Sensitivity to small pressure changes
I have been struggling with CPAP for over a year. I've always had good numbers so optimizing therapy has been really hard for me. I went on bilevel a month ago, started on 16/10 PS 4 VAUTO. This didn't seem to make a difference so I've been experimenting with different settings. I had a pretty good night two nights ago, I felt like I slept well but still didn't feel completely normal. My pressure settings were fixed EPAP 10.4 IPAP 14. I should also note that I turned off CA detection just in case this was causing me problems. The UA are almost certainly CA events. I have very rarely logged OA.
[attachment=9789]
There looked like there were some flow peaks that indicated flow limitation(my flow limit graph was zero all night though) so I made a tiny adjustment last night and increased to EPAP 10.6 IPAP 14.2. At PS >= 4 I noticed an increase in CA events so I thought a small increase in total pressure was a better idea than increasing PS. There was a substantial difference in my flow rate graph, aerophagia was really bad this morning, and I woke up feeling worse.
[attachment=9788]
1. Is this something that my body might get used to if I leave it on or should I drop back the pressure to 10.4/14?
2. Do those peaks in the first nights diagram indicate flow limit?
3. Looking at the green line from the first diagram, this paper describes that type of shape as a collapse in the airway followed by a reopening of the airway. If that was the case I would expect mask pressure to increase during airway collapse, and decrease when the airway reopened. However it looks like mask pressure does the opposite. Any idea what this means?
[attachment=9789]
There looked like there were some flow peaks that indicated flow limitation(my flow limit graph was zero all night though) so I made a tiny adjustment last night and increased to EPAP 10.6 IPAP 14.2. At PS >= 4 I noticed an increase in CA events so I thought a small increase in total pressure was a better idea than increasing PS. There was a substantial difference in my flow rate graph, aerophagia was really bad this morning, and I woke up feeling worse.
[attachment=9788]
1. Is this something that my body might get used to if I leave it on or should I drop back the pressure to 10.4/14?
2. Do those peaks in the first nights diagram indicate flow limit?
3. Looking at the green line from the first diagram, this paper describes that type of shape as a collapse in the airway followed by a reopening of the airway. If that was the case I would expect mask pressure to increase during airway collapse, and decrease when the airway reopened. However it looks like mask pressure does the opposite. Any idea what this means?
