This is so frustrating....

[chill]

Something is out of whack here. It starts at 10 with a minimum of 4?!!? But then later it dips down to almost 4. Which version of SleepyHead is this? And can we see the whole Leak Rate graph? The top half is not that informative by itself.

It looks like it starts at 10, dips to try and re-seal the mask, the lower pressure causes events, so the pressure climbs, it leaks again, the pressure reduces... then there are so many events that even with the leaks the pressure keeps going up. I've not seen graph like this before.

Your pressure seems too low for effective therapy, but when it rises your leak rate is high.

[green wings]

Good point, AlanE. I was looking for the settings at the bottom of the page and didn't notice them at the top there.

I am still confused about what's going on with the machine's starting pressure, though. It doesn't seem to be starting at the minimum pressure setting.

[jen61]

I don't have a prescribed setting. I'm assuming the technician is watching things to figure out where my pressure should be. I have seen some changes made since I started. When I start up my machine now it is at 9 or 10 instead of the 4 that it used to be when I first got it. I did set the minimum to 5 instead of 4 myself after suggestions from others here. Other than that not much has changed.

[AlanE]

Do you have ramp enabled? and if so, what is that set at?

[kwhenrykerr]

I would raise the min. pressure to 9 for at least a week, and try to relax.

[green wings]

What is very weird is that your machine starts around 9-10 when your minimum pressure is set at 4-5. The pressure should be at 4-5 when you turn on the machine. Don't know what's going on there. (I put "4-5" instead of "5", because if you look below the pie chart on your SleepyHead graph, you can see that the lowest that your pressure went last night was 4.4 cm.)

Leaving that issue aside, though, I think your machine will handle your obstructive events better if you put the minimum pressure around 9-10. That way the machine's pressure won't drop down to low numbers like 4-5 like it did last night.

The machine's program causes it to lower the pressure gradually, either until you have an obstructive event, or until it reaches the minimum pressure that you set. When you start having obstructive events, the machine increases the pressure. (obvs)

When you have the minimum pressure down at 4-5, it's a long way from there to the upper range of pressures that you're needing. By the time the machine can move from 5 to, say 14, there's time for you to have lots of apneas.

If you increase the minimum pressure to 9 or 10, you can still leave ramp set at 6. If you think you'll be hitting the ramp in the middle of the night, then set the ramp time for something like 10-15 minutes, so it will reach the minimum pressure pretty quickly.

I use a ramp from 8-11 for 10 minutes. I don't have to have it, but it makes starting the machine when I go to bed more comfortable.

And yes, try to relax and get some good sleep if you can. You are doing very well with all this!

I don't have a prescribed setting. I'm assuming the technician is watching things to figure out where my pressure should be. I have seen some changes made since I started. When I start up my machine now it is at 9 or 10 instead of the 4 that it used to be when I first got it. I did set the minimum to 5 instead of 4 myself after suggestions from others here. Other than that not much has changed.

[jen61]

I have no idea why it would go down to 4 or 5 if it started at 10. I didn't even hit ramp when I first turned it on. I'm not sure what the timing is on the ramp but will check and adjust it tonight in case I need to use it at first. I'm attaching another screenshot that shows both lines on the leak graph. I don't know the difference between the two but they seem to follow the same curve.

[chill]

The more I see of these graphs, the more I think WTF?!!? Your leaks from this looks like mine - minimal. I'd print some of these out, take them and the machine back to your supplier and ask them to replace or at least test it. Or at the very least provide a credible explanation for what we are seeing.

FWIW, I am pretty sure that my first DreamStation was defective, though in a different way.

[OpalRose]

I have been following this with much interest.

It seems like Jen's DreamStation is defective. There is no logical explanation for the Apap to start at 10 and drop to 4 unless she is hitting that ramp button, which she said she is not doing.

Jen, the next time you post a screenshot, please include "all" the statistics info on the left under the pie chart. You can elimate the pie chart to make it fit. Would like to see the min, max, medium and 90% numbers, and if the leak rate matches with the graph. And at the bottom, it should say if ramp is on and the setting. It should also give us the Flex setting.

If we can trust the pressure graph at all, (which is questionable), your minimum pressure should be set to start no less than 9 or 10 especially if you want to tame some of those obstructive and hypopneas.

Try to get this machine looked at, and possibly get it replaced if they have no real explanation for what's going on. Don't wait too long to question this.

You deserve to have restfull sleep and start to get your therapy under control.

[jen61]

Here is last night's info. It's done a turnaround now... although my leak rate was high, my AHI was low (around 4-5, can't remember exactly) Although for at least 2 hours of the night I was awake so that may skew the results some since I wasn't having any events.
When I turned the machine on it was at 9.5 so I hit ramp. It ramped down to 6. It took me forever to fall asleep, the mask and strap felt so cumbersome. (I had tightened that chin strap so much I had chipmunk cheeks, lol) Also the pressure even at 6 felt like it was just blowing me away...Anyway as you can see it ramped back up to the starting point, but then dropped down to 4, probably due to the fact I was still awake and breathing normally. I had a very restless night it seemed, I just could not get comfortable, so I was surprised when I saw my AHI was in the "managed" range, even though leak rate was high.
So looking at these graphs, does it still look like my machine may be defective?