6 Weeks in and things are changing.
I started my papping journey in July and have managed from day 1 to sleep and wear the nasal mask for the full night. I am blessed in not requiring the services of the little room during the night so basically when I hit the pillow that is me done until it is time to get up.
My sleep study showed an AHI of 48 and since starting on the therapy it has never been above 3 so something must be working. I have downloaded and use the sleepyhead software and am starting to get an understanding of my treatment and settings. Over the last week I have seen an increase in major leaks and on one day got the red frowning face on the machine and sleepyhead also told me to contact my sleep person as I was having major leaks. I use a chin strap and do not wake up with a dry mouth.
The only thing that I have changed over the last two weeks is the pressure settings, going from 8 - 20 to 12-16. I made this change as the results were showing a median pressure of 12.5 and a 90% of 15.68.
Could the increase in leaks be related to the fact that I am getting used to the therapy and am now not waking up to the leaks or is it normal to experience large changes in leak rates over a short period of time?
I am not sure what to try and change to reduce the leaks as I cannot think of anything I am doing differently with the equipment.
I am feeling a little disappointed that this is happening as I was extremely happy with the results being achieved. May be this is just a case of 3 steps forward 1 step back.
RE: 6 Weeks in and things are changing.
pretty typical with me also. I used to wake at every sound, now I sleep right through it. I got used to it. I used to not move around a lot and now I am back to "normal" moving. Give it some time. If it keeps it up try tightening it up a little, perhaps the min at 12 puts enough pressure consistently on the mask to start it leaking. You can try lowering the min pressure a little and see if you can get it to stop.
Once it stops, change the pressure back and see if it was just settling in to the new pressure. It may have stopped by itself rather than from reducing the pressure.
RE: 6 Weeks in and things are changing.
Hi Tassie Tone and welcome to the forum!
Sounds like you are definitely on the right track and seeing progress from your xpap therapy. Good work, stay at it for continued success!
APNEABOARD - A great place to be if you're a hosehead!!
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EVERY ACCOMPLISHMENT BEGINS WITH THE DECISION TO TRY!
RE: 6 Weeks in and things are changing.
Hi Tassie tone,
What does you leak rate say on SleepyHead? Can you give us numbers?
Since you don't wake up with dry mouth, then that wouldn't be mouth breathing, it must be your mask.
When I tried the Dreamwear mask, I couldn't control leaks either. I move around too much and it wouldn't stay put.
RE: 6 Weeks in and things are changing.
Hi Tassie tone,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
It's great to hear that you have adjusted to your CPAP therapy, and that you have noticed improvements.
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you as you continue on your CPAP journey.
trish6hundred
RE: 6 Weeks in and things are changing.
Agree with OpalRose and PoolQ. Guessing since you jumped from 8 to 12, the additional pressure is manifesting itself as pillow leaks. More pressure equals more leaks so you'll need to adjust the fit of your current masks or change pillows or masks or both.