1 year and still tired!

[Scott C.]

The humidifier seems to stay the same no matter what I put the number on. I think when it's on adaptive it picks it own level.
Within certain parameters yes, it picks its own level.

You may do better turning the adaptive humidifier settings off and using the so-called "Classic" humidifier mode.  But beware: That comes at an increased risk of rain-out.

So i don't think its a factor. You are right I am trying different settings. I figured I'd find one setting to stick with for a while. This was my experimental week culminating with last nights settings
Min-pressure 10, max-pressure 10, Auto and Flex 3, and mouth tape. Thinking the pressure changes might be waking me up several times during the night. I would say 5-7 per night that I can remember.

Using min pressure = max pressure = 10 is a good way to test the hypothesis that pressure changes are waking you up.  Not everybody does well on APAP and you may be someone who is more comfortable with constant pressure.  By running in APAP mode with min pressure = max pressure, you have CPAP but you don't loose the flow limitation and VS data that is only recorded in APAP mode on the DreamStations.

What graph would you suggest instead of A.H.I.

I would prefer that you just increase the vertical size of the flow rate, leak and pressure graphs.  If you really want a fourth graph as well as the event table, then Respiratory Rate would be my next choice.  It, together with the Flow Rate, can sometimes give circumstantial evidence of possible wakes.

Here is last nights chart. ... There is nothing in my snore graph.

In all seriousness, the AHI is "ok".  Not fantastic (in the sense of being below 1), but certainly well below 5. There are a few clusters of 2-3 events, but most of the events are spread out. So there's nothing here that screams "more pressure is needed".  

There are two official Large Leaks, neither of which is particularly long. Did you skip taping?

If your data looks like this night after night, then it's time to focus on comfort issues---in other words, what things make you feel better when you wake up in the morning and what things allow you to sleep without any prolonged middle of the night wakes.


Why does this screen come up when I'm trying to respond to "robysue's" last post? This comes up no matter what button I hit. Is this normal? I don't remember having to edit out a lot of previous quotes.

[DavePaulson]

Scott look at the Quote Multiple Posts button on the bottom of the posts, if you do not see a green little plus sign it is selected to quote, click it once then you should see a green plus sign and it will no longer be selected. Go back aways and find them all.

[Scott C.]

Still working on it. Cant change that screen

Help its post 110 it wont stay changed to the green plus sign. keeps changing back as soon as I leave the page.

its on page 11 of this thread. Near the bottom

[Scott C.]

Still working on it. Cant change that screen

Help its post 110 it wont stay changed to the green plus sign. keeps changing back as soon as I leave the page.

its on page 11 of this thread. Near the bottom

O.K. I fixed it Had to press cancel quotes in quick reply box. Finally!!!

[robysue]

This the one you want to reply to Scott? Or is this the one that you can't edit out?

If there's only ONE post you want to respond to, try "Reply with Quote" rather than the "Quote Multiple Posts" button.

The humidifier seems to stay the same no matter what I put the number on. I think when it's on adaptive it picks it own level.

Within certain parameters yes, it picks its own level.

You may do better turning the adaptive humidifier settings off and using the so-called "Classic" humidifier mode.  But beware: That comes at an increased risk of rain-out.

So i don't think its a factor. You are right I am trying different settings. I figured I'd find one setting to stick with for a while. This was my experimental week culminating with last nights settings
Min-pressure 10, max-pressure 10, Auto and Flex 3, and mouth tape. Thinking the pressure changes might be waking me up several times during the night. I would say 5-7 per night that I can remember.

Using min pressure = max pressure = 10 is a good way to test the hypothesis that pressure changes are waking you up.  Not everybody does well on APAP and you may be someone who is more comfortable with constant pressure.  By running in APAP mode with min pressure = max pressure, you have CPAP but you don't loose the flow limitation and VS data that is only recorded in APAP mode on the DreamStations.

What graph would you suggest instead of A.H.I.

I would prefer that you just increase the vertical size of the flow rate, leak and pressure graphs.  If you really want a fourth graph as well as the event table, then Respiratory Rate would be my next choice.  It, together with the Flow Rate, can sometimes give circumstantial evidence of possible wakes.

Here is last nights chart. ... There is nothing in my snore graph.

In all seriousness, the AHI is "ok".  Not fantastic (in the sense of being below 1), but certainly well below 5. There are a few clusters of 2-3 events, but most of the events are spread out. So there's nothing here that screams "more pressure is needed".  

There are two official Large Leaks, neither of which is particularly long. Did you skip taping?

If your data looks like this night after night, then it's time to focus on comfort issues---in other words, what things make you feel better when you wake up in the morning and what things allow you to sleep without any prolonged middle of the night wakes.

[Scott C.]

Thanks robysue, but that is the one that would not go away. No need to address it. I figured out how to get rid if it, had to go into quick reply box and check cancel quotes.   You have helped me a lot. I will digest your info and post with more questions I'm sure.

[Scott C.]

same setting but with no tape last night. Does the tape make a difference? Sleepyhead says I still have large leak rate.
This is night 5. On the same settings. Min / max 10 and flex1 plus cervical collar. Thanks for all the input!

[robysue]

same setting but with no tape last night. Does the tape make a difference? Sleepyhead says I still have large leak rate.
This is night 5. 

SleepyHead may be using the Resmed "RedLine" for reporting the large leak.  Your machine is NOT flagging that long leak as an official Large Leak.

Is the taping making a difference? Maybe. Or maybe not. Zoom in on the Flow Rate data for that long large leak near the end of the night.  Can you show us what the period from 4:20 to 4:50 looks like? A close up of that area will let us see how well your DreamStation is compensating for that leak.

An important question: How much does the taping bother you? If it's not a big issue, it may be worth continuing to tape for a while. But if taping is yet another hassle that is irritating to you, it's worth experimenting.

I would suggest the following things:

1) Try NOT taping for at at least 5 days in a row, no matter how "good" or "bad" the first night or two might look.

2) Then tape for at least 5 days in a row, no matter how "good" or "bad" the first night or two might look.

We need to see if "not taping" makes the leak problem better, worse or about the same over time on a variety of nights. And the only way to do that is to have enough data over several nights both with and without tape.  And do NOT make any changes to the pressure settings during this time---the goal is to make "taping/not taping" the only variable you are changing.

Once you have the data, you'll be able to compare "taping" and "not taping" to really determine whether taping is doing some good.

If it turns out that taping is of little or no value, you will need to make some decisions about whether the leaks and dry mouth are so bothersome that you want to try a FFM, knowing that it may not fix either problem.  Right now your leaks (with taping) are so-so. They're far from great, but they're also far from "so awful that your machine cannot possibly cope with them."

[Scott C.]

robysue here is the zoomed in chart. I taped 4 nights in a row. Can we compare 4 nights on to 4 nights off? I hate to have to start over. I was getting used to the tape really no problem sleeping with it. Just wanted to see if there was a big difference without the tape last night. Kept the collar on though. 

[DavePaulson]

Scott post the full night as well.