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Hi!
I had AHI 15.1 from my sleep test last December and was prescribed a CPAP.
I’m very small and skinny. 5ft tall 41F.
I always woke up tired and dreamed all night for as long as I can remember.
Most of my AHI score came from hypopnea. I don’t snore but breathe shallow.
Anyway, I finally started CPAP therapy in February, I am slowly getting used it but haven’t found the optimal setting yet.
Looking at my graph, flow limitations always happen with EPR 3 or 1,2.
My pressure setting at the clinic was 5-7,
Last night I tried fixed 7 with EPR 3.
2 hours later I woke up with a massive headache so changed to apap 5-7.
My question is, no matter how I change EPR flow limitation happens, does it occur when I open my mouth? I mean, not breathing through mouth but only opening.
I’m wearing diy silicone mouth guard so it doesn’t leak too much but I unconsciously open my mouth so small leaks happens.
I’m going to try tape and mouth piece combo tonight and pressure 5-7, EPR 1.
On my graph, the first chunk was from my experiment with settings before the bed.
And the night I used for about 2 hours at pressure 7 and then 5-7.
Sorry for the language setting. I tried to change to English but the programme turns off when I enter “help”.
You don't need to tape your mouth. Your leaks are quite minimal and do not affect your therapy at all. If pressure settings 5-7 are the most comfortable you can stay with them, or you can set for 5-9, so you are not forced to tolerate 7 at the beginning, but you would allow a little more pressure once you are asleep in case you need it. Your machine will not go higher than you need.
Hi Deborah, thank you for your kind reply.
I’m quite happy to hear that my leaks are not that big to concern. How about the flow limit? It happens no matter how I try to fix by changing pressure, EPR.
I guess it happens when I open my mouth or how I breathe is so bad from the beginning.
The reason I want to tape on top of my mouth piece aside from the leaks was I wake up when air comes in my month. Does this happen to you? Will I get used to it?
I used to get air in my mouth occasionally while I was still awake. I use tape (I need it as I leak way worse than you.) so I could not blow it out. Instead, I inhaled deeply and it pulled the air up my nose and out of my mouth. Try it if it happens again. It can't hurt and it might work for you too.
Your flow limits are not very high. Don't worry about them, especially since you have tried EPR at all levels with no change. Change your pressure settings to 5-9 or leave them at 5-7 and see how you sleep. Post another Oscar chart soon and let us know how you sleep and how you feel. Those are the important things.
02-21-2024, 05:04 PM (This post was last modified: 02-21-2024, 05:07 PM by Jojo1982.)
RE: 2 weeks in. Mask leak and flow limit
I slept last night with APAP 5-7 EPR 2
Mouthpiece and tape combo.
Felt comfortable breathing, minimal leaks
Still some flow limitations.
My apple watch says I had only 34 mins of deep sleep, which is almost the same amount before the therapy.
I don’t feel bad but not good either, just same as always.
I’m thankful for not feeling uncomfortable while sleeping though.
I don’t know if my pressure is already too low to change ERP to 3. Or even lower to 1.
I think pressure 5-7 is just right for me.
Does it take time to see the benefits or it’s not the right settings to settle yet..?
Here is last night’s report
It takes almost everyone some time to adjust to pap therapy. Suddenly we have a foreign object attached to our face, air is blowing up our nose and we have tubes to deal with. It's a big change! If you are comfortable with your 5-7 pressure, then stay there. You are a small person so your air needs appear to be smaller too. It makes sense.
I don't understand what your mouthpiece is. Is it something strapped around your head and over your mouth? If you plan to use mouth tape you don't need something else over your mouth.
Seriously though, your mouth leaks look high on your chart, but they are not. If you look at the top left of your chart, just above the line you will see a 0.0. That indicates that your leaks are below anything that can interfere with your therapy. In your case, they are way below. Try sleeping with your same settings but with nothing on your mouth. Then post Oscar and we'll see what you get, and you can tell us how you feel.
My understanding is that a minimum pressure of 6 is needed with EPR 2 for the machine to be effective. You want minimum pressure minus EPR to be 4 or over since the machine can only go down to 4. EPR is subtracted from minimum inhale pressure to get minimum exhale pressure.
Yes, TechieHippie, that is true. However, her flow limits are low at any setting. She is very small and during her study the techs set her up at 5-7 pressure and she is most comfortable there. She can leave the EPR as she now has it. She'll get pressure relief at 1-3 within her range of 5-7, so all is well.
