Newbie with questions

Hi all- what a great board. I wish I'd found this place a few months ago!

I started on CPAP 11/08. I should get a copy of my sleep study results for the details, but I know it wasn't pretty. I know my sats went to the 60's and I never got into REM sleep at all until the CPAP was on. Then I spent a lot more than the usual time in deep sleep- almost like my body was trying to play catchup. My sleep doc told me he was prescribing a CPAP of 13 and a "mandatory chin strap."

I've had some problems adjusting to CPAP, but I think I'm doing pretty well. I have a Remstar Auto M Series with AFlex, and I'm using a Swift LT pillow set up. This was my original mask, but it wasn't working for me at all for a while. After trying a couple others (FP 407 Flexifit and Mirage Quattro,) I'm back with the Swift.

I just got a printout of my therapy details since December and it shows I've been on a CPAP of 15, not 13. My other numbers were:
Average Obstructive Apnea Index average for 2 months was 0.8
Average Hypopnea Index was 0.8
Average AHI was 1.7
Average Vibratory Snore Index was 56.7. (But was under 5 for the last couple weeks- big improvement!)
Average Leak 49.5
Average Large Leak 3 minutes
Average Max Leak 97.1

I found this forum last week and realized my doc and DME weren't sharing all the details with me, and I made a couple changes. I reduced my pressure to 13 and have my machine showing me my AHI and leak numbers. (This is also when I went back to my Swift LT pillows and stopped using the chin strap- it kept falling off. And since I'm not waking up with a dry mouth and my numbers look better to me, I think I don't need it any more, which my doc told me might happen.)

In the last 7 days, my Apnea/Hypopnea Index is 0.7, and my average leak has dropped to 32 L/min from a 30 day average of 43.7 /min. I don't have the software so that's all the current detail I have.

So I'm hoping to pick your brains.....

1) Am I on the right track? I'm feeling better but I'm still tired and forgetful. I'd hoped for more improvement.
2) Are those leak numbers OK?
3) My partner is supportive but hates the breeze from the Swift exhaust. Any suggestions?
4) Any other wisdom from the experts?
5) My machine has an auto function, but it's set to straight CPAP only. Why wouldn't they use the auto function? And if the auto function is turned off, that means that it was set to 15 instead of the prescribed 13 by the DME, right?

Thanks!

Welcome to the message board, sleepisgood! Great nickname, btw.

Yeah, if your prescription says 13, and the machine was actually set to CPAP mode at a pressure of 15, then someone at the DME's office goofed. Probably thought the "3" was a "5" That's why I have K-Mart reading glasses to magnify things. heheh. Lucky for you they didn't think the "3" was an " 8 ". I'm laughing, but that shouldn't have happened at all. They're human, too, but still....

Are you resetting the data each day back to zero, so you can see just last night's data? People with ResMed machines have the luxury of seeing "nightly/weekly/monthly" data in the LCD window, but with a Respironics machine you get only weekly/monthly averages. I'm not crazy about looking at weekly averages. I'd rather see "just last night" data.

If you've not been resetting your Respironics machine to zero each day, so that it's ready to give you just one night's data the next morning (will still be called "weekly"), here's how to do that:

How to reset the M series machine "weekly"/"monthly" details back to zero, in order to view just last night's results the next day:

viewtopic.php?p=239127#239127

viewtopic/t29141/Resetting-the-data-on-Respironics.html

That's good that your average leak rate is coming down.

Mask exhaust hitting partner is a common complaint. About all you can do for that is turn the other way or put a pillow between you. Or...switch to a mask that vents in a completely different direction, like the "Headrest" nasal pillows mask that vents straight up (vent is located above eyebrow level) and doesn't hit anybody/anything. That's been my favorite mask for many years.
LINKS to HeadRest nasal pillows mask topics (same mask has had other names: Aeiomed Aura, then Headrest, then Invacare Twilight NP, then back to Headrest again.)
viewtopic.php?t=3098

The Swift LT is a mask that suits many people very well, however, so if it suits you well (a suitable, comfortable mask is the most important key to doing "cpap", imho) the vent may be one of those problems that just has to be put up with or solved in a semi-satisfactory way.

If you like monitoring your own treatment, as many of us do, you might want to get yourself the software that Respironics made for patients to use. Insurance won't pay for that and the local DMEs don't carry it, that I've ever heard, but you can buy it online. It's called Encore Viewer and needs one particular brand/model of card reader to read your Smart Card. That software would give you a much more detailed picture of leak rate and other info than you'll ever get from the LCD window.

Good luck with your treatment, sleepisgood. Yes, you're definitely on the right track!