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Couple of questions about APAP
#11
RE: Couple of questions about APAP
It turns out that my pressure was set to 10-20, as promised. The lower readings must have been from the ramp feature and/or the EPR. I have since turned off the ramp entirely. I had it set to 5 minutes, but the instant pressure doesn't bother me, so I just changed it to "off."

My numbers are staying great--in fact, down to AHI of 2.11 for last night. In my memory, that is the best I've ever had. Now just waiting for my body to catch up with rest. I do feel better, but I think it will take more time with better sleep before I wake up and feel really FRESH all day. I feel almost as if I am starting anew after 3 months of "pretty good" cpap and now "much better" cpap.
Kathi D.
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#12
RE: Couple of questions about APAP
I have to add again, that without the encouragement of this group, I wouldn't have had the knowledge, nor been able to summon the stamina, to fight for my best shot at healthy sleep. I was determined from the very beginning to be 100% compliant and give the therapy my best shot, but I didn't realize that I would have to fight to get what was best for me.

Before getting any treatment for apnea, I had zero fight in me for anything. It's one reason I went so long knowing I needed to do something about my sleep, but not doing anything. Everything in my day was Just So Hard. I was swimming upstream through molasses just to stay awake enough to accomplish the minimum needed to survive, and in the last months before treatment, I felt that my life consisted of nothing more than trying to get a little sleep. I would lapse into naps all day long, never quite asleep nor quite awake. I really do feel like a different person these days, and look forward to even more of it.
Kathi D.
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#13
RE: Couple of questions about APAP
(06-05-2014, 12:02 PM)kderevan Wrote: Oh, there is one more thing. My mouth was dry when I woke up, so I think that at the highest pressure I'm doing some mouth breathing even with the chin strap, getting some leakage out the mouth. Is it safe to assume that I might get a bit more mouth leakage with the higher pressure? and that as long as my apneas are being controlled, I just won't worry about a little more mouth leakage?

It is very safe to assume that the higher pressure can cause leakage, especially if you fitted your mask at a lower pressure. If it is mouth leakage the options are; train yourself to seal your mouth off with your tongue, use a chin strap (may or may not work), go to a full face mask.

My therapy pressure is 20 cm/H2O for inhalation and 16 for exhalation (I have a bi-level machine). Before I started looking at my data, I was convinced that I had trained myself to do the tongue seal with my nasal mask. After looking at my data for a while (I did not want to believe that I was wrong) with the help of this group, I decided that I was wrong. I tried the chin strap-did not work for me. I went to a full face mask and finally got my leaks under control. Full face masks take some work to get them to seal well but it was worth it.

"A little mouth leakage" can be a problem if it is more than the machine can tolerate and still accurately provide the correct therapy. If the leakage is too great you can be having more events than your AHI indicates. Getting the leaks under control is important to your therapy.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

Admin Note:
PaytonA passed away in September 2017
Click HERE to read his Memorial Thread

~ Rest in Peace ~
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#14
RE: Couple of questions about APAP
(06-07-2014, 01:26 AM)retired_guy Wrote:
(06-05-2014, 12:02 PM)kderevan Wrote: The DME guy said he was going to set my pressure from 10-20 (based on my prescribed pressure of 11) but I think he may not have done it, since my reported pressure ranges from 8 to 19.5.

You would see a low of 8 instead of 10 if your EPR is on and set to "2".

That tells the machine to reduce the exhale pressure by 2, so if your low pressure is 10, you end up with an 8.

That's actually just fine as long as you're comfortable and your events are being taken care of. Otherwise you could increase your low end to 12 which would result in 12 sometimes, and 10 sometimes.

(06-07-2014, 10:42 AM)Sleepster Wrote:
(06-07-2014, 01:26 AM)retired_guy Wrote: You would see a low of 8 instead of 10 if your EPR is on and set to "2".

That tells the machine to reduce the exhale pressure by 2, so if your low pressure is 10, you end up with an 8.

I don't use a ResMed machine, but on my machine that's not true. If the pressure is set at 10, then the machine reports a pressure of 10 regardless of the EPR setting.
On the S9 the exhale pressure is reduced from the minimum. Take a look at the attached. My set pressures are 9.6/14. The actual pressures range from a low of 6.6 on exhale to the near max on inhale. Exhale is always 3 below inhale.

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