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Leaks - Time above the red line & pressure range questions
#1
Leaks - Time above the red line & pressure range questions
I've just hit the 30 day mark since starting APAP & reviewing the Sleepy Head data I notice my leaks are all over the place, some nights very few leaks, others quite a lot. The % of time spent above the red line has varied greatly but even when I think that percentage is high (20% +) I still have a good AHI reading for the night.

What % of time spent above the red line is considered to be ok?

I've tried a mask liner but the seal and leaks were worse and I took it back off before going to sleep.

My range is set at 6-20cm and most nights the max pressure reached is between 16-19 so I'm wondering if the minimum pressure could do with being bumped up a little? Does a narrower range when using APAP help reduce leakage when using FFM?

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#2
RE: Leaks - Time above the red line & pressure range questions
(08-04-2014, 10:58 PM)Crist Wrote: The % of time spent above the red line has varied greatly but even when I think that percentage is high (20% +) I still have a good AHI reading for the night.

What % of time spent above the red line is considered to be ok?
Do you sleep good too?

Below 30% of the time and our friend Mr Happy" show his face each morning

Narrower range not only provide better treatment as the lower pressure close to therapy pressure also helps with leak as pressure does not fluctuate between two extreme, might be okay at the lower end but as pressure increase in response to events, mask seal get broken.
A bit below and a bit above 95th percentile is good guide or even constant pressure at your titration pressure and see how things pan out
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#3
RE: Leaks - Time above the red line & pressure range questions
What Zonk said. Another thing to be cognizant of is the pressure at which you adjust your mask. You should adjust it at the highest pressure that you use. You can do that by using the mask fit feature or you can do it like I do. I turn my machine to CPAP mode and set the pressure to the highest that I use which for me is 20 cm/H2O. I also turn the ramp feature off. I am not sure about EPR. If you have EPR set to 2 when you are in Auto mode does it stay set to 2 when you go to CPAP mode. If it does then it would be best to turn EPR off also. Then I have all of the time that I need to play with it. I leave the pressure in the CPAP mode set to what I use so when I want to do another mask fitting all I have to do is go to CPAP mode and turn the ramp off (I do not have EPR).

You might want to check out the following link for mask fitting,http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...434#pid434

There is another good mask fitting piece on the Mask Arrayed blog.
. Google Mask Arrayed and look under "Taming the Mirage Quattro". This is specific for the Mirage Quattro but has useful information.

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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#4
RE: Leaks - Time above the red line & pressure range questions
Thanks for the replies Zonk & PaytonA.

I didn't have a titration study so I don't have a prescribed pressure. My AHI during the sleep study to diagnose was 115 and O2 was down to 62% at some points so the doc wanted me on treatment without the delay of waiting for another study so he started me on an AutoSet wide open 4-20 cm then reviewed after a week and narrowed it to 6-20. I go back for another review in a week so will hold off making any changes and talk to him about bumping the minimum up some more.

The taming the mirage Quattro info is fantastic, I used it when I first started using the FFM. I've also been using the mask fit feature on my machine and can get a great fit while awake and laying down but once I'm asleep then the problems seem to occur. This is what led me to think that it's not so much the pressure but perhaps a sudden increase in pressure that was leading to the leaks.

I'm going to give the liners another go and see if that helps while I wait for my next appointment.

Thanks again Smile
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#5
RE: Leaks - Time above the red line & pressure range questions
I'm doing some testing with a self made liner that will go over my nose area only. The seal is working much better than without it and the comfort level is much, much better. My nose is so raw from trying to get the leaks out of this ResMed Mirage Quattro mask that I just had to try something. I figure if it feel OK on my nose now, given how sore it is, it'll be wonderful later for preventing this sort of thing from happening again. You might want to try this while waiting on the liners. I just cut the patch out of an old tee-shirt like has been discussed on here before. It may not be pretty but it's going to allow me to use my mask while my nose heals.

[Image: red%20nose%20017.JPG]

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