[CPAP] Are these leaks expected?

[caquino]

Hi,

Just started my journey with CPAP 24 days ago and I'm trying to get the most out of the therapy.

I've tried to follow some of the posts about how to improve leaks. I'm using a ResMed AirFit N20 Nasal CPAP Mask, and I tried to use the mask fit functionality on the AirSense 10 to help me reduce leaks.

As I'm not sure where the leaks are, I've tried sleeping one night with mouth tape, but I didn't see any improvements in the leaks.

A small improvement I implemented, as a good nerd, was to grab a Raspberry Pi 0 I had sitting around, pair it with an ez Share Wi-Fi SD card, and have automatic synchronization from my machine to Google Drive. This way, I can just open OSCAR in the morning and have all the information up-to-date.

My O2Ring is also arriving today so that I can have more data to understand my charts.

Any hints on how to improve leaks that may not be listed on the forum already? Also, are my charts normal? I don't have a baseline yet to tell.

Another question: Have any of you tried sharing the data from OSCAR with your physician when doing return consults? Is this something that they appreciate? I'm concerned that they may dismiss me and just ignore me with the "I know better, stop trying..." face 

Thanks in advance!

           

[Deborah K.]

Unless they are waking you up, you don't have enough leaks to worry about at all. Ignore them. I see you are using ramp. Unless you can't sleep without it I suggest that you turn it off. You get no real treatment during ramp. Also, your flow limits are high. Flow limits are like small apneas, and we want to get them low. To do this, turn EPR on full-time, set to 3.

If you make those changes your therapy and comfort should improve. Good luck with your therapy journey!

[caquino]

Thanks for the help!

I've disabled the ramp functionality, which I do have access without using the clinical options, sadly does not look like my doctor would be happy for me to touch the EPR settings but I will discuss with him on the next appointment.

My Viatom O2Ring also arrived yesterday so I have more data now to work with!

[Deborah K.]

You don't need your doctor's permission or an office visit to change your settings, and they are easy to do.  Most of us change our settings anytime we want.  Some doctors act as though you should not do this on your own, but I think they just want the money you pay for an office visit.

[Nightynite]

In order to be in control of your own therapy and achieve the best possible results will also require you to adjust your own settings.

[caquino]

Hi, thanks both for the help! I haven't adjusted the EPR full-time to 3 yet. I must say that even understanding the argument of taking control of my therapy still makes me anxious, considering it is a rented machine. I'm unsure if they can refuse to rent it to me if I don't follow my doctor's prescribed configuration. 

I wonder if anyone in the forum is from Ireland and has any experience with this.

That being said, I've been mouth-taping, and I also started using a new mask yesterday, a Resmed N30i. Looking at the graphs, it does look like I had a big improvement, at least in the leak department.

I've also started collecting data from my Viatom O2Ring; I'm still seeing minor dips below 90%, but not much.


               

[Deborah K.]

Your leaks do look better.  Good job!  

You have another good thing going on. You sleep right through the night. Lots of new folks are unable to do that. Good for you!

I hope you will become comfortable enough to change your settings.  Your therapy and comfort would improve with starting pressure at 7 and EPR full-time at 3.

[caquino]

Just wanted to update how things are going!

I've requested my doctor the changes. They were applied 12 days ago for the EPR changes and 6 days ago, they increased from 4 to 7 on minimum pressure, and so far, the AHI numbers look better.

Thank you for the advice!

   

[SeePak]

Looks like you are quickly getting the hang of this CPAP stuff !!  Great work!

Being from Ireland, you gotta check out Patrick McKeown!

He is fabulous, great person too!

It's All about nasal breathing.

BTW, how is your sleep, most importantly?

[caquino]

I'm lucky that I didn't have any issues with my therapy. I managed to sleep the whole night since my first day, which, after reading many reports in the forum, I feel like I should be grateful for because many people cannot do the same.

I didn't know about Patrick McKeown, but I am going to take a look at his content. This CPAP journey started my interest in these topics; thanks for sharing!

I cannot complain about my sleep; the only issue I am having is that we are having some hotter nights. Usually, I wake up with leaks because my skin is sweaty under the mask seal. Strangely enough, sometimes I have an itchy nose that feels like I have a drop of water or something on it. Maybe I will play with my climate settings to see if it helps. But other than that, I cannot complain.

The O2Ring has also been very helpful in helping me understand the leaks. Most of the time, I can see body movement first, right after some leak starts, making it easier to dismiss leaks caused by my moving.

Another great thing is the ring's functionality to vibrate if my oxygen saturation drops. I had one event on a night when I had a stuffy nose and a bit of a cold/flu, which dropped under 85%. The ring woke me up right away.

I am still new to this and cannot claim that I fully understand all the data. Still, I'm used to looking at systems observability on my job, so correlating information like the ring and CPAP data and spotting the root cause for events feels slightly natural, the same when I'm trying to diagnose a computer system.

As I said before, I already implemented an ezShare SD card with a Raspberry Pi that copies the data every morning to my Google Drive. This way, I don't need to remove the SD card from the machine, which makes it easier to use OSCAR.

My next project will be to use a USB-C PD cable with a DC-DC converter to bring it from 20v to 24v. I already saw some users doing similar things on the forum/internet. This will allow me to use my USB battery and my USB wall charger to power the Airsense 10 when I travel. I don't need to bring the power supply, so let's see how it goes!