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Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
#1
Question 
Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty new to CPAPs. I got mine on Halloween and started on 11/1 and have used it every day since. I am having a lot of trouble understanding my OSCAR results. Could someone please help me interpret them?

So far I am feeling much better every day. I can stay awake more and learn more--Also sometimes I even  feel refreshed - which is something I haven't had in years! Coffee  I just want to make sure everything is looking okay.

Attached are the last three days of my OSCAR results.

Any help is appreciated.
Thank you!


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#2
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
Your data shows next to no events (great AHI), minimal pressure fluctuation and only the odd small amount of flow limitation. Overall everything looks pretty much treated at these settings.

The only questions I would have is if 11 cm pressure is really needed and if you would benefit from a higher EPR. Since the critical pressures is EPAP = pressure - EPR you can kind of test both at the same time just by increasing EPR to 2 or 3.

Higher EPR might make it feel a little easier to breath, should reduce the odd little bit of flow limitation, further minimize pressure fluctuations (being driven by flow limitation) and has no real negatives unless it feels bad or increase AHI.

Overall I would say what you are doing is working and the only thing remaining are playing around with minor tweaks to EPR and min pressure.
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#3
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
BunHead, your charts are beautiful! You're logging a good number of hours on the machine; are you mostly asleep, do you think? Your AHI is is excellent -- enviable, really. Anything below 1 is outstanding. You seem to have mastered what can be one of the hardest things to do: finding a mask that works for you. You're snoring a little, but I wouldn't worry about that. You have some flow limitations (times when the relaxation of tissues in your airway slightly limits the flow of air) but again, nothing to worry about.

Those are the main things I see when I look at your charts. And you're reporting very positive changes during the day, which is great. Are you pretty comfortable during the night? Sleeping pretty soundly?

If you wanted to give it a try, you could increase your EPR from 1 to 2 to see how that feels. For you, this would really just be a comfort feature. Often an increase in EPR needs to be offset by an increase in the minimum pressure, but given your excellent AHI, I see no need to do that. You could just keep an eye on the AHI. And if you like the EPR of 2 and don't spot any trends toward a higher AHI, you could then experiment with EPR of 3.

-- But all that's just if you feel like giving it a whirl. You're doing great with your current settings.

Let us know if you have specific questions. A fair amount of the information in Oscar would really not be relevant unless you were having problems, but you may just be curious, so let us know.
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#4
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
Oh wow thank you so much that is great to hear. Yes I can try out the EPR. My average has been about 12 so I bumped up the pressure from 11.6/min to 12. I really appreciate your help.  Thanks
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#5
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
Hooray!

I would say these days it takes me about 30 minutes to fall asleep or 45 on a tougher night so yes most of my hours are sleeping. I actually want to go to bed these days (before I avoided it because I was sleeping terribly). Someone else suggested the EPR as well so i'm going to give it a shot.

Overall I do sleep well. My first mask (Airtouch F20) actually  ended up giving me a rash so I love the Airfit. The only problem is if I move around or anything I have to make small adjustments to it which I'm not a fan of.

I also drool.. So I end up wiping my mask out if I turn to one side during the night which kind of sucks. I would say the last thing is my ponytail. When I turn it's kind of uncomfortable and I'm not sure how to manage it better at night. The for her mask did make it a little more comfortable since it fit me better. If you have any suggestions I would very much appreciate it!

I'm finally getting hope back in my life and my depression is starting to let up a little bit.. I even went to the gym a few times.. Looking forward to my new life, maybe there is more potential for me out there now. like
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#6
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
Note the higher you raise min pressure the higher average pressure will go as some level of flow limitation and hypopnea/apnea is normal and will always drive pressures up higher. It is easy to chase but doing so rarely is helpful to treatment and it can actually become counterproductive due to aerophagia, more venting, more noise etc.

If your pressure range is staying within 2-3 cm of min pressure for majority of night you are doing great. The main time we worry about raising min pressure is if there are obvious apnea/hypopnea at lower pressures or in cases where people are still using out of the box settings 4 cm minimum but machine is regularly running 10+ meaning the machine has to react to significant breathing issues before it gets to a level that treats majority of issue.

In your case I am guessing you don't actually need as high of pressure as you are using. Just something to think about and play with when fine tuning things.
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#7
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
Welcome to the board. To start with you can not get much better AHI than what you have.  What we would look for is comfort and if anything could make you feel better. 

You have EPR set at 1. You should find it more comfortable by raising your EPR. the max it can go is 3. I would try 2 for a couple days and move it up to 3. Again you are looking for how you feel under each setting 1, 2 or 3.
Apnea (80-100%) 10 seconds, Hypopnea (50-80%) 10 seconds, Flow Limits (0-50%) not timed  Cervical Collar - Dealing w DME - Chart Organizing
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#8
RE: Having Trouble Understanding My OSCAR Results
(12-12-2021, 06:11 PM)Geer1 Wrote: Note the higher you raise min pressure the higher average pressure will go as some level of flow limitation and hypopnea/apnea is normal and will always drive pressures up higher. It is easy to chase but doing so rarely is helpful to treatment and it can actually become counterproductive due to aerophagia, more venting, more noise etc.

If your pressure range is staying within 2-3 cm of min pressure for majority of night you are doing great. The main time we worry about raising min pressure is if there are obvious apnea/hypopnea at lower pressures or in cases where people are still using out of the box settings 4 cm minimum but machine is regularly running 10+ meaning the machine has to react to significant breathing issues before it gets to a level that treats majority of issue.

In your case I am guessing you don't actually need as high of pressure as you are using. Just something to think about and play with when fine tuning things.

That's really good to know for the minimum pressure. I'll have to keep an eye on it and maybe lower it a smidge. Doc says it looks good but I definitely don't want extra side effects.  Thanks so much.

(12-12-2021, 06:25 PM)staceyburke Wrote: Welcome to the board. To start with you can not get much better AHI than what you have.  What we would look for is comfort and if anything could make you feel better. 

You have EPR set at 1. You should find it more comfortable by raising your EPR. the max it can go is 3. I would try 2 for a couple days and move it up to 3. Again you are looking for how you feel under each setting 1, 2 or 3.

Thanks so much. Other members are telling me the same thing so I'm going to tweak it and see how it goes. Thank  you for your insight. Coffee
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