New to APAP Dreamstaion - Resmed F20 Mask

[Walla Walla]

Just so you know. There's no need for Ramp unless you want it. I usually advise people not to use it. The problem with ramp is it drops the pressure below your minimum requirement and leaves you open for apnea events you otherwise wouldn't get. Your not gaining much relief anyway if your using ramp at 6cm. I'd turn the ramp off and leave it off. Of course none of this is going to help with the mask problem.

[sickntired]

Good point. I think part of the mask issue is I was a side sleeper before and am now sleeping on my back. If I roll to the side the mask presses against the pillow and creates a leak.

[Ron AKA]

I should have explained the rational for my suggestions. First it was based on your March 14 chart, and if you have changed things since then it would be helpful to post another 2-3 recent daily detail screen shots. What I saw on March 14 was a significant part of the night with the pressure at 5 cm which is pretty low and you could feel short of air on inhale. The mask itself consumes a nominal 4 cm of pressure due to flow pressure drop. It would be helpful to make note of the times when you feel short of air in the night, and then look the next day at the SleepyHead results to see what the pressure was at for that time. 

To get the Dreamstation clinical manual just click on that link I put in my last post. Here it is again:

http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual

Check to make sure it matches your model though. See the instructions starting on page 4-18. In DreamStation terminology I would set:

Auto Min - 8 cm
Auto Max - 12 cm

Ramp Time - 15 min
Ramp Start (pressure) - 6 cm

Flex Setting - 1, then try 2, and 3 on later nights

Using the ramp is personal preference. My view is that if you set the ramp time fairly short, you probably won't fall asleep until later in the ramp when pressure is higher. But you do want to set a ramp start pressure of 6 cm so you don't feel short of air at the start. If you want more air, then set higher than 6. If you get it up to 8 then you really don't have a ramp anymore and may as well turn it off.

[sickntired]

For some reason the original link shows as "Link Removed Request Manuals Here" but I have downloaded it now from your most recent post, thank you. While looking through settings, they have the Flex already at 3, should I drop this down, maybe #2?

[Walla Walla]

The reason it was deleted is there are no commercial links allowed on this site. The manuals are available to members in the private files section.

[Ron AKA]

For some reason the original link shows as "Link Removed Request Manuals Here" but I have downloaded it now from your most recent post, thank you. While looking through settings, they have the Flex already at 3, should I drop this down, maybe #2?

Yes, that is a really disappointing feature of this forum. I kind of understand why they do it, but I can't say I fully understand. It is a pain in the rear to say Google "dreamstation clinical manual", but it seems that is what you have to do. 

I was only guessing your Flex setting because the bottom of the left side of the screen shot was cut off because you are displaying the pie chart. I just took the difference between the red and green trace on the pressure chart. On the ResMed machines this difference corresponds to the EPR setting which is their version of the Flex setting. But obviously Phillips does not give you an actual pressure reduction that is the same as the setting. In any case I would leave it at 3.

[Walla Walla]

Ron, Here's the rules if you'd like to review them. http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...oard-Rules

[sickntired]

Here is my data from last night. You can see the time where I had removed the mask. It was only a hour or so last night, but other nights have much longer periods of removal. The large leaks are more than likely me breaking the seal of the mask to make sure the machine was working. For some reason I seem to have a lot of snore episodes as well. Isnt this a sign of blockage?


edit...updated screenshots to remove pie charts

[Walla Walla]

Your getting snores because your pressure is too low. I would set your minimum pressure to 9cm. Normally with DreamStations a rule of thumb is to set your minimum up to where your Med pressure is running. Yours is at 9.2cm in this chart. It also looks like every time it's below 9cm your snoring.

[Fedman]

Sickntired,

I suggest you go into Sleepyhead under preferences and turn off the VS2 setting.  It lights up your charts like a Christmas tree and VS2 doesn't record snores.  Nobody really knows what it records although there have been theories posted that don't make a lot of sense.  I know that my Dreamstation records a couple of dozen VS2 events every night and I know that I don't snore when I use CPAP.  (And my AHI average for the past year is 0.5)  An increase in your pressure should help with your VS1 events which, in my experience, are actual snoring events.