[CPAP] How to improve CPAP further (mostly clear airway apnea)

[Eloy]

Hi all,

I've been reading here for a while but struggling to optimize my therapy, have had the device for almost a year now. The problem I'm having is that my OA is low but I keep having open airway apneas. Only times I feel (mostly) rested is when I drink alcohol, this also shows in my results. These are my general stats:

Usage: ~8 hours per night
Total AHI: ~3 (however, this is a little misleading since my AHI drops when I drink)
Average AHI on normal nights: between 3 (really good) and 10 (feel really bad). Average is 5 I think
Average AHI after alcohol: 0-2
Prescribed mask: full face
Prescribed pressure: 8
Mode: CPAP

Here is my overview:

   

This is an average night with full face CPAP + nose/mouth strip:

   

This is me trying APAP with nose cushion + mouth strip + chinband:

   


Lately I've been trying the nose cushion, mostly APAP since with CPAP I've not found a good pressure (Tuesday I did 7.4 and AHI was 9.35). Two weeks ago I also had one really good night with APAP and nose cushion which gave me hope (AHI 2.09, med pressure 4.78, 95% 7.02)

Looking forward and very grateful for any advice! 

Kind regard,
Eloy

[Sleeprider]

Eloy, did your diagnostic sleep test detect any central events? It may sound counter-intuitive, but I'd like to see what happens when you turn EPR on full-time at setting 1. Try a pressure of 6.0, maximum 9.0, EPR full-time at setting 1. We may want to take a closer look at the flow rate as you have a pretty severely inverted inspiration/expiration time.

[Eloy]

Hey Sleeprider,

Thanks so much for the response! On my first sleep test at home without CPAP I had 1.2 central apneas per our. Later in the hospital with CPAP I had 2 per hour.

I will try EPR on 1, thanks for that suggestion! Any recommendation regarding full face vs nose pillow and CPAP vs APAP if you see my OSCAR data?

Thanks anyways!

Kind regard,
Eloy

[Sleeprider]

I don't know that we can correlate the higher AHI to a particular type of mask. I use nasal pillows and think they are more comfortable. You don't seem to have a higher leak rate with pillows. As far as events, we have some more things to look at and try before drawing conclusions.