainly no where near 40% of the night.

You have some leaks but not horrible and to be honest if they didn't wake you up I wouldn't worry about them all that much no matter what the cause.
Respironics can compensate for a good bit of large leak and don't really run into much trouble until you get over 100 L/min total leak (that top leak line).

The leaks you see flagged on the Events graph...that's the machine doing the reporting.

That % of time over red line statistic...that is SleepyHead doing the calculation and right now it is using the wrong baseline number to start its calculations so the result you are seeing isn't really accurate. You maybe had 10% of the night in large leak. I would have to add each timed segment per the Events graph to figure up how much time was really in large leak...but it sure isn't anywhere near almost half the night.

SleepyHead defaults to the 24 L/min red line....works great for a ResMed machine but that's all. Doesn't work well for any of the other brands. This is supposed to be fixed when OSCAR gets up and running. I hate it because it scares Respironics users needlessly and makes more work for me explaining things.
Respironics doesn't have a static number for large leak threshold....it varies with pressure and mask type...change it to 60 and that's still probably ultra conservative. Large leak territory for you with your mask at your pressure is probably up around 65 or 70 total leak.

Pugsy and Palerider, your persistence with Drama Queens like us is to be truly commended.
Taped my 'trap' last night and found you were right about the mouth leaks and I adjusted the sleepyhead settings to raise
the threshold for my respironics machine. Thank you so much. Finally improved my results last night.

Bad Baby's not feeling too bad.
Im not evil I just have a sleep disorder

What did you set the red line threshold at?
SH is reporting 15% of the night over the red line but the only large leak you had was at around 2AM and it was extremely brief...I don't see it being 15% of the entire night.
You can either adjust your red line number up a little or just ignore the statistic and focus on the Events graph leak flagging.
Up to you and your choice.
With Respironics variable red line....it's darn near impossible to get it spot on.

With the lips taped....and the pressures not going wildly crazy high all night long....the bulk of your irregular leak line is mask movement leaks. Up to you if you want to do anything about them....me...as long as they don't wake me up I don't care if the leak line isn't so pretty.

Marcusstephen wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:47 pm

Bad Baby's not feeling too bad.
Im not evil I just have a sleep disorder

well done!

Marcusstephen wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:47 pm

Pugsy and Palerider, your persistence with Drama Queens like us is to be truly commended.

Oh, trust me, you ain't nothin as far as drama queen goes... (not saying you should try harder).

I've got very little patience with fools, people that don't listen, people that post misleading crap...

But people that are *trying to learn*... they're awesome.

Even better when they make notes and don't ask the same thing over and over.

That's a pretty good chart, you're making a lot of progress. :goldstar:

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:57 pm

What did you set the red line threshold at?
SH is reporting 15% of the night over the red line but the only large leak you had was at around 2AM and it was extremely brief...I don't see it being 15% of the entire night.
You can either adjust your red line number up a little or just ignore the statistic and focus on the Events graph leak flagging.

I recommend just unchecking 'flag leaks over threshold', because there is no set threshold with respironics machines, it varies constantly with the pressure.

The new OSCAR should have that turned off for non resmed machines. (maybe on for some others, but i don't know offhand which.)

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:57 pm

What did you set the red line threshold at?
SH is reporting 15% of the night over the red line but the only large leak you had was at around 2AM and it was extremely brief...I don't see it being 15% of the entire night.
You can either adjust your red line number up a little or just ignore the statistic and focus on the Events graph leak flagging.
Up to you and your choice.
With Respironics variable red line....it's darn near impossible to get it spot on.

With the lips taped....and the pressures not going wildly crazy high all night long....the bulk of your irregular leak line is mask movement leaks. Up to you if you want to do anything about them....me...as long as they don't wake me up I don't care if the leak line isn't so pretty.

thanks Pugsy, I set the red line threshold to 60% and see how it looks tomorrow.
Paleriders and your advice to turn uncheck it is probably what i''ll do and focus as you suggest on the Events graph.
Definitely feeling better today and the advice here has been invaluable. Thanks Palerider and Zonker. Great support team.
And in the words of the Great Aussie Boxer from Marrickville, Sydney Australia, " I love yers all"

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:25 pm

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:57 pm

What did you set the red line threshold at?
SH is reporting 15% of the night over the red line but the only large leak you had was at around 2AM and it was extremely brief...I don't see it being 15% of the entire night.
You can either adjust your red line number up a little or just ignore the statistic and focus on the Events graph leak flagging.

I recommend just unchecking 'flag leaks over threshold', because there is no set threshold with respironics machines, it varies constantly with the pressure.

The new OSCAR should have that turned off for non resmed machines. (maybe on for some others, but i don't know offhand which.)

Palerider? is your new Avatar a trouser snake? sure looks like it haha

Marcusstephen wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:51 pm

Palerider? is your new Avatar a trouser snake? sure looks like it haha

My tentacle is giving you the side eye...

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:25 pm

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:57 pm

What did you set the red line threshold at?
SH is reporting 15% of the night over the red line but the only large leak you had was at around 2AM and it was extremely brief...I don't see it being 15% of the entire night.
You can either adjust your red line number up a little or just ignore the statistic and focus on the Events graph leak flagging.

I recommend just unchecking 'flag leaks over threshold', because there is no set threshold with respironics machines, it varies constantly with the pressure.

The new OSCAR should have that turned off for non resmed machines. (maybe on for some others, but i don't know offhand which.)

The new OSCAR?