What to look for in SleepyHead?

[Marillion]

Based on what I see, I would recommend going up to 8 as your minimum and 13 as a maximum. You are getting some snore events it looks to me and you are pushing against your current max 10 quite often so I would go a bit higher on your max setting. it's the minimum setting though that will have the most effect on your therapy. You can also go ahead and turn off VS2 in the settings. Are you using "Flex" at all? Sleeprider and the other experienced folks could have more insight. Or different insight, I'm sure you'll get some more answers soon.

[Cranberry Ray]

Urora, your results look very similar to mine when I first started treatment. From your pressure graph you are using either AFlex or Cflex and probably at a 3 setting. I would suggest changing to the CFlex and try reducing the setting to either 1 or 2. This will help the Dreamstation respond better to your high number of hypopneas. Like others had suggested I would definitely raise the minimum pressure to 8 but I would say to leave the max at 10 for right now. It's always best to make one change at a time (the change in CFlex is more of a comfort setting but it can effect treatment). Many people, myself included, do best with a tight range of pressure. Here's an example of how narrowing pressure range can help.



You can see that as the settings got tighter the AHI came down.

You're doing great so far now we just need to help you get the most out of your therapy.

[Urora]

It looks like I'm using A-Flex at a setting of 3. Which do you think I should change first, the flex settings or the min & max settings?

[Marillion]

I would suggest raising the minimum to 8 and also changing to CFlex as Ray suggested to a number of 1 or 2. The Flex is more of a comfort setting but can affect treatment to a smaller degree.

For myself, I would have also increased the max setting too since you are bumping up against it so obviously. But perhaps Ray is right about leaving it alone. When I reduced my minimum setting I also ended up naturally not going as high on my maximums after a couple of nights and getting good results. Making smaller changes at a time and giving it time to take effect is always a good idea.

[Cranberry Ray]

As Marillion said change to the CFlex and either 1 or 2 based on what feels more comfortable to you. With AFlex the Dreamstation provides pressure relief for both inhalation and exhalation. This momentary relief at the start of inhalation can allow more hypopneas to occur. With the CFlex you only get momentary relief on the exhalation which is more of a comfort thing. I think adjusting your minimum pressure up to 8 would also help the Dreamstation treat the hypopneas better. The reason I would hold off of changing the maximum pressure is sometimes you can get into a cycle where the machine increases pressures trying to react to events and that can bring on more CA's and cause more awakenings which means you don't FEEL as rested.

Am interested to see how the changes work out for you. Please keep us posted.