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I'm a CPAP rookie, diagnosed mid-June with an AHI of 119. I've been using the CPAP ever since and I'm looking to help optimize some settings, since I've had no support in machine configuration, or even a doctor explaining things.
Attached is the summary from OSCAR, as well as two separate day's data.
08-01-2023, 01:12 PM (This post was last modified: 08-01-2023, 01:19 PM by FromOZ.)
RE: CPAP rookie looking for setting tips
Hi
If you’ve managed to go from an AHI of 119 to 0.5 you’re doing pretty well
Your pressure numbers look good — not maxing out — the leak rate and flow limitation look good.
Who did the initial device settings?
Do you wake up feeling rested? No drowsiness during the day?
For the settings your ERP is set to 3 and minimum pressure to 5, EPR will not go below 4, so 5 - 3 = 2 will not happen, given your pressure is mostly above 8 you could set your minimum to 7 or 8.
Some more experienced members may add more information.
Good luck on the journey.
p.s. Your respiration rate (95 percentile) seems a bit high
Hey welcome to the board! First off, nice work arranging your charts, folks here really appreciate it because it gives them lots of data to give analysis on.
Secondly congrats on getting therapy going fairly nicely on your own, good on you.
For me personally I'd increase the minimum pressure to 7, leave the EPR as you have it and turn off ramp. No therapy happens during ramp, and no events are flagged nor logged so its really just wasted time therapeutically speaking.
Increasing minimum to 7 gives you full effect of EPR from the beginning. The machine can go no lower than 4, so if you start at 5 the differential is 1, 5 inspiratory 4 expiratory. If you start at min 7 you have a differential of 3, 7 inspiratory 4 expiratory. Thus greater flow limit mitigation sooner in the sleep/therapy session. EPR is the way we manage/minimize Flow Limitations which are a main source of sleep disturbance. (along with pressure of course)
Folks with far greater experience than I are sure to come along.
Good luck, keep at it, that's how we get good at it!
Generally looks good, but lack of optimization has left you with minimum pressure (5.0) too low. You need minimum pressure at 8.0 which matches your median therapy pressure, and you can turn off ramp. Note with EPR at 3, you don't get full delivery of EPR until your pressure is at or above 7 cm pressure. Your therapy seems to be working well, but increasing the minimum pressure will stabilize it, and avoid disruptive pressure swings.
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If you’ve managed to go from an AHI of 119 to 0.5 you’re doing pretty well
Your pressure numbers look good — not maxing out — the leak rate and flow limitation look good.
Who did the initial device settings?
Do you wake up feeling rested? No drowsiness during the day?
For the settings your ERP is set to 3 and minimum pressure to 5, EPR will not go below 4, so 5 - 3 = 2 will not happen, given your pressure is mostly above 8 you could set your minimum to 7 or 8.
Some more experienced members may add more information.
Good luck on the journey.
p.s. Your respiration rate (95 percentile) seems a bit high
Hey welcome to the board! First off, nice work arranging your charts, folks here really appreciate it because it gives them lots of data to give analysis on.
Secondly congrats on getting therapy going fairly nicely on your own, good on you.
For me personally I'd increase the minimum pressure to 7, leave the EPR as you have it and turn off ramp. No therapy happens during ramp, and no events are flagged nor logged so its really just wasted time therapeutically speaking.
Increasing minimum to 7 gives you full effect of EPR from the beginning. The machine can go no lower than 4, so if you start at 5 the differential is 1, 5 inspiratory 4 expiratory. If you start at min 7 you have a differential of 3, 7 inspiratory 4 expiratory. Thus greater flow limit mitigation sooner in the sleep/therapy session. EPR is the way we manage/minimize Flow Limitations which are a main source of sleep disturbance. (along with pressure of course)
Folks with far greater experience than I are sure to come along.
Good luck, keep at it, that's how we get good at it!
(08-01-2023, 01:25 PM)Sleeprider Wrote: Generally looks good, but lack of optimization has left you with minimum pressure (5.0) too low. You need minimum pressure at 8.0 which matches your median therapy pressure, and you can turn off ramp. Note with EPR at 3, you don't get full delivery of EPR until your pressure is at or above 7 cm pressure. Your therapy seems to be working well, but increasing the minimum pressure will stabilize it, and avoid disruptive pressure swings.
Thanks for the advice! I'll update the minimum pressure to 7/8 as that seems like common sense. The big reason I reached out to the thread was because it feels weird to go from 119 > ~1; but the more I'm learning about CPAP, the more I realize I might just be a great candidate for the therapy.
I picked the machine up from a local vendor and they did the basic setup but didn't get into too much. I am waking up feeling better, but still not 100%. I guess my sleep debt was more than I had anticipated. Good catch on the respiration rate, my Oura ring is saying a similar story so it's worth investigating.
