Did my machine malfunction?

[Sleeprider]

I think the excessive use of EPR is the problem. Start dialing it back until the centrals reach an acceptable level.

[OpalRose]

Ah, when I posted I hadn't seen Opal Rose's post.  I recommend that you follow her advice and trying turning the EPR down to 1 or 0, rather than to 2 as I had suggested.

No problem Dormeo!

Grandpapa-G,
It's fine to take it slow and move EPR to 2, then watch the results before turning down to 1. If you can't control The CA's, you may be on the wrong machine.

[Grandpapa-G]

The first post, june 6 (at beginning of the my post shows the pressure rising steadily after 2:40 without flow limit, hypopnea or OA. The next 2, at end of post shows the subsequent two nights with the P10 and no drift. Lowering the epr only increases the Hypopneae without affecting the centrals.
I understand that people would like to reduce the centrals - believe me I have tried all sorts of changes but the bottom line is I feel fine and my OA's are well treated and I have long ago concluded that (almost) all my centrals are bogus.
I now also think that the rising pressure drift after a bathroom break hinders my return to normal sleep My fitbit indicates that I seem to transition to a of period sleep/wake junk within half an hour while still triggering centrals. I believe the charts also support this. When the pressure does not drift, as with the last two charts, I fall asleep within 20-30 minutes.

[OpalRose]

The first post shows the pressure rising due to an Obstructive, then slowly decreased due to the Centrals.
On the other two graphs, the pressure stays about the same. The machine cannot treat central apnea and will not raise pressure if centrals are detected, therefore... no drift.

[Grandpapa-G]

Opal Rose,
The first post, June 6, shows the pressure rising steadily from about 2:44 am to 3:18 am without any Obstructive, hyopnea or flow limit present. At 3:18 an obstructive apnea drives pressure up to my max setting of 8.8 What follows is a decidedly unusual (linear) drift back to lower pressure.

[OpalRose]

The first post, june 6 (at beginning of the my post shows the pressure rising steadily after 2:40 without flow limit, hypopnea or OA.  The next 2, at end of post shows the subsequent two nights with the P10 and no drift. Lowering the epr only increases the Hypopneae without affecting the centrals.
I understand that people would like to reduce the centrals - believe me I have tried all sorts of changes but the bottom line is I feel fine and my OA's are well treated and I have long ago concluded that (almost) all my centrals are bogus.
I now also think that the rising pressure drift after a bathroom break hinders my return to normal sleep My fitbit indicates that I seem to transition to a of period sleep/wake junk within half an hour while still triggering centrals. I believe the charts also support this.  When the pressure does not drift, as with the last two charts, I fall asleep within 20-30 minutes.

I don't think your pressure changes all that much, especially that you have a narrow range of pressure set.
But, I do believe that you are bothered by this "drift" in pressure, and if that keeps you awake or stops you from falling back asleep after a break, then you need to try something different.

The only thing I can suggest is to try a constant pressure of 7.5 cm. Leave the machine in Auto Mode with 7.5 min and 7.5 max. This way the pressure has no way of drifting. If you start to see an increase in Obstructives, then move the pressure to 8-8cm.

Do you have an oximeter to use while sleeping? If not, it might be a good idea to start using one.

[SarcasticDave94]

I'm certainly not an expert on the charts, but I'd say that if 2 machines create this same increase and slow decrease in pressure that bothers you, there are 2 facts present. 1. Something is causing the pressure increase and slow decrease. 2. Some thing must change within the equation or it stays as is. Change needs to happen in setting is highly likely, but it is a guess only. If it's not a setting change, then different equipment is needed.

[Sleeprider]

The slow rise in pressure in several charts appears to be ramp. This has nothing to do with a malfunction but we are trying to tell you the important change you should make is to lower the EPR setting. Your pressure range is fairly small but your centrals are most likely from EPR.

[SarcasticDave94]

I'm with you on it Sleeprider. That appears to be a Ramp look to me.

[Grandpapa-G]

Of course I agree it looks like a ramp but the question is why because the ramp is turned off in all cases and it only really appears at the beginning of the second sleep segment and I change nothing.
As for lowering the pressure support (EPR) I have spent months in CPAP mode (my prior machine was an elite model) trying to optimise pressure and EPR. Since I have long ago realized how I feel in the morning anti-correlates with flow rate I used the flow rate not AHI (or any other index) to optimise the settings. I have also noted that the hypopnea index tends to increase as the flow index increases.
The only reason that I use a small APAP range instead of a fixed pressure is I have a feeling that I need a slightly higher pressure for the latter stages of my sleep. Perhaps I have been unduly influenced by my readings on first sleep - second sleep discussions in my outside readings.