Need help with F&P SleepStyle and OSCAR

[akruger1013]

   
I would REALLY appreciate any insight or help with this.

So lately I've been waking up feeling like I'm not getting any air. I'll take off my mask, turn off the machine, catch my breath and then put it back on and go back to sleep. I thought it was just psychological but then I uploaded my data into Oscar, and I can see gaps in the pressure. Sometimes when I wake up I'll take note of the time and those gaps start shortly before that exact time. There's usually several gaps showing a night, at completely random times and I'm either sleeping through most of them or not taking note of when they happen (I've always been a lousy sleeper and wake up a lot in the night, so I don't always know what caused me to wake up.)

I took screen shots from OSCAR showing how the pressure stops, but all the other readings continue for a few minutes before they all stop when I evidently took off my mask/turned off the machine. I sent these to my CPAP provider with the explanation of what I was experiencing, and they said they'd ask F&P about it, and several weeks later finally got back to me saying that F&P looked at my data and everything looks normal to them. They said they don't know "what third party software" I'm using (I'd said it was OSCAR) but that from their end it all looked good and the machine is not malfunctioning. They suggested I replace my mask in case that's the issue, and basically said they were closing the case. And because I'm was talking to the provider who was just passing this message along from F&P I didn't feel like I could ask them about what I was seeing or for more explanation, so I kind of just had to accept it. I've replaced my mask, but the problem is still happening.

Am I crazy here? I don't really know how to read OSCAR data, but the fact that the pressure stops several minutes before any of the other readings stop suggests to me that something is wrong. I'll attach a screen shot showing what I mean, and can provide more if anyone wants to look at more. 4:33 is the exact time I made note of when I took off my mask, but you can see in the picture the pressure stops just before 4:30.

I also don't understand why it's showing my pressure as always at 6, when my range is set at minimum 8. I believe the sensawake feature is set to 6, but the pressure should go up once I'm asleep right? Not worried about it, since my AHI is still really great, but I think its kind of weird.

Would really really appreciate any help so I know if I need to bug the provider again. The machine is still under warranty until early next year so I don't want to them run out the clock on it.

[Narcil]

 
Please also post a standard oscar screenshot so we can see the entire night. idk much about this machine but it is weird the pressure seems to stop before you take it off. Can you feel any air coming out of the mask/vent at all when you wake up?

It is very weird you stay at 6cm all night, clearly the auto ramp feature isn't detecting your sleep so you're staying on ramp the entire night. not sure how the machine calls it (sensawake?) but try to disable it completely or limit it to 15 mins. maybe the feature is interfering with therapy in other unexpected ways.

[akruger1013]

       
Thanks for the response!

Here's a shot of the whole night (used the same night for consistency). I wish I could answer your question, I know that's something I need to figure out, if there's air coming out, but when I wake up in the night I'm not thinking, and for some reason I'm always in the habit of turning off the machine as I take off my mask, so before I realize what's happening, I've already turned off the machine.

I turned off the senswake feature (it's a separate feature from ramp, unique to the sleepstyle) last night and the higher pressure felt very uncomfortable, so I turned the minimum pressure down to 7, and looked at my data this morning and the pressure just stayed at 7 all night. Had more leaking, but AHI still really low, and there's still two random gaps in the pressure. I'll include a screenshot of last night too.

[Narcil]

hopefully someone more knowledgeable about this specific machine can come up with an idea.

i would keep sensawake off, probly what was keeping the pressure low, since the feature is suppose to lower the pressure when it thinks you are waking up.
if you are having issues exhaling cuz of the higher pressure i see that your machine should have expiratory pressure relief you could try that. but 7cm is obviously enough.

i don't suppose they have a software that shows detailed pressure graphs? if we follow their "blaming third party" logic i'd be interested to see what their software shows, if there is such a thing.

[akruger1013]

Thanks, yeah, that's what I'm thinking will be my next approach with the provider, to ask them if they can send me the data they have from my machine, so I can see it myself. Just telling me "It looks fine." isn't really sufficient.

[Phaleronic]

The gaps in pressure looks to be a malfunction with the machine to me, can you get a replacement?