Please test me

Here is my last nights data. It is the best so far in 2 months of tweaking things. To my observation I conclude this....
FIrst it looks like I need to adjust my max pressure to maybe 12 now. My leaks have greatly improved, but I still have to work on it more. I did changes to a smaller pillow size which totally changed the graph from before. It used to be crazy looking like an earthquake. Now it at least resembles a more straight line.
Am I reading things right or am I missing something? I am trying to learn how to read this data correctly.

Thanks everyone.....

hey bucko, a few observations:

Your leak line actually looks pretty OK, considering all the up and down your APAP is doing.
You seem to be spending a lot of your time near or at your maximum pressure, and you still have some apnea's and hypopnea's and snores that could probably be prevented at a higher minimum pressure.
Your 90% is 11, so I'd put your minimum pressure closer to (or at) 11, and definitely raise your max pressure to 15 or so.
(Edit: there's really no reason to limit your max pressure to anything lower than 15 unless you find that you're getting 'runaway' pressure. As it is, you are just preventing the APAP from doing it's job.).

That's my 2 cents until someone more clever pops in with their ideas.

I can only echo 'echo'

DSM

PS good summary Echo

And I cant get past your adorable Avatar...love that Lion.

I can only echo dsm's echo of "echo"....
Give it a shot and best of luck....things will get better.

Thank you all. I will change the pressures and see what happens. I'm still trying to read this stuff. Your input is really appreciated.

I would be inclined to leave the minimum at 8 and raise the max to begin with. If you raise the minimum even to 9 you'll spend 76% of the night there. My question is why? You have an auto, let it work for you and it will work well with a 6 point spread.

I can't tell you your leak line is OK, because it isn't, It's causing most of your OA's and some of the Hi too. Your normal mask vent rate is the flat line of 25 to 28 LPM, that's good.

One hour 5 min into sleep, your leak rate jumps to almost 50, OA's start, at 1:40 you finally come back to proper leak OA's stop.

1:55, leaks become too high but OA's aren't triggered yet 2:33 bad leak triggers H's.

4:03 to 4:30 more leaks OA's are triggered (most of your events are triggered at a leak rate of 35 - 40 LPM) Not enough pressure retained to hold your airway open.

5:02 to 6:20 Train wreck Caboose derailed knocked down bridge. OA & H by the basket.....

6:35 more excessive leak OA & H marked hard.

The way to relate what happened and when,(Cause and effect is to make a vertical line through the graph) then you can see what and why.

If you securely tape and stop all mouth leaks, the the leak is at the mask, if you don't correct the leaks first, nothing else matters. If I couldn't get the leak rate down to 38 LPM max on that mask, I'd be forced to use a FF mask to control the leak rate. a 3 cm pressure spread on APAP is fine going higher only makes leaks worse and doesn't help your treatment, but until leaks are under control, nothing works. Jim

bucko wrote:Here is my last nights data. It is the best so far in 2 months of tweaking things. To my observation I conclude this....
FIrst it looks like I need to adjust my max pressure to maybe 12 now. My leaks have greatly improved, but I still have to work on it more. I did changes to a smaller pillow size which totally changed the graph from before. It used to be crazy looking like an earthquake. Now it at least resembles a more straight line.
Am I reading things right or am I missing something? I am trying to learn how to read this data correctly.

Thanks everyone.....

You are still breathing through your mouth and have too much leakage!

I spent a long time trying to do the same thing you are doing only to believe after being told this several times that I was breathing through my mouth. Full face masks accommodate small leaks ok, but nasal pillow masks do not work well with almost any leak. Look carefully at this thread: viewtopic.php?p=282156#282156
It shows leaks that don't look too bad, but totally destroy therapy and finally achieving a good leak line. I had to go to a Ultra Mirage Full Face Mask in a small to work properly. The DME first gave me a medium and it leaked like a sieve!

I know it is hard to understand, but a leaking mask basically gives you no therapy and almost totally defeats an auto machine. I find that using the machine as a cpap at fixed pressure works much better to finally arrive at a good pressure for you, then use the auto on a small set of limits. I am now using mine as an auto set to 11 min and 15 max. That works a little better than just a cpap of 11 especially when the nightly requirements for pressure change slightly from night to night!

Don't believe that you can fix your problem by adjusting pressure with an auto until you solve your leak problem completely. Some are able to do it with a chinstrap or taping, but I finally had to give up and go to the full face mask to get the proper therapy. Good Luck.

Wow... this is so frustrating. I tried tape several times. It improved my leaks but they were still not good. Plus the tape was a nightmare. Left me with a sore throat and very dry mouth. I think I will need to try a FF mask.
Thank you goofproof for the detailed explanation. This helps me to really understand how to use these graphs. If I can at least get a grip on what I'm doing, I can track and continue to try other things. I have used a CPAP for a few years and I just assumed it was working even though I see now it probably was not.
I am a bit upset that people who go through all this are not usually educated by the docs about this stuff. It should be part of everyone's treatment to at least get a lesson on this stuff and how it is supposed to work. But I guess then the docs would just have to spend more time doing their job per patient which equates to less profit.
Thank you all again. I will keep at it and get this thing working.