New to CPAP - what's a good leakage rate

[pantonvich]

On my 4th day of CPAP - using full mask - what's a good large leakage? 
Also as I'm new to this what else should I be looking at?
My at home AHI was 60 - so far 27, 15, 30 and 16 - so I guess an improvement.
So far using oscar - I was able to figure out that the reason I woke up three times not being able to breathe on day three was that the auto off feature was kicking in - turned that off.

         

[Jay51]

Here are some tips to help reduce mask leaks:  

• Mask leak solutions             Mask Primer
  

You have a lot of CA's.  Hopefully most of these will reduce as you stop more and more of the leaks.  

You have some clusters of OA's.  Here is some reading on this:   Positional apnea

Also, on your OSCAR charts, could you please check the little box on the left hand side for "statistics" also.  It will give valuable information to those giving suggestions.   Thank you very much.

[Deborah K.]

Your starting pressure is much too low for an adult.  4 is meant for small children.  Whoever set up your settings did not personalize them at all. Your starting pressure should be at least 7.  That's why your EPR is not working.  Make those changes, then put the session information back where it belongs, above the statistics.  Then we can see if you need a higher pressure than 7, which I think is likely.

p.s. Jay did nothing wrong in asking you to move the statistics up, as we cannot usually see both and he needed information from the statistics. But now we need the usual format to help us determine what changes could be helpful.

Another subject: Did you have a lot of CAs in your sleep study? If you don't know, do you have a copy of your sleep study? If you don't have it, ask your doctor for a copy. Under US law, he has to provide it if you ask for it.

Also, you do have a lot of positional apnea. This shows up where Os and/or Hs show up clumped together on your event flags. These are caused by dropping your chin toward your chest. It's similar to a kinked hose. As a kinked hose will hinder water flow, so will your dropped chin hinder airflow. Some can fix it by using a much flatter pillow, but most end up needing to wear a soft cervical collar. Most drug stores offer a couple, and Amazon offers loads of choices. Many of us like the Caldera Releaf Collar, as it's comfortable and works as well as the other. For some men, but not all, it is too short. The Velpeau collars are good too, and I'm sure, many others. Taking care of this will drop your AHI a good bit.

[katbrat]

Notice how your leak rate directly correlates to many events and arousals. The lower you can keep your leaks the better you will sleep.

[pantonvich]

I tried to follow the posting guide on the charts the first time but looks like I failed - lol 
So is this the correct format?
I've also attached what I got from the Dr.

           

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second part of dr report    

[Deborah K.]

Your sleep study is unclear.  The larger page is only partially readable to me, even using a magnifier.  The shorter page never mentions CAs, only hypopneas, and obstructive apneas.  One could assume this meant there were no CAs.  If I were you I would call whoever did the sleep study and ask how many CAs there were.  

Your charts are done well now.  Good work!

[pantonvich]

Here's a higher res of my test results hopefully you can read it now - I'm new to this but it doesn't look like it shows CA unless they use a different label.
   

[Deborah K.]

I was able to read it this time.  Thanks!  Below where it says Study Done there is a chart.  On the left, it says Central, and far to the right, it says Cnt. Index 0.  I assume that means there were no Centrals in your study.  CA is an abbreviation for Central Apnea, so there are no CAs. It's hard to believe because your numbers are high, but I looked it up and even with your numbers it can be treatment-emergent.  I suggest we ignore them for now.

You have not made the changes I suggested yesterday.  Your sleep will improve if you make them.  

[pantonvich]

I've ordered a Caldera neck brace - and I set the min pressure to 7 - here's last nights chart 
   

[Deborah K.]

Thanks for the chart. As I suspected you need even more pressure. If the 7 was comfortable, raise it to 10 tonight. Or we could go up more slowly if you prefer.