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Recently diagnosed with mild OSA following a home sleep test. ResMed Airsense 10. Unfortunately I haven't really gotten much guidance on what the pressure settings I should use are.
RDI - 8.9
RI - 13
Total apneas - 0
Hypopneas - 32
Lowest Saturation - 86
Oxygen Saturation below 89% - 4min
ODI - 9.6
Desaturations - 76
For whatever reason, despite sleeping for 8 hours on the test, only 3.5 hrs were evaluated, so I am not sure if the numbers above would be wildly different if the whole night was considered.
Machine arrived today, and I am trying to get used to wearing it while being on the computer, TV, etc, but intend to wear it to sleep tonight.
I have the following settings currently based on reading on the forums, any guidance before I start and can get a few nights of OSCAR data?
APAP
Pressure 7-20.
EPR on
level 1
full time
humidity level 4
auto ramp Off
Symptoms are currently a lot of snoring, and some middle of the day and night time fatigue.
With such a low RDI of 8.9, I am skeptical by how much relief CPAP can provide for fatigue? I get it is a spectrum with people all over the map. In any event I am really hopeful this improves health and quality of life.
Machine: Remediated Dreamstation APAP-CPAP Mode Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Airfit F20 Humidifier: Built In CPAP Pressure: CPAP 15cmH2O CPAP Software: OSCAR
Deborah is right, please get an SD car in it tonight if you can and lets see the data! Also, I advocate to not have the machines set to max output (since if you have a leak they can ramp up to the maximum and cause seal blowouts)-so set max to 17cm.
I would say the first night didn't go too bad. As you can see from the attached OSCAR report, I had to restart the session a few times throughout the night. I think the pressure would get to be too high and wake me up. Each time I would check to see what pressure the machine said it was at and then would adjust the max pressure. I had EPR turned on the first 2 sessions, off for the others, and then back on again for the final one. I felt the last session felt the best - as I don't recall waking up abruptly.
I think some of the large leaks are due to me getting used to the mask and also from when I would take it off to stop the session. For what it's worth, if I look at the RHI in just the last session, it was a 4.4.
The final session settings were -
APAP
Min 7
Max 11
EPR 2
Humidity 4
Ramp Off
I note that in the second to last session, I was awoken when the pressure reached 11.76, so I set the next session to a max of 11, but I also turned EPR on (it was off in the second to last session). So I am not sure if I should set the max a little higher now that I have EPR on?
I have two screenshots, one showing all of the sleep sessions - and one showing only the final session which I felt was the best quality.
Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning from everyone!
05-05-2024, 12:54 PM (This post was last modified: 05-05-2024, 12:58 PM by Deborah K.. Edited 2 times in total.)
RE: flyinnerd - Therapy Help
Your final setting looks the best by far. Stay with that all through tonight then post again tomorrow. Since it sounds like you didn't have a lot of CAs in your sleep study, the ones you have will lessen as time passes. You're doing great!
Also, I suggest that you raise your EPR setting to 3. It should be more comfortable.
For some reason last night was tougher than the first night. I felt I was focusing on my breathing and wasn't able to deeply sleep as a result.
I tried raising the EPR to 3 but felt it was less natural to breathe than EPR of 1 or 2. Is that normal? Is the goal to ultimately get to an EPR of 3? Is there a downside to using an EPR of 1?
Screenshot of the night attached. Not sure if the poor night was a one off of getting used to it or what.
You had been using EPR 2, then last night you dropped it to 1. The point of EPR is to lower your flow limits. Since the EPR 2 setting didn't bother you before, I suggest you return to 2 for now. Most likely you'll later be able to raise it to 3 and lower the flow limits further. As to why you had a tough night, it could have been switching the EPR settings. Or, you are still adjusting to having a mask stuck to your face and air blowing up your nose, so off nights are pretty normal for now. Once you have your settings just right and have had time to adjust your sleep will improve a lot. Don't be discouraged.
Here's last night - there was actually another earlier session but it looks like the mask came off at some point and I didn't realize it - woke up a few hours later without the mask on and realized it, and put it back on. But it was such a short one I am omitting it.
Still working on figuring out what positions on the pillow lead to leaks - I am a heavy side sleeper. Not sure how best to describe my question - but with the F30i, I feel that when the mask isn't blowing the air "directly" into my nose I tolerate it better, but when the mask is blowing it directly into my nose it is more difficult to fall asleep. In either case my nose is getting the air from the treatment, so not sure if there is a "right" or a "wrong" way on this front. Hopefully the way I phrased it makes sense too.
That being said, I feel a little groggy but pretty good this morning - much better than the night before.
Anyways, here is the graph. I am wondering since 99.5% of the time the pressure was at 11 and I still had events, should I try to go up to 12? I know it was too much for me the first night, but I am also a few days into it and getting better at getting used to it.
Eventually, raising your upper-pressure limit will be good, but not now. In fact, I think you should drop it to 9 or 10 for a while. You need to get some better sleep as you are adjusting.
Mask discomfort is probably the most common problem people face in adjusting to pap use. That's why I want you to drop your upper-pressure limit for now.
Your leaks are small, so don't worry about them.
Try these things and let me know tomorrow how you slept. You'll get there!
Set it to min 7 max 9.6 for the night EPR of 2. Feel better than the day before and I know it's soon to know but maybe the body is finally catching up on all the missed sleep?
