Average pressure

[Haynbo]

I am just wondering if my pressure is too low- my 30 day pressure readings are 8.0- 1 day, 7.2 - 7 day and, 9.0 30 day- it seems to me that they are trending down- my AHI has also been going up a little over the past week or so. My ramp pressure is set at 4.0 which seems low- I notice that when I put the mask on to go to sleep, it seems like that low pressure makes it more difficult to breathe initially. 

I forgot to mention, I have a Dream Station bi- pap machine- if the pressure is set too low, can I adjust it or do I need to take it back to where I got it? Thanks!

[C0mbe]

It seems to me that you are a little low.  I assume you are referring to EPAP since you are on a bipap?  With that assumption, and  a 30 day average of 9.0 I would raise your initial pressure to 8.  

As for ramp - I don't use it for the reasons you posted - I would choke!  If you don't need it to fall asleep I would highly recommend turning it off, or at least setting the ramp start to 6.0.

You can absolutely change your own settings!  Request your clinician manual from Here.  You should not be afraid to optimize your own therapy!

[Sleeprider]

The problem with the Philips Auto is it is programmed to return to minimum pressure unless there are a lot of snores, flow limits or other cues to keep pressure higher. When we talk about Resmed being more aggressive, a big part of it is that it will remain at higher pressure longer. Raise pressure, be comfortable; it's always easy to back off.

[Haynbo]

Thanks for your reply- I have an appt with my Doc today and I'm going to speak with him about the pressures- I know that if and when I may wake up at night I'll look at the pressure reading and it's invariably now in the 4-5 range. I do t know if it s coincidental or not but my AHI has been going up. I started with the DreamWear nasal mask abou 2 weeks ago and my reading were great- from a low of .08 to a high of 3 something. For the past week, they have been going up each day- today it was 5.6- is it possible that it is related to what I have seen as too low pressures? Thanks very much!

[DeepBreathing]

Rather than relying on a snapshot view from the screen, it would be better to see the whole night's trends using SleepyHead. If you can upload a screen shot we would be able to provide a more considered opinion.

[Haynbo]

I am concerned about the direction my AHI has been heading and am wondering what could be causing it. I have been on the dream maker nasal for about 6 weeks or so and early on my numbers were pretty decent- averaging in the 3's-then they started to become more erratic and higher-up to 8.9 one night- I then went to Fla in early April to visit a friend, slept on a soft, older mattresses and, to my surprise my numbers were consistently good(for me) averaging 2.58. Since I have been home(10days) my number have been inconsistent and have averaged just over 5. I am just wondering if the bed that I slept in, being softer could have made a difference. I have a very bad back and I am finding it more difficult to sleep thru the night on the more firm mattress that I sleep on at home. 

Also, even though I am a mouth breather I elected to go with the nasal mask because of comfort- I know mouth breathers are supposed to use full face masks but I found that to be  more difficult to adjust to. Another factor that influenced that decision was that early on after my diagnosis(3 months ago) I located a sleep dentist and purchased a SomnoDent classic mouth piece which are supposed to be effective on mild to moderate sleep apnea. My feeling was that a double barreled approach might work better- I am really wondering now if maybe I should go back to a full face mask and see how that works.

The bottom line with me is that having been also diagnosed with elevated pulmonary pressure attributable to sleep apnea, I want to get my numbers consistently lower and I do not feel that I have achieved that yet- just looking for some answers. I don't seem to be getting much from the doctor- he says verything is fine.

[Sleeprider]

Grab a free copy of #Sleepyhead and we can try to figure out if there are any common factors in the elevated AHI. So far, we don't know what kind of events, what pressure range or if perhaps the events are clustered or evenly spaced...not much to go on.

[OpalRose]

Haynbo,
If you could download the #SleepyHead software, and follow the tutorials in my signature line, this will show you how to organize the graphs, take a screenshot and upload it here.  

Also, please list in your profile that you are using a bipap.   This makes a hugh difference in the advice you may receive, and although you state that in your first post, it may be missed if your profile doesn't reflect your machine type.

Once you can send us a screenshot, we have many folk here that will look it over and be better able to advise you.  It may just be a slight tweaking of your pressure settings.

[Haynbo]

Thanks so much for the replies- I have just gotten a card reader, downloaded the sleephead software, inserted the data card from my machine and, as per usual, the data is not appearing on sleepyhead. When I plug it in it shows that the data is being downloaded but nothing appears- anyone have any ideas? Thanks- it is becoming very frustrating!

[Haynbo]

I have been attempting to get Sleepyhead up and running with no success. Initially, the data was downloaded from the disc, or at least it appeared to have been but when I tried to open Sleepyhead said there was no data transmitted. I then uninstalled everything and started over. Then when I tried to download again, I would get a message "SLEEPHEAD HAS STOPPED WORKING"- "a problem caused the program to stop working correctly". Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!