Anderson5420's OSCAR Data

[sheepless]

is the glass half full or empty?

obviously 85% of the time below redline is good and 15% of the time above the redline is bad. these machines can probably operate more or less effectively to some degree above the redline but that's a bit more than an hour of an 8 hour night with resmed defined excessive leaks.

leaks can be quite disturbing even if they aren't waking you up. as far as I'm concerned my typical med leak rate of about 14 is too high. most of us strive for well below the redline.

eyeballing your chart, it looks like about half your leaks occur in proximity to hypopnea. your ahi is great but leaks might be contributing to your residual events. (or your hypopnea may be contributing to your leaks; hard to tell.)

in any event, I read you both agreeing that excessive or not, addressing the 15% of the time over redline would be beneficial.

[anderson5420]

is the glass half full or empty?

obviously 85% of the time below redline is good and 15% of the time above the redline is bad. these machines can probably operate more or less effectively to some degree above the redline but that's a bit more than an hour of an 8 hour night with resmed defined excessive leaks.    

leaks can be quite disturbing even if they aren't waking you up. as far as I'm concerned my typical med leak rate of about 14 is too high. most of us strive for well below the redline.

eyeballing your chart, it looks like about half your leaks occur in proximity to hypopnea. your ahi is great but leaks might be contributing to your residual events. (or your hypopnea may be contributing to your leaks; hard to tell.)

in any event, I read you both agreeing that excessive or not, addressing the 15% of the time over redline would be beneficial.

Yes, I would love to get the 95% leak rate under 24 l./min.  The degree to which it is adversely affecting therapy is the issue. Dave thinks it is "blowing" my therapy. My sleep PA says these machines can handle moderate amounts above Resmed's leak redline. Last night my median leak rate was 3.6 l./min. My percent of time above leak redline was only 6.647% over 8 hours and 38 minutes. Check my math but that is slightly more than half an hour out of more than eight and a half hours. The 95% leak rate was 30 l./min, which means that only 5% of the time recorded leaks exceed 30 l./min. So how to get it down to 24 l./min is the issue. It may well be reducing the pressure would help but I am not going "out on my own" until after meeting with PA where she can review and weigh in. If she says it all looks wonderful, then I will go rogue and try reducing the pressure myself.

[anderson5420]

Dave, you opinion is always welcome.but look at my OSCAR screenshots - leaks above the leak redline are NOT present "the majority of the time."  Look at last night (just posted). Leaks were below the leak redline 93.3% of the time. I am wondering what your definition of "the majority of the time" is or where you are seeing that in my OSCAR screenshots.

[SarcasticDave94]

I'm basing my opinion on the leaks by how the ASV I used dealt with my leaks during the first few months of use. When I got the mask leaks under control and didn't cross over 24, there was a definite improvement in Apnea therapy and how I felt. I worked to get my leak chart all under the 24 redline or I could feel a decrease in therapy effectiveness.

When I'm looking at your leak chart, I'm seeing a fairly large amount of time over 24, compared to it being just a little bit over or occasionally over 24.

It may be that your CA versus mine are at different levels of event counts, that might be why I could feel that leaks all need under 24. My ASV was being taxed a bit due to my high CA level and it had a definite impact how much leaks there were, especially near or over 24. It's also possible that my COPD plays a part in that leak sensitivity. I had to work at it, but I got my leak rate to be 95% at 10 L/Min with the ASV when I got the F&P Vitera. That's where I'm coming from as to get all leaks lower. You may not need that yourself, but I noticed the difference in therapy effectiveness.

[anderson5420]

OK, significant improvement last night - the 95% leak rate was less than 24 for the first time ever at 20.4, time over leak redline was only 3.165. If it looked like this every night I would be one happy camper. The only thing different last night was that I did some extra cranking on tightening he strap on the new-style P10 mask.

The graphs show pretty clearly that the high pressure, the leaks, and the hypopneas are all at the same time. Since my appointment with my PA is not until mid-November now, I would be game to try some adjustmets as previously suggested

Once again it looks like OSCAR only captured the time between when I went to bed at 10 p.m. and my bathroom break at 3:30 a.m. After the bathroom break, I actually slept until 5:50 a.m.

[SarcasticDave94]

The chart data looks good. My concern would be your comfort with the mask. The highlighted aspect is with your phrase "I did some extra cranking on tightening he strap on the new-style P10 mask."

Cranking the straps indicates some aspects could be better for your fit, probably the cushion size it seems. It tends to indicate an ill fitting mask. Have you tried any other mask that was better for you?

The leak rate presented here is OK, but I don't want you setting yourself up to fail with a mask that's uncomfortably tight.

[sheepless]

"Once again it looks like OSCAR only captured the time between when I went to bed at 10 p.m. and my bathroom break at 3:30 a.m. After the bathroom break, I actually slept until 5:50 a.m."

not sure what you're looking at. i see 11:30pm to 5:30am in that chart. is your machine clock set to the right time?

I've mentioned i have to keep my p10 pretty tight to keep it stable & limit mask leaks. loose or tight is pretty subjective. as dave says, you dont want it to be uncomfortable but do whatever you can tolerate that works.

[anderson5420]

The chart data looks good. My concern would be your comfort with the mask. The highlighted aspect is with your phrase "I did some extra cranking on tightening he strap on the new-style P10 mask."

Cranking the straps indicates some aspects could be better for your fit, probably the cushion size it seems. It tends to indicate an ill fitting mask. Have you tried any other mask that was better for you?

The leak rate presented here is OK, but I don't want you setting yourself up to fail with a mask that's uncomfortably tight.

Comfort is fine. Old-style P10 strap was fairly loose with no real way to tighten it, that was possibly a contributor to some leakage. It came with some round disks with slots in them but they never worked well. I understand a few people took to doubling the strap over and sewing it! The new-style strap is completely adjustable. I like it a lot (if you can ever really "like" a mask, that is).

[anderson5420]

"Once again it looks like OSCAR only captured the time between when I went to bed at 10 p.m. and my bathroom break at 3:30 a.m. After the bathroom break, I actually slept until 5:50 a.m."

not sure what you're looking at. i see 11:30pm to 5:30am in that chart. is your machine clock set to the right time?

I've mentioned i have to keep my p10 pretty tight to keep it stable & limit mask leaks. loose or tight is pretty subjective. as dave says, you dont want it to be uncomfortable but do whatever you can tolerate that works.

As I replied to Dave, comfort is fine.

On the time, the screenshot shows five hours and fifty-seven minutes, or about six hours. I actually used the machine for almost eight hours, from 10 p.m. to nearly 6 a.m.  I never checked how the time was set, but the machine came from Apria in Bellingham, only 20 miles from where I live and clearly in the same time zone! I guess I should go into settings and see how the time is set!

[SarcasticDave94]

OK, if mask comfort is acceptable, I can't see any needs that require attention. This adjustable mask headgear seems to have improved leak rates substantially.