(03-28-2016, 11:04 PM)PaytonA Wrote: I was not aware that I was talking about the machine making a temporary pressure reduction in an attempt to reseal the leak. First, if a seal blows out, it will not reseal by simply reducing the pressure but sometimes I would imagine the temporary reduction might work. If it is temporary does it go back to where it started and if it does, it will probably just leak again if it is caused by pressure.
It really depends on what caused the leak to go from "bad, but still small enough where the machine can compensate" to "Large Leak that the machine cannot compensate."
For example, if there is a medium-sized leak (that is NOT an official Large Leak), the additional air
flow the machine is using to try to maintain current pressure may be enough to encourage the user's mouth to open, which can cause the leak to go from "bad, but manageble" to "official Large Leak". If the machine temporarily backs off the pressure a bit (by reducing the air flow) that can encourage the person to close their mouth (which fixes the official Large Leak) and if the mask has also been moving around with the large air flow that was being used in an attempt to maintain the higher pressure when the leak was "bad" but not in Large Leak territory, the mask may also settle back down on the face with a decent enough seal so that once the leaks are under control, the machine can once again do what it is supposed to do in terms of maintaining the desired pressure.
Quote:My point here is that it is much better for the person to use his/her brain to figure out the solution and take the appropriate action so that the leakage is prevented on a longer term basis.
It really depends on how often the Large Leaks happen and how long they last.
If you see a bad leak that lasts less than 10-15 minutes no more than once or twice a night and you are sleeping right through the leaks, it may be best to just ignore the leaks since that's not really enough time to seriously affect the quality of your therapy. And the solution to the leaks adds any discomfort, then solution the may wind up making it more difficult to get to sleep and to stay asleep; in that case, you're better off sleeping through the occasional short Large leak.
If you see bad leaks that last an hour or more at a time OR if the total time spent in Large Leak territory is more than about 20-30% of the night, you really do need to do something to fix the leaks.
If you wake up multiple times each night from the leaks, you need to do something to fix the leaks ---even if the leaks are pretty small.