First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
Hi everyone. 38M new to the forum. Prescribed CPAP many years ago, only in the last few years have gotten myself to tolerate it and use it daily. Have seen great improvement in daytime sleepiness, but trying to take things to the next level and get AHI down below 5 consistently. Anything jumping out?
I am on a 'clean' Dreamstation 1 that Philips replaced during the recall. Mask is the FitLife Total Face. Went through a dozen masks and it was the only one that I could tolerate because it didn't blow air straight into my eyeballs. though I understand it might be a polarizing choice? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
Welcome to the forum...
I would try setting your minimum pressure to 8cm as you are still getting quite a few apneas. Try the new setting for a few days then post some more charts.
Good luck with your therapy.
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
Looks like you have some apnea event "clustering" going on. Often this is a tell-tale sign of
positional apnea. The link is worth a read as it explains just about everything on this.
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
Hi, please know I’m not familiar with your machine/data. But to my eye, first thing to attend to are the mask leaks. Treatment and reporting are compromised when leaks are high and/or consistent. When leaks are closer to zero, then you can look at other tweaks. Good sleep!
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
@srmackinnon - good point on leaks, I missed that as unfamilar with the machine also!
@kalkew5 - We don't know if your leaks are due to the mask, or mouth leaks. Would be a good idea to read through the link
[b]mask primer.[/b]
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
Just a quick update. I've been trying out increasing the minimum pressure incrementally. I am up to 8 now and thinking this might be as good as gets. Any benefit to pushing further?
Amazed that a tweak this simple is this effective. Thanks everyone.
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
I'm sure with that mask, Mouth leaks aren't the issue. But as that is an uncommon machine it sure makes it hard to analyze the data.
One thing that would help Calkew. please show the following charts:
AHI
Flow Rate
Pressure
Flow limitation
Leak rate
RE: First time OSCAR analysis. Can't quite get under 5 AHI, any advice?
Your charts are showing some snoring, so yes, I would up the minimum pressure a little at a time, it certainly will not hurt anything. Happy to see that the original pressure increase to 8cm worked as well as it seems to have. I forgot that the DreamStation doesn't provide a flow limits graph, just gives you a number and I do not remember if the 0.56 is a good number or not. Nor do I remember if you can set the flex level higher than 2. If you can set it higher than 2 and you add some more minimum pressure from 8cm to perhaps 8.4 and you are getting good results then I would then adjust you flex to 3, if there is a 3 setting. I am sorry that I do not remember some of the info on the DreamStation. I am sure someone that does will chime in and let us know.
