RE: First SleepyHead Results
It's expiratory mouth breathing, but those periods are free of events. This looks pretty good, and I would focus on ways to improve the collar fit and pressure on the rear of the jaw, rather than trying to add a chin strap.
RE: First SleepyHead Results
Last night, I drug out my old mouthpiece that I use for bruxism and tried that with the neck collar. Reviewing the data, I'm still seeing what appears to be mouth breathing on exhale. I guess tonight I will try taping to see what happens. Hope I don't freak out, haha. I do recall during my sleep episodes of gripping the mouthpiece tightly with my teeth and being conscience of having my mouth closed during these times, which it was, so could this be something other than mouth breathing? I'm also seeing where my max pressure is set too low, but if this IS a cause of mouth breathing,, should I leave it alone for now? Other days, I don't seem to reach 14.
10-29-2018, 12:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2018, 12:17 PM by Sleeprider.)
RE: First SleepyHead Results
Your last chart shows much shorter periods of reduced flow rate, and there appears to be flow above and below the zero line. It's really hard to tell without zooming in on the flow rate. It was this image that shows no expiratory flow. It's surprising how much higher pressure is in the most recent chart compared to the 9.5 CM 95% pressure in the previous chart.
RE: First SleepyHead Results
Sleeprider, I hope this isn't overkill, but I'm attaching screenshots from different times that I thought might show something significant. I'm still not real savvy about interpreting what I am seeing. Thank you for your input!
RE: First SleepyHead Results
But wait, there's more.......
RE: First SleepyHead Results
If you ever have the opportunity to move to a Resmed Autoset, just do it. You have a lot of flow limitation that leads to the snores and hypopnea in your charts, and the slow response of the Philips Auto CPAP leaves you with OA. Both issues would be resolved the Autoset set to the same range with EPR at 3. All the closeup shots of flow rate with no flow on the expiration side are exhaling orally. Based on what I'm seeing here you should move minimum pressure to 9.0. I'm not sure the oral exhales are that serious, but they are present. I sometimes arouse to find myself doing strange noises and leaks from the mouth, but I think like you, it's not serious enough to change my therapy approach.
RE: First SleepyHead Results
Thanks, Sleeprider. I'll keep that in mind. I purchased some tape today, haha! May give that a try too. I'll check back in a week or so to update.
RE: First SleepyHead Results
I'm not sure what is going on now. High leaks maybe? I recently bought a new Dreamwear FFM that I have been wearing along with the neck collar. Last night I tried loosening the straps since I had been getting some irritation that felt like bruising that the base of my nose. Any thoughts as to what is happening here?
RE: First SleepyHead Results
RE: First SleepyHead Results
Just didn't see the post. Your leaks are not a problem. It looks like you raised minimum pressure from 8.0 to 9.0, and AHI increased, all OA. You can try a range of 10-15 and see if that helps. Everything appears to be obstructive, and higher pressure may help.