Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea
"Don't worry about Leak"? - Printable Version

+- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area)
+--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum)
+--- Thread: "Don't worry about Leak"? (/Thread-Don-t-worry-about-Leak)



"Don't worry about Leak"? - chuck6161 - 08-03-2016

Hi, I'm into my 6th week of cpap and one thing I noticed early on was that my leak was high, 30L/min. However my therapist kept telling me don't worry how high your leak is, as long as your events per hour are low. My events were at 1p/h.

Having researched this, everything I read about leaks says that anything above 24L/min distorts the figures and is not actually helping you. Not sure how do go back and tell my therapist that ther info seems to differ to everything I've read, or is what she is telling me correct? should I ignore the leak rate as long as my events are low?.



RE: "Don't worry about Leak"? - FrankNichols - 08-03-2016

Well, both are true, it is not the size of the leak but the combination of size and duration. If you have 30L/min 100% of the night, then your machine can't not accurately treat your symptoms and will report erroneous AHI information. If on the other hand you have a 100L/min for 5 mins out of an 8 hour night, it would not hurt the numbers or treatment.



RE: "Don't worry about Leak"? - chuck6161 - 08-03-2016

trying to upload my week report but file is above 512kb requirement, and when I try to load a picture it keeps asking me for a URL. I'll try to get these uploaded but I think I understand what you're saying.


RE: "Don't worry about Leak"? - Dawei - 08-03-2016

Even before examining the Sleepyhead data, I'm wondering if the Autoset S10 does the same thing on leaks as the S9 Autoset. That is, the green happy face vs red sad one displayed on the screen to report the leak situation. Some mornings I see the green happy face at the same time my leak rate was higher than 24L. My understanding is this indicates that although the leak rate went high during the night, it was of short duration, similar to what Frank described.
David


RE: "Don't worry about Leak"? - chill - 08-03-2016

Use an image hosting site like imgur.com. Space on this site is very limited, Imgur has boundless space.


RE: "Don't worry about Leak"? - chuck6161 - 08-03-2016

(08-03-2016, 07:49 PM)Dawei Wrote: Even before examining the Sleepyhead data, I'm wondering if the Autoset S10 does the same thing on leaks as the S9 Autoset. That is, the green happy face vs red sad one displayed on the screen to report the leak situation. Some mornings I see the green happy face at the same time my leak rate was higher than 24L. My understanding is this indicates that although the leak rate went high during the night, it was of short duration, similar to what Frank described.
David

Thanks, yes I do get the smiley green face every morning, and I think Frank is correct, I'm going through my reports now. Will try to upload them when I can.

(08-03-2016, 07:58 PM)chill Wrote: Use an image hosting site like imgur.com. Space on this site is very limited, Imgur has boundless space.

Thanks chill, I will do that when I get home from work, unfortunately our firewall at work won't allow me to use that site. Very strict conditions here in the land down under.


RE: "Don't worry about Leak"? - Mosquitobait - 08-03-2016

Ok, I'm looking at the fact that you have a P10 and are getting leaks. Typically, the only leaks I get are (a) I turn over and the mask slides or (b) the pillow is collapsing allowing air to leak out. Anchoring the mask on your head is sometimes a challenge and I've gotten much better with practice. The pillow collapsing occurs usually after a month of use, but it seems sometimes washing can cause the inner pillow warp out of shape a bit, which you can fix. So, check that carefully. If that is not the case, try boiling the pillow for 5 minutes. Let dry and try it again. If it is still collapsing, it's probably time for a new pillow. I've yet to get a pillow to last 2 months without problems. It likely has to do with nose shape - I'm in between sizes.