New to Bipap, 4 years on Cpap

[Fabby]

Apnea events are simply pauses in breathing for 10 seconds or more, and the machine does not change pressure during those events.  For obstructive apnea, the machine will raise pressure after the event.  The machine also raises pressure for flow limitations and hypopnea.  

I think the minimum pressure of 9 makes sense considering the machine rapidly increases pressure from 8.  You reported feeling better with the CPAP, and so minimizing PS achieves a similar feel. I think you're getting closer to comfortable and effective settings, and hopefully the leak issues can be further controlled.  Best of luck!

Sleeprider - It doesn’t seem that anyone has seen my post from today about rising AHI after being under 1 for four straight days last week.

No one seemed to see my post two back either, about scrubbing the mask and low ferritin levels, or at least no one responded to it either. I tried to give todays post a new title but it would nt take it and stuck with the old one.

Any suggestions? 

Fabby

[Sleeprider]

Hello everyone, hope you are well. Last week we spent four nights in a Gatlinburg TN hotel and had really low AHI readings all four nights (2nd screen shot attached).

Figured it must be the bed pillow, so I swapped my 14 y/o contoured memory foam pillow but right back to AHIs under 2. I have been wearing the soft cervical collar for about 3 weeks now and I had it on in TN.

Then I thought it might be the lower altitude, about 2000 feet lower than home. Ruled that out because I have had lower AHIs at home, just not four straight nights. (1st screen shot attached)

Some leaks but nothing like I had earlier. 

Are there tweaks I could make in pressures? I’ve been on the PS 2.6 and 16.2-20 for some time and the pressures almost always run right at, or just below those settings. Amara View mask. 

I do think the ferritin levels must be climbing since I think I’m moving around less and some, if not all of the afternoon sleepiness is abating.

Would someone please provide me with the amounts of soda and water for boiling my mask? I think scrubbing it every night is resulting in premature failure. 

As always, thank you.
Fabby 


http://imgur.com/a/KnP2N
http://imgur.com/a/V4iAO

I saw your post, but didn't see anything to comment on.  The two charts you posted simply show very good results.  If you want to see the machine respond a bit to changes in your sleep, you could just reduce the EPAP min pressure of 16.2.  The April 20 results show a few OA and CA events, but your charts don't include flow limitations, and some of the events seem to correlate with snores.  I think your positional therapy is working great, and I don't see any reason to mess with pressures unless you're uncomfortable or feel a lower pressure is something you want to pursue.  I think what you're doing is working great, and just keep it up.

With regard to mask cleaning, I just use a few drops of Dawn dish detergent and rub the mask parts in my hands and rinse.  I would not suggest any more aggressive cleaning method.