First night on CPAP did not go so well :Update- a breakthru!

You might try a little adjustment with the back strap.
If top strap one notch looser felt better and breathed easier but a little unstable..then maybe a wee bit of more tension on the back strap.....

Also remember.....one night with a bad leak line could just be a bad leak night from movement or whatever. I have them from time to time and I change nothing.

And yes..a fine line with masks....comfort or leaks...damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I sleep on my side probably 70% of the time..always start out on my side. You might want to investigate a different bed pillow...one that doesn't put much pressure on the side of the mask. I use a buckwheat hull pillow. I can make a little nest of sorts for the mask so that it has minimal pressure on it. Other people use those cpap pillows with cut out holes for the mask. I usually tell people to get a cheapo Walmart memory foam pillow and cut out holes for the mask on the cheap pillow before spending the big bucks on a fancy one. Memory foam cuts really easy with electric meat cutting knife.
Having the right bed pillow is just as important as the mask. If your bed pillow is firm...it is going to put pressure on the mask when you lay on your side.

One also doesn't have to remember a lot of awakenings. We all have little mini awakenings that we might remember and we might not. I suspect your feeling worse today is a byproduct of just a restless night and probably a combination of leak and pressure increases contributed to it.

The pillow importance makes sense. I was actually digging through the various "pillow talk" threads on here last night before bed already thinking that very thing and ended up confused. Found some of those buckwheat, cpap, contoured, ect... ranging from like $19.99 buy one, get one free... to $59.99 for one The pillow I'm using I bought like 10 years ago with my "Select Comfort" bed and yes it is a little firm. I'll probably check out those memory foam pillows at Walmart first. Thanks.

I mean I don't feel terrible today, just noticeably not as well rested as I had normally been once I adjusted to the APAP after the first week and along with the no dreams and waking up to considerable more leak along with my graph it is obvious that I either need to get the mask adjusted properly again for both comfort and effectiveness and/or change pillows so I stop dislodging it in my sleep from pressing into the pillow or whatever I'm doing.

I use the buckwheat hull pillow for 2 reasons really. Main one is my cervical spine..I have a metal plate in it. I am small boned woman and if I sleep on my side (or back) with a high profile pillow (like a nice memory foam contour pillow) my spine gets out of alignment (no longer straight) and I wake up with massive headaches and neck pain. I use the buckwheat hull pillow because it has a lower profile. If I was a big shouldered man on my side the buckwheat hull pillow that I use (small one) probably wouldn't be quite high enough to keep neck straight. So for me....that lower profile is what I need. They do make larger buckwheat pillows and also offer the ability to add and remove the hulls. My pillow is the Regenisis buckwheat pillow and I have used it for 2 1/2 years now. At the time I got it they only had the one small size..works for me but I can see a man needing a little larger and a little higher profile.
I actually have a really nice memory foam contour pillow that I put back on the bed during the daytime. I love the feel of it but even the "low" side is a little to high for my needs.

So bed pillow preference is going to be highly individualized and you just have to try different things to see what works for you the best.

lazer wrote:

Just noticed on last nights graph. Why is "Flow Rate" missing? I re-checked and it is still on all previous day's charts...

Flow rate graph is wave form data file extension .005. You can check the SD card to see if that file is even there.
You can also use Encore software and see if you have the little blue paperclip thing show up.

If the .005 file is missing then the machine didn't put it on the SD card or it might have been corrupted. If the SD card isn't inserted fully then it will also not be written to the SD card. That is the one bit of data that the SD card absolutely has to be in the machine to get. The machine doesn't store wave form data internally like it does the other data.

Finally sometimes it just happens that for some reason the file isn't there and/or one software will pick it up if it is there and another software won't. I have had a rare time when SH wouldn't show it but Encore would. Normally it is the other way around.

File could just have been corrupted also...like taking the SD card out of the machine too soon.

From EncoreBasic - Not sure where the paperclip would be? Also, I checked the SDCard and there is an 05 file dated today.

Paperclip thing is circled in the image below. It is separate from the other reports...so have to click on the blue paper clip.

It is possible that SH just didn't pick up the .005 file. I have had it happen on occasion. Rare but I have had it happen.
If the file was corrupted in the least little bit it might have made it not working well.
You might created a new user profile and try again to see if it works. Could just be a fluke too.
If no blue paper clip for last night...then likely a damaged file and sometimes it just happens.

Oh ok... Strange. I don't have a paperclip.

If you don't have a paper clip for last night...and SH is showing no flow graph then I suspect that the .005 file that is shown has some how become damaged and that is why SH doesn't show flow and why no wave form offered in Encore. It simply is not a good file.

Probably just a fluke thing..or my usual culprit..aliens

FWIW...I have had this happen from time to time myself. Sometimes SH will show it and Encore won't and sometimes Encore will show it and SH won't and sometimes neither will show it.

I am always careful to not remove the SD card while the machine is writing to it..it doesn't take long if you watch it..but despite being careful sometimes that file gets buggered up. It is a pretty large file and likely just got corrupted somehow.

