Frustrated with high leaks

Frustrated with high leaks
I have been using Hybrid full face mask. (ResMed AirFit F 40 for just shy of 2 years.). I was getting great seal and very restorative sleep with AHI numbers always below 1.5. The last few months I have experienced high leaks - usually 36/L and higher -Resmed My air score. Leak over Red line in OSCAR has climbed up to 50-60 percent. I am feeling restored for the most part in the morning as my AHI still stays low and my pressure is averaging 8-9. I use a liner to help with itching from the silicon and it was helping with the seal. I am beyond fustrated. Would a chin strap help? I think that leaks are coming from mouth as I am nasally congested and am mouth breather. I have tried going between medium and large cushion and get high leaks with both. I have tried F and P Evora and that cushion caused nasal congestion and did not work right. The triangular full face masks dont work for me. PLEASE help and any advice is appreciated.

sleepingbetter0209 wrote: ↑

Tue May 12, 2026 9:30 pm

I am feeling restored for the most part in the morning

To start the discussion, is your goal 1. to feel restored in the morning or
2. make MyAir happier?

How do you feel near bedtime? Normal fatigue? Or stressed? How was your energy level during the day? Did you have excess sleepiness during the day?

BTW, your machine can compensate for unintentional leak up to about 35 lpm.

Facial hair??????

I feel well rested at wakeup but still experience daytime sleepiness sometimes. I DO have more energy than before using CPAP - I started in November 2022. So when "my air "tells me 40/L or 44/L that is OK? I look at OSCAR leak over redline. Can a machine really compensate for high leaks and zap all the AHI's along the way?

sleepingbetter0209 wrote: ↑

Wed May 13, 2026 2:02 pm

when "my air "tells me 40/L or 44/L that is OK?

It depends on how much time you spend at 40 to 44 L/min. I don't use MyAir so I don't know what metric MyAir uses but I think it uses a 95% number which means you were at OR BELOW that number for 95% of the time. Does NOT mean that is the overall average or that you spent 95% of the night at that level of leak.

Best to use OSCAR or SleepHQ to really see just how long you spent at those higher numbers.
Software and SD CARD use.

ResMed uses 24 L/Min as the line in the sand for large leak territory. From my own personal experience I find that is an ultra conservative leak number. It actually seems to do a good job up until around 30-35 L/min but over that you can't trust the machine to record and/or respond accurately.

So it depends on how long you spent over 35 L/min as to how much you can trust the data.
20 minutes over the entire night probably not a big deal but 2 to 4 hours or so....that's a significant problem.

Yes I rely on OSCAR and use AI like Chat GPT for interpretation, Dont know how accurate that is either but I have been sleeping 10 plus hours and feeling brand new in AM with 43/L registered on OSCAR but there are spikes but half the night my leaks are very high- amaing thoug the machine in compensating for the leaks by increasing pressure to keep airway open. I just am wondering if liner is helping or hurting and if I need chin strao if I find my mouth open upon wakening ? Your thoughts? I use a hybrid under the nose FF mask Resmed Airfit 40.

It would be really helpful if we could see what you are seeing.

But here is an old thread of mine where I had horrible "numbers" but in real life it wasn't such a bad leaky night.
My 95% number for leaks was 48 L/min

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