Newbie - help w/ settings - OSCAR data included

[melko]

Hello everyone! I am newly diagnosed with OSA. However, I am not sure what settings I should be using. My AHI average is about 8. I use airsense 11 with full face mask F20. Attached is my OSCAR data from the last 3 days. Any insight is appreciated! 

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[Melman]

Welcome to the forum.  The clustering of your QA indicates you are experiencing what we call positional apnea due to tucking your chin to your chest which restricts the airway. This may result from using to thick a pillow or, if you are aside sleeper, from tucking your chin to your chest. No amount of CPAP pressure will overcome the restriction. See this link for an explanation http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...onal_Apnea

This may be corrected by using a thinner pillow or you may need to use a soft cervical collar. Please see the link below. The soft cervical collar has eliminated this issue for me and many others.

I also suggest higher min and max pressures. Try min of 9 or 10 and a max of 15. The pressure increases, however, will not improve your AHI if you don’t resolve the positional apnea.

[melko]

THANK you for the warm welcome and your suggestions. I will start with a soft cervical collar tonight. I also adjust my settings to the ones that gave me the lowest AHI this week and work my way from there. I truly appreciate it!

Note: I also ordered a p10 nasal mask before finding this board thinking maybe that would help too. So we’ll see if I end up needing it or not. It’s set to arrive Thursday.

[melko]

Alright, I tried the soft cervical collar and adjusting my settings to similar to the only day I got an AHI of 5.63 (lowest). With those adjustments, I got an AHI of 7.93. Tonight, I will add in the suggestion of changing min and max pressure. Additionally, any insight on AutoSet for her vs AutoSet? I just tried it at the beginning without really knowing to much. 

Again thanks for all the help. I attached last night’s data (AHI 7.93) and the data for the night that I had my lowest AHI (5.63).

[Melman]

You turned off EPR resulting in a significant increase in flow limitations, RERA and hypopnea. In addition to increasing you min and max pressures i strongly suggest you re-implement full time EPR at 3.

[melko]

Thank you again for your suggestions. Where do you see that my EPR was set to off? I had it on at 2, ramp only with ramp off. See image attached for last nights settings. If ramp is off and/or if it is set to ramp only would it turn off epr? Maybe that’s what you meant. So many settings, but appreciate your patience with helping me learn. Today I will ensure it is still on but at 3 and adjust the min/max pressure and put EPR to 3 full time as you suggested.

[Melman]

It was evident from your pressure and EPAP numbers and the pressure graph (only one line). EPR needs to be set at full time

[melko]

Alright so last night was interesting. I’m traveling today so I won’t be able to post my OSCAR data but I took so screen shots of my results. I was very uncomfortable when the pressure went to 12 and woke up burning and bloated. My AHI was a 9, leak 5L/min. I’ll post the limited data from my machine below. It was so much air that my mask blowing off my face woke me up. My settings were as you suggested EPR 3 full time with the min at 9 max at 15 (which I lowered to 12 because it kept me up at 15). Oh the bloat today is awful!

For some reason I can’t post the pic from my phone. Here are the stats I have for now:

AHI - 9
Total AI - 8.2
Obstructive AI - 7.7
Central AI - 0.4

Not sure if that’s useful without a graph and other data but if so, any further insight is as always appreciated!

[Melman]

Sorry for the delayed response but I've been away. It will be helpful to see your OSCAR charts. I'm not sure why your mask would blow off your face at a pressure of 12 or even . I use the same mask and have no problem with it when my pressure sometime goes to close .to 14. I suspect it may not be adjusted properly. See the link to the mask primer below. Another possibility is that you may have inadvertently disconnected one of the lower magnetic clips. The bloating is due to swallowing air and is known as aeropagia. It is fairly common for new users and following a pressure increase and often goes away as one adjusts. I suggest you lower your max pressure to 10 or 11 and see what happens. If you positional apnea has improved your pressure may not max out as it did before. Please post OSCAR charts.

[melko]

Hi there Melman! I have been away too and should be back home soon. I will post my OSCAR charts once I get back. While out of town and traveling, I have adjusted the settings a bit. Last night I experienced very bad ear ache and it kept waking me up. I am hoping the positional apnea is under control as I have been using the soft cervical collar since the day you mentioned it. We shall see once I get the charts up. Again, thanks for helping me out!