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[Diagnosis] Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
#1
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Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
Hi all. After feeling totally alone and abandoned since a sleep study and being sold a machine, I may have found my tribe here! Thankful already.
I have had a CPAP machine for near on 2 years now, set up by the retailer based on the "prescription" they were given by the sleep doctor.
That was about the extent of the support I received. No follow ups, nothing.

The Airsense 10 died about a year ago so I got an 11, and have pretty much left it setup as is out of the box.
I discovered OSCAR a year or so ago, and decided to drop in a SD card but haven't done anything at all since then.

So without further ado, here are the charts. I have literally no idea what I am looking at, but for those with a trained eye, if you could please cast a look over it and see if there is anything I should be concerned about or change? I feel I do sleep better at night since starting CPAP, but I'm still as tired as I always was in the day before CPAP. Overall healthy and fit though.

Thanks in advance!

   

   
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#2
RE: Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
Your AHI doesn't look too bad, but you have lots of flow limitations.

I'd suggest going into the clinical menu and changing these settings:
Ramp: Off (this ramps up the pressure as you fall asleep, but leaves you with some areas at the beginning with no therapy)
Min pressure: 7
Max pressue: 16
EPR: Full Time at 3 cm

Turning off ramp makes it so you don't miss out on any therapy when you first put on the mask. If its somewhat uncomfortable you can turn this back on, but keep in mind you might miss out on some therapy while the machine is ramping up the pressure.

So turning on EPR will essentially give bilevel therapy similar to a bipap. As you exhale it will drop your pressure by 3 cm H2O and when you inhale it will go back up to whatever the pressure was set to at that time. It will help resolve the flow limits and should help you feel better. 

The min pressure being set at 7 is because the min pressure of the machine can never go lower than 4. So with EPR set to 3, and your pressure is at 7, the machine will drop the pressure to 4 as you exhale. The max pressure being set at 16 because it never seems to go much higher than 16.

These settings may increase CA events, but you will probably feel much better than before.
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#3
RE: Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
Thanks so much @jcp519. I've already enthusiastically plugged those settings in! Smile
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#4
RE: Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
JCP's suggestions are spot on, the only thing I'd do is try the settings with EPR off for a session and see if you feel more rested (after you have changed the pressure settings to min7, max 16). I felt better during the morning (deep sleep possibly) with EPR disabled (when I had a resmed S10 machine).
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#5
RE: Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
+1 to the settings JCP suggested.

However, I must point out that the old "no therapy" line regarding ramp is an exaggeration even if you have a 45 minute ramp starting at 4cm and ending at 20. It is somewhat better for you to get up to your theraputic pressure before you fall asleep, so give it a try with ramp off, but it's a far cry from "no therapy" especially for anyone whose average pressure isn't all that high. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine. Using EPR will be the more significant adjustment for you, but very often it knocks down the FLs that are a regular occurrence for you throughout the night.
Look, I'm an engineer, not a doctor! Please don't take my opinion as a substitute for medical advice.
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#6
RE: Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
Thanks again, it's taking a little getting used to and a touch harder to fall asleep with the ramp off. But I've stuck with it for two nights and actually seem to feel a bit better.
I'll give it a week before looking at OSCAR again and updating this thread. Thanks again for the advice - it is greatly appreciated!
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#7
RE: Didn't know this existed. Hi! And diagnosis please
That's great to hear! You can still use ramp if you would like if its still causing issues without it. Turning off ramp definitely wasn't the major change.

Glad to hear you're feeling better, that's really what matters anyways. Typically changes in how you feel will take some time, so keep with it!
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