Avg hours per night - 8:14
Avg pressure - 8.62
max pressure - 15.74
95% pressure - 12.04
Avg leak rate - 0.63
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Need advice on dialing in APAP
5 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Need advice on dialing in APAP
New to PAP therapy, was diagnosed with moderate OSA with an AHI of 6, lots of snoring, waking up feeling unrested and with major headaches. Using an Airsense 11 with an Airfit 20 full face mask. Some mornings after using the APAP I wake up feeling good and rested and others feeling like I didn't even use it. Did research on this board before starting PAP therapy and right off the bat raised my min pressure to 6, left EPR on 2. Using OSCAR Saw most of my AHI was coming from CA events and lots of people recommended turning off EPR, tried this and AHI and CA events increased and woke up feeling unrested. Switched EPR back to 2. Seeking any guidance on what (if anything) I should adjust. First 2 pics are two random nights and 3rd pic is when I turned EPR off. IF needed some info from the statistics page of OSCAR are:
Avg hours per night - 8:14
Avg pressure - 8.62
max pressure - 15.74
95% pressure - 12.04
Avg leak rate - 0.63
Avg hours per night - 8:14
Avg pressure - 8.62
max pressure - 15.74
95% pressure - 12.04
Avg leak rate - 0.63
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Miss Emerita
- Posts: 3732
- Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:07 pm
Re: Need advice on dialing in APAP
Welcome! It's great that you're already sleeping all night with your machine. Your leaks look minimal, and your AHIs, even the higher ones, are good. So you're off to an excellent start.
My biggest question for you: how are you feeling during the day? More rested? Or not yet?
Sometimes flow limitations can make sleep less restful than it could be. Your FLs seem to respond to EPR, and so I'd recommend using EPR of 3. Use a minimum pressure of 7 so you can get the full benefits of EPR. (EPR drops your pressure when you exhale, but the machine can't produce a pressure lower than 4.) I'd recommend that you turn off your ramp.
I'd be willing to be that most or all of your CAs come after arousal breathing. You can zoom in to confirm this yourself, looking at your flow rate; arousal breathing is deeper and messier-looking than regular sleep breathing. Those CAs will probably taper off as you have fewer arousals and as your body adjusts to CPAP. So I would just bracket them for now.
My biggest question for you: how are you feeling during the day? More rested? Or not yet?
Sometimes flow limitations can make sleep less restful than it could be. Your FLs seem to respond to EPR, and so I'd recommend using EPR of 3. Use a minimum pressure of 7 so you can get the full benefits of EPR. (EPR drops your pressure when you exhale, but the machine can't produce a pressure lower than 4.) I'd recommend that you turn off your ramp.
I'd be willing to be that most or all of your CAs come after arousal breathing. You can zoom in to confirm this yourself, looking at your flow rate; arousal breathing is deeper and messier-looking than regular sleep breathing. Those CAs will probably taper off as you have fewer arousals and as your body adjusts to CPAP. So I would just bracket them for now.
_________________
| Machine: AirCurve™ 10 VAuto BiLevel Machine with HumidAir™ Heated Humidifier |
| Mask: Bleep DreamPort CPAP Mask Solution |
Oscar software is available at https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
Re: Need advice on dialing in APAP
Really appreciate the response. I will definitely try switching EPR to 3 and min pressure to 7 so I can get the full benefit of the EPR and see how that feels. I already dont use ramp.Miss Emerita wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 1:19 pmWelcome! It's great that you're already sleeping all night with your machine. Your leaks look minimal, and your AHIs, even the higher ones, are good. So you're off to an excellent start.
My biggest question for you: how are you feeling during the day? More rested? Or not yet?
Sometimes flow limitations can make sleep less restful than it could be. Your FLs seem to respond to EPR, and so I'd recommend using EPR of 3. Use a minimum pressure of 7 so you can get the full benefits of EPR. (EPR drops your pressure when you exhale, but the machine can't produce a pressure lower than 4.) I'd recommend that you turn off your ramp.
I'd be willing to be that most or all of your CAs come after arousal breathing. You can zoom in to confirm this yourself, looking at your flow rate; arousal breathing is deeper and messier-looking than regular sleep breathing. Those CAs will probably taper off as you have fewer arousals and as your body adjusts to CPAP. So I would just bracket them for now.
As far as feeling rested, its been about 50/50 whether i wake up rested or not, may just need more time to fully adjust. I have noticed that when the machine increases pressure above 11-12 to try and correct an OA event, it will almost always wake me up (anytime i wake up mid sleep i check the machine pressure) and this happens at least once or twice per night. I also need to get the humidity settinga dialed in (currently just have climate and tube temp set to auto) because some nights my mouth will get so dry that it actually wakes me up and i have to drink water.
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Miss Emerita
- Posts: 3732
- Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:07 pm
Re: Need advice on dialing in APAP
Double-check the ramp. Your minimum actual pressure is 6, while your regular pressure setting minimum is 7. That usually means the lower number is a ramp pressure.
Keep us posted after you make those changes!
Keep us posted after you make those changes!
_________________
| Machine: AirCurve™ 10 VAuto BiLevel Machine with HumidAir™ Heated Humidifier |
| Mask: Bleep DreamPort CPAP Mask Solution |
Oscar software is available at https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
5 posts
• Page 1 of 1