Quick Question about SleepyHead and leaks

Hi everyone,

I'm still pretty new to cpap. I've been using Sleepyhead to track my stats over night. I've noticed that sometimes my leak rate will make a big jump but the pressure won't really change. I'm using a nose mask, so I'm wondering if these leaks are from air escaping from my mouth?

I guess my question is: does air escaping out of my mouth show up on sleepyhead as leaks? Is this a sign I have to invest in a chinstrap of some kind?

asbrozek wrote: I guess my question is: does air escaping out of my mouth show up on sleepyhead as leaks? Is this a sign I have to invest in a chinstrap of some kind?

leaks are leaks, doesn't matter whether it's coming from the vent on the mask "intentional leak" or leaking around the cushion/pillows, or going in your nose and out your mouth.

generally if you're mouth leaking, it'll be pretty dry in the morning.

Depends on how big the leak is and how long it lasts (from whatever cause) if we need to target reducing the leak.
Example...I know I mouth breath on occasion but most of the time I might come close to large leak territory but don't go into large leak territory and the few times I might go into large leak territory I don't stay there long.
I am not about to mess with a chin strap for 15 minutes of large leak that might happen 3 times a week.

Pugsy wrote:Depends on how big the leak is and how long it lasts (from whatever cause) if we need to target reducing the leak.
Example...I know I mouth breath on occasion but most of the time I might come close to large leak territory but don't go into large leak territory and the few times I might go into large leak territory I don't stay there long.
I am not about to mess with a chin strap for 15 minutes of large leak that might happen 3 times a week.

Ditto.

Thank you for the advice. I think I'll just buy a chinstrap and see if it plugs the leaks and lowers my AHI. No way to know unless I try.

Despite my chin strap, I think I sometimes "bubble" a little air out my mouth. It's not enough to show up on the graphs, but it does dry my mouth out.

The S9 machines report only "unintentional" leak, so small leaks may fall within their "intentional leak" estimate, and won't show up at all.