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Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
I have had the best night in a very long time! I would like comments on the development. Any further adustments? How is the flow and exhale?
I seems that SleepyHead doesn't register the changes I have made lately, and it seems I can't make any changes to the settings on this forum either?
So to be clear. Last night the settings was as follows:
Mode: Autoset
Min pressure: 9
Max pressure: 18
EPR: On
EPR settings: 2
Kristin
Based on this one day a bit more minimum pressure say of 10 would will help the odd Obstructive apnea but make small changes and wait a week between changes your figures are great.
Your numbers look good. I don't see the need to change the minimum pressure. If you subtract the CA events your AHI would have been under 1. That's as good as it gets.
Sleepyhead should show the changes you made after tonight. There seems to be about a days lag in the changes showing up in sleepyhead. Don't know why that happens.
Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
(04-17-2018, 09:46 AM)Kristin Wrote: I haven,t been able to get a soft collar yet, but it is a priority. I have to find out where to buy one. Any suggestions?
Most pharmacies sell soft cervical collars. A good choice is the OTC soft cervical collar from Amazon for $12. It comes in three different heights and a good selection of neck sizes. There is a sizing guide to help you select the right size.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
04-18-2018, 09:48 AM (This post was last modified: 04-18-2018, 09:53 AM by Sleeprider.)
RE: Trouble with leaks and pressure
(04-18-2018, 12:31 AM)Kristin Wrote: I have had the best night in a very long time! I would like comments on the development. Any further adustments? How is the flow and exhale?
I seems that SleepyHead doesn't register the changes I have made lately, and it seems I can't make any changes to the settings on this forum either?
So to be clear. Last night the settings was as follows:
Mode: Autoset
Min pressure: 9
Max pressure: 18
EPR: On
EPR settings: 2
Kristin
Kristin, I didn't catch up with your last post where you posted the closeups of the flow rate. Great shot, and this really explains why turning on the EPR worked so well for you last night. In this graph we see extremely flow-limited breathing. You can see that your inhale gets a good start, but then falls apart in that downward sloping and irregular peak. This shows that as your breath proceeded airflow became increasingly restricted, and that rough top may even be snoring.
When you added EPR, you gave yourself more inspiratory pressure support and that probably felt great and likely resolved a lot of what we see in this earlier graph. Your inspiration/expiration time went from 2.3/1.4 to 2.06/2.96. That is almost equal and much more normal. I think with this progress, we might even want to try EPR at 3 and see if we can resolve that last bit of flow limit. The best part of this is that your sleep has only one break compared to the fragmentation we see in the earlier session before EPR. This means you are more comfortable and sleeping better.
Your progress is very encouraging. Keep up the good work.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
(04-18-2018, 12:31 AM)Kristin Wrote: I have had the best night in a very long time! I would like comments on the development. Any further adustments? How is the flow and exhale?
I seems that SleepyHead doesn't register the changes I have made lately, and it seems I can't make any changes to the settings on this forum either?
So to be clear. Last night the settings was as follows:
Mode: Autoset
Min pressure: 9
Max pressure: 18
EPR: On
EPR settings: 2
That is looking much better. I would agree with continuing with this strategy of using EPR and trying a setting of 3. You were not limited by the maximum pressure of 18 last night, but you could get closer to it with EPR at 3. Try it and see. You might have to increase the max a bit. I would also suggest an increase in the minimum to 10 or so.
When you have refined these settings and gone several days to see what you can average, I would still recommend trying the 0 EPR option. Just reduce the max and min pressures by the EPR you finally settle on, and try it there. The pressures will likely have to be tweaked some to optimize, but it provides you with an alternative that should have less maximum pressure. You are getting near the limit of the machine with EPR on. No need to prejudge it, just try it, but only after you are getting consistent results with the EPR on. Theory is good, but at the end of the day, actual results trump theory every time!
Good morning!
The EPR was set to 3 last night. I struggeled to make the mask fit properly, and got a few major leaks again. I don't know if the result shows the right picture because of the leaks? Should I try one more night With EPR 3? I was attempted to set min pressure to 10 when changing the EPR to 3, but since Sleeprider didn't say anything about it, I didn't. I didn't see the tip from Ron AKA before this morning.
Sleeprider: Thank you for explaining things so well! I know so little about how this machine works, how things works together and how to optimimize the use of it. I find it so exciting to learn as much as I can. To not only telling me what to do, but how and why makes me happy .
I think once you start using a cervical collar you'll see the those small clusters of events go away. As far as EPR setting I'd go with the one you slept best with. Either 2 or 3.
Just my opinion.
Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
(04-19-2018, 01:12 AM)Kristin Wrote: The EPR was set to 3 last night. I struggeled to make the mask fit properly, and got a few major leaks again. I don't know if the result shows the right picture because of the leaks? Should I try one more night With EPR 3? I was attempted to set min pressure to 10 when changing the EPR to 3, but since Sleeprider didn't say anything about it, I didn't. I didn't see the tip from Ron AKA before this morning.
I would like further advice on how to proceed.
I think you are making progress. 18 cm max seems OK for now with EPR at 3. I would increase the minimum pressure quite a bit though -- up to 12 cm. After you have optimized the setting using EPR at 3 I would again suggest trying it without EPR. But, not now. Try a few more days with minimum pressure at 12 cm, and change nothing else for now.
. 