Should this persist...might try a new SD card...just in case there is a bad spot on the SD card. Any cheap generic SD card will work.

Thanks Pugsy. Yea, I've been real careful about inserting and removing the SDCard while the machine is off. I actually have it connected to a powerstrip which I manually turn off and on. Probably the "aliens"... Speaking of that, I just tried a new "Test" user profile in SleepyHead and did a fresh import and still did not get the Flow graph for today and also this import had that "Double Events" and "Double AHI" report for those 3 days last week just like had happened at home....

You can go into the MyDocuments area....find the Sleep App folder and find the new test profile and remove it if you wish.
Won't hurt a thing. I did it yesterday to a couple of test profiles I was experimenting with.

I do think that in this instance that the problem is with the file itself and not SH since Encore doesn't have it either.
Just one of those things we don't have an answer to. It bugs us but sometimes we just have to shrug our shoulders and accept that we don't always get the answers that we want or need.

I get the double sessions, double events and double hours of sleep with pretty much every download I do. Never had a single problem till DST change. On a rare occasion I don't get the doubled numbers which may be related to going to sleep after midnight but not concrete because sometimes I have seen it even with after midnight bedtime. For me I can turn off the sessions and the numbers get corrected. Not sure why you are having this issue without double sessions but we are using different machines and there is something in the import process that is messed up. I think Mark has that issue resolved but has not released another update yet because he is working on more than that one little bug.

Tightened the top strap back to previous + 1 notch. Don't remember waking up last night and this morning had a good seal. AHI lowered again to 1.64 - still showed some consistent leaks overnight peaking to 55.0 roughly. Not sure what's going on with that. Feeling a little better rested this morning but still felt like I could have layed in bed longer.

Still no "Flow Rate" chart. That's disappeared in the reports in SleepyHead as of 5/14/2012.

My 95% Pressure avg in Statistics is 10.50 and my min is 6 which is again starting to feel a bit too little upon trying to initially get to sleep. Remember, I already had the DME raise the min. from 4cm to 6cm after 1st week.

Same drill using Encore to see if the flow graph shows up.
If not.... then perhaps get a new SD card. No worries about any compliance data needed for insurance because the machine will put all that data on a new SD card when it is inserted. The machine stores internally most of your full data with the exception of the wave form and pretty much everything else is there especially the hours of use.

If this persists even with a new SD card for several nights...then a discussion with DME maybe in order.

Edit: Wouldn't hurt to pull the electric for a few seconds and force a reboot of the machines firmware. I don't know that it would help but wouldn't hurt.

Pugsy wrote:Same drill using Encore to see if the flow graph shows up.
If not.... then perhaps get a new SD card. No worries about any compliance data needed for insurance because the machine will put all that data on a new SD card when it is inserted. The machine stores internally most of your full data with the exception of the wave form and pretty much everything else is there especially the hours of use.

If this persists even with a new SD card for several nights...then a discussion with DME maybe in order.

Edit: Wouldn't hurt to pull the electric for a few seconds and force a reboot of the machines firmware. I don't know that it would help but wouldn't hurt.

Hi Pugsy, Imported to Encore Basic and I assume since no paperclip under the "History" section as you had described in previous screenshot, means no Flow data in there either...

I may try another SDcard, just a little worried about the DME ending up recognizing that it's a different one or whatever as he doesn't know I'm reading/tracking my own data.

I do turn the power supply off after every use (in the morning) via the surge strip on/off switch that I plug it into and always wait 20 or 30 seconds after that to pull the SDcard. Would physically unplugging it be any difference in that procedure?

Any thoughts on my low end pressure and the fact that my 95% avg over the past two weeks has been a 10.5? Would that indicate a low-end pressure increase is in order OR just let the APAP do it's thing as is?

Thanks.

Nothing to fear about DME having a problem if you use a different SD card. Tell them the dog ate the other one if you want. The data that they will be looking for will be on the new SD card. They won't care if the flow graphs are absent. I bet they don't even notice. If anything they will look at AHI and compliance hours.

Your AHI is fine.. the bulk is clear airway events and we don't worry about them at these low numbers because we don't treat them with pressure anyway AND your AHI wasn't ever that high to start with because we are sorting working on the assumption that it might be snores and flow limitations that are causing your sleep apnea symptoms. Working along those lines...I am thinking that a little more minimum pressure might (stress might) deal with your flow limitations and snores a little more effectively. If we are thinking UARS here (and not so much OSA) that would also go along with the a little more minimum pressure thing. While technically not horrible, those FL and snores might be just enough to be causing the disturb sleep and thus affect how you feel the next day. Your case is not a typical case where we can eyeball the AHI and sit back and ignore the other stuff.

If the pressure variations are not disturbing your sleep...that 10.5 95/90% number is probably close enough to your minimum if we were just evaluating AHI but it may not be quite close enough if evaluating snores and flow limitations.
If your 90% number was nearing 12 to 15 ....yeah probably for sure need a little more minimum.

I guess it all depends on how well rested you feel with FLs and snores in this number and how much you want to persue their reduction to see if it impacts how you feel.