[Pressure] Exhale Problem

[IMustSleep]

Hello everyone,

I believe I have a problem with exhaling during sleep.
I only completed the first of two sleep tests at the hospital, and my AHI value came out as 21 during a 6-hour sleep study. For the second test, the doctor suggested a minor surgery to widen my nasal passage a bit, but I was scared and instead canceled the second test. Instead, I started using nasal strips (BreatheRight) and purchased a Philips DreamStation APAP device (firmware 1.1.8).
Now, the problem is that while I feel amazing on some nights after using it, most of the time, I don’t feel that great during the day. For instance, 8 out of 10 days, I still experience apnea symptoms during the day. I’ve tried various settings, and the best I’ve found so far is 9-14 APAP pressure, A-Flex set to 2, mask type off, tube size 15mm, and a BMC F5A Full Face Mask. However, while these settings sometimes work very well, they usually don’t make me feel significantly better.
I suspect I have an issue with exhaling during deep sleep. Even A-Flex 3 doesn’t seem to help much. What can I do to improve my exhalation comfort? I feel that the 9-14 pressure range effectively keeps my airway open, but it seems likely that my exhalation is still too weak.

Thank you and best regards.

[SarcasticDave94]

Welcome to Apnea Board,

You'll want to get the free OSCAR chart program so first you, then the members here, can see your machine sleep data. That's really the best way to help you, otherwise we're all flying blind. You'll see a link to OSCAR in the black banner at the top of the webpage.

Along with OSCAR, you'll need an SD card in your Philips Respironics machine to save the data overnight. So the SD card must be in place to capture data before you go to sleep. Some basic data might be obtained after use, but detailed info would be needing the SD card in before.

There's likely events going on still that are wanting setting edits. But what that is and how much cannot be determined yet.

[IMustSleep]

Thank you for reply. I will collect data for 5 night and share them here. Is it enough 5 night _

[SarcasticDave94]

You can even post 1 to get started. Frequently there will be some aspect that will be found in one chart that can be enough info to indicate a setting change for the better. Go with one, then build of that.