[CPAP] Some advice [MarkC]

[mcaple]

Hello everyone,
      I have decided to get comfortable with my AirSense 10 Autoset before posting anything here but I would appreciate some advice. I started using my machine on April 7th and initially found it very difficult to get comfortable, I am sure this is usual.  I am finding it very hard to use the machine for more than 2/3 hours although I have had one night of over 7 hours using the machine back on the 19th April. I have decided to keep the settings quite low for the time being as I had a couple of occasions of waking up feeling a lot of pressure and gasping a bit. When I first started I followed someones advice on the forum about starting low and adding 0.2 to the pressure every two days until I saw a sweet spot. Anyway I will attach my overview results and statistics from Oscar here and if anyone could suggest something it would be fantastic. I did look at the board rules for attaching Oscar files, they appear to  describe the process and not what to post so I am hoping these two images are a start until some suggests looking at more specific days.

Many thanks,
Mark

[Sleeprider]

The chart we really need to see is the Daily Details as shown in the Organizing Oscar Chart in my signature links. You appear to be using settngs of 5.0 to 6.4 with EPR 2. In spite of these low pressures (EPAP cannot exceed 4.0) your AHI is very low. Hours of use are generally less than a couple hours. I think I'd like to see you change your settings to a minimum pressure of 7.0 and maximum pressure of 10.0. I doubt the machine will increase pressure, but at least you will have some flow. If you could comment on your last sleep test and its findings that might help us to understand any issues. If you are really sleeping more comfortably without the CPAP then how severe is untreated AHI?

Your profile shows an S8 Spriit II machine, so you should update your profile at the UserCP link in the upper right corner of all pages. http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/usercp.php

[mcaple]

Thanks sleeprider,
      I will raise my pressure tonight and post results tomorrow. Will also show my sleep study results at the same time. I had tried to change my profile but it looked like read only so I gave up. The 'edit' I guess is not obvious but won't forget now. When you say EPAP shouldn't be above 4.0, is there anything I should do with my machine to affect this?

Mark

[SarcasticDave94]

I believe what Sleeprider means that your current settings shows 5-6.4 and an EPR setting of 2 (5-Epr2=4 to 6.4-EPR2=4.4). In other words, EPR subtracts from your pressure, but it cannot go below 4 no matter what the settings say. Try the settings he suggested to get a bit more air and comfort. If you increase the pressures as he suggests, EPR can actually do its job of pressure relief.

[mcaple]

Thanks SD94. May take a day or two to get my last sleep study as my GP is harder to see through these C-19 times but I have changed the pressure to 7-10 as suggested. I appear to wake up many times for no obstructive reason, that is obvious from the charts, but I just want to take the mask off.

[SarcasticDave94]

Not bad for the short use there. How did you feel after it? Did the adjustments change the feel at all?

[mcaple]

Funny,  I didn't remember taking the mask off, which usually I do, so not sure about that one. Probably went to bed slightly later than normal but did feel OK when I woke up. Early days but will continue with this pressure and see if a pattern forms. Will upload some screenshots over a week or so and see how we go. I feel as if I have some direction now.

Thanks again.

[SarcasticDave94]

Welcome. Keep at it, things will get better with time.

[mcaple]

As suggested here are the first 3 pages of my sleep study I did in 2016, wow didn't realise it was that long ago

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And the last 2 pages. Sorry for the quality, you'd think something more than a faxed image would have been appropriate in 2016!

[mcaple]

Here is the detail for last night. Over 3 hours there but when I woke I could not get back to sleep