Judging Mask Leaks

[nativedancer]

I have Sleepyhead, but it is on my son's computer, where I have only limited access. For about two years prior to Sleepyhead, however, I had rather constant high leaks, ranging from 40 to over 100, and as I usually get 8-10 hours sleep, the leaks were a mystery. During the past 6 months, though, my ahi readings have hovered around 0, but my S9 still insists I have occasional high leaks.

But when I open up sleepyhead, I discover that the leaks, however large, are almost always under 30%, which one can disregard on the S9. This was one of the great learning experiences for me, and I hope that Sleepyhead can give similar relief to others. Mask adjustments during the night apparently account for the spike/recovery pattern.

I use a Simplus mask, and love it.

[nativedancer]

Was my analysis completely wrong, or am I the only one just now discovering this? I had hoped to give some members the relief that I felt. But perhaps I'm even more naive than I had imagined. It does seem passing strange, though, to have 171 reads but no replies.

[PaytonA]

I think that people may bed getting confused reading your original post. I know that I have. Another problem may have been that most people on the board do not use VPAPs with back-up rates and may not want to comment without experience with that particular machine.

What did you mean "high and constant leaks" before Sleepyhead? How did you detect that they were high and does constant mean what I think that it does or do you mean constantly recurring? Does spike/recovery pattern have to do with your large leaks? What causes you to make mask adjustments during the night?

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[nativedancer]

Thanks for your interest. The machine recorded high leaks. And the S9, as you know, allows the user to backtrack, but does not provide any analysis. I had no way to understand the leaks until I was able to use sleepyhead periodically, which permitted me to go back to previous dates and check the leak frequency. By "constant" I meant constantly occurring, As for altering the leaks, I sometimes get up a couple times during the night, which changes headgear position. Other changes occur when I have a sense of discomfort, or some involuntary changes happen. The S9 gives the exact number of leaks, but no frequency pattern. However, if my machine says I had 62 leaks, I no longer get upset until I can open Sleepyhead and balance them within the general pattern. But even if the leaks are substantial and rather constant on a given night, I understand that large leaks happen to anyone now and again. Apologies for the confusion.

[Rip and Rosie]

Yes, I use sleepy head to monitor leaks as well....I can get all set up and everything's perfect until I get off to sleep, and the muscles relax, and the face must go all floppy - not a pretty sight I would imagine - I get lots a RERA events and then sometimes leak like a sieve.
I love sleepy head..... what on earth do people do if they don't use it?

[PaytonA]

You talk about both constantly occurring leaks and spiky leaks. Are we talking constantly occurring spiky leaks or are they separate things. If separate things, are the constantly occurring leaks showing up on Sleepyhead as long term leaks as in over a minute or 2 where you see a higher plateau for a while? Is your baseline leakage rate over 0?

When you talk about large leaks for X percent, is this X percent of the time. One of the things that ResScan gives us is the percentage of the time that we initiate inhalation on our own for the night without the machine trying to help us. This would be interesting to know and I do not know if Sleepyhead gives that data.

As you can probably tell, I am still a little confused.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[nativedancer]

An S9 gives only the total leaks that occur during a given night. If the user had 94 leaks, the user is given no further information in the matter, and may well decide that the AHI is compromised. But Sleepyhead goes much further, especially regarding the duration and frequency of the leaks. For instance, if the 94 leaks happened in only 21 per cent of the night. then the AHI number may be assumed to be accurate, as Resmed dismisses not only the first 24 leaks, but also any further leaks under 30 per cent. It would be wonderful if Resmed gave the percentage value, but thankfully this is a function that Sleepyhead provides. A Sleepyhead graph also gives a minute by minute summation of the results, allowing the user to see the leaks grouped visually.

[PaytonA]

Yes, Resmed seems to think that large leaks (over 24 l/min) for less than 30% of the night are OK. I think that can be improved. I do not mean that you should stress over improving it but some gentle work toward improving it would not be out of order.

I do understand that the CPAP gives data in a different format that Sleepyhead. My questions are based on what you see in Sleepyhead. Can you answer the questions that I asked previously?

QUOTE from previous post
You talk about both constantly occurring leaks and spiky leaks. Are we talking constantly occurring spiky leaks or are they separate things? If separate things, are the constantly occurring leaks showing up on Sleepyhead as long term leaks as in over a minute or 2 where you see a higher plateau for a while? Is your baseline leakage rate over 0?

When you talk about large leaks for X percent, is this X percent of the time? One of the things that ResScan gives us is the percentage of the time that we initiate inhalation on our own for the night without the machine trying to help us. This would be interesting to know and I do not know if Sleepyhead gives that data. ENDQUOTE

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[nativedancer]

I probably need to refer back a year or so, when I was often experiencing both high moderate AHI in the mid forties, accompanied by rather high"constant" mask leaks. I tweaked the pressures again and again, and finally found numbers that brought the AHI below 5, but the leaks remained high. When I queried the doctor about it, he just smiled and told me not to be worried. He did raise my night-time oxygen to 4, and that may have helped the leak problem as well. And I should perhaps add that he himself does not pay much attention to AHI and seems more concerned with matters that remain a mystery to me. But he seems pleased, and I guess I should be too.

But not until this year, when I downloaded Sleepyhead, did I realize how much leaks related to frequency.

When I mention spikes, I mean those somewhat brief leak episodes under 30 %.

I agree that one should strive to do better than 30, and my apnea readings for the past month have hovered around 0, with near-0 leaks.

I never intended to be so dense, and I hope this clears the matter up somewhat.

Thanks again for your interest. Jim

[PaytonA]

One of the reasons that I asked about the spiky leaks is that I think that many of the spiky leaks are not really leaks but are brought on by a sharp transient change in ones breathing flow rate and so are not worrisome at all. I have a chart that shows this and as soon as I can find it I will post it for you.

Best Regards,

PaytonA