Newbie with Full Face Mask Philips Dreamwear and big AHI

[Planemaker1974]

Hi all, 

I just started with the FFM Dreamwear from Philips having read a lot of good reviews on this forum. And I had a lot of expectations on it. 
Unfortunately when I woke up this morning I saw very bad results on SleepyHead. 
Would you mind helping and letting me know what I am doing wrong

Resmed Airsense Autoset 10
Start Pressure : 9
Min Pressure: 11
Max Pressure: 17. 

I am wearing the Medium cushion. 

I could see that I should increase the Max pressure as at one point in reaches it. But is there anything else I should change? 
On the day before, I already increased from 14 to 15 as it already reached 14. 
The leaks seem to be very minimal. 
Why are there some breaks in the pressure graph? It should be continuous right?

I attach here few screenshots. 

Thanks a lot!


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[Melman]

Welcome to the forum. Given the clustering of OAs it appears you are experiencing positional apnea. This a problem I had starting out and that we see frequently in the forum. It is usually corrected by wearing a soft cervical collar which prevents the chin from tucking toward the chest. They can be purchased at most pharmacies and internet sites like Amazon.

It will be helpful if you post your data organized as shown in the link below. It would be especially helpful to see the flow limit graph. I suggest you increase your max pressure to 20 since most of your OAs are occurring at 17.  Use of the soft cervical collar may make that necessary but in the meantime it should do no harm and may eliminate some OAs.

[Sleeprider]

I agree with Melman that the apnea are positional, but I'm certain that increasing pressure will not help as much as a soft cervical collar, and will be completely unnecessary once you address the problem of chin tucking. Most likely, once you resolve the root problem, you will enjoy lower pressures. Your machine is already setup as I would recommend with a minimum pressure of 11.0, which is only 1.5 cm below your median, and a maximum pressure of 17. This is plenty of pressure, but even maximum pressure will not pry open your airway when you tuck the chin. Give it a try by sitting in a chair and relaxing, then allow your chin to drop. You should feel the increased resistance or even feel your airway is cutoff by this posture. The same thing is happening in your sleep, and is very easy to fix.

Melman is a great resource for you because he arrived on the forum with much higher AHI and maximum pressure of 20 cm. You can see on his profile that he is using 9-14 pressure and the same machine as you. The soft cervical collar works on even more serious problems than your own.

[Planemaker1974]

Thanks Melman and Sleeprider for the quick answers!

Very excited as it does not seem to be a big deal to solve!
Would you mind sending me in pm if needed one or two links on AMAZON of what you meant by this Collar? 
As I don't live in the US, I would order it there to be sure it's the right item!
Here attached are the newly organised Sleepyhead graphs as requested. 

To pursue on the topic, I was using the Pillow Cushion dreamwear with great results and with AHI between 1 and 2. 
However, it shows very very very high leak up to 30/40. But Is it a problem to have leaks if you still have good AHI?
Should I engage a new thread on the topic?

thanks again!

Thierry


[attachment=9567]

[Planemaker1974]

I made some research and found the FUTURO from 3M in Singapore where I leave. (I am not yet allowed to post pictures or links ;-))
Do you thin think this will do the trick?
Thanks!
Thierry

[Melman]

Search amazon for OTC cervical collar and you will see the one I use. Selct according to neck size.

[Sleeprider]

There is some trial and error involved in these collars. The Futuro looks pretty good with adjustable chin height. Others include the OTC and Calera Releaf. Getting back to results you can expect, this wiki includes an example of someone that went from AHI over 30 to less than 1 http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...onal_Apnea

Here is a good thread by Marklang who had severe positional apnea and resolved it with the Caldera Releaf. http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...s-New-User This is a must-read for you.

[Planemaker1974]

Melman, Sleeprider,
Thanks so much for all the advice’
I will go and try the Futuro as this is the one I can access easily here.

This is also in line with other symptoms I have as I started to feel some neck pain in the morning

Thierry

[Planemaker1974]

Hi Sleeprider and Melman, 

I bought the neck collar and gave it a try. The results are beyond my expectation
No leaks, Very low AHI and most of all I feel great!

Only one (minor) point. It seems that there are some discrepancies in the graph as if the pressure was decreasing very sharply. (The line in the graph is not continue as it should be for. Do you know where it comes from?

Thanks again for the life-changing advice!


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[jaswilliams]

The gaps in the lines looks like your machine kept turning off. Maybe try turning off auto start ? Check all power connections.