Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.
Login or Create an Account
Hi everyone! I was wondering if you have a large leak with a full face mask, is it okay to just look at the flow pattern and make sure there aren't any apneas? I ask, because last night I was using a full face mask and I thought everything was okay, but got a frowny face on Resmed. Here's my chart. I zoomed in on the large leaks and the regular flow pattern was still there. But I wonder if I can trust it. I've tried the resmed airfit f20, the f30, and the amara view. And they all pretty much leak like crazy. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day.
No, you can’t trust the machine to do the job it needs to do with a high leak rate. It could miss many apnea events, thus making your AHI number inaccurate.
Try to determine why and where your mask is leaking and adjust accordingly.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
The three I listed plus the Air Quattro are the only full face masks that I've tried. I tried nasal pillows, and they never leaked, but I always woke up feeling very tired despite low AHI numbers. When I found out about the nasal cycles, I realized that when my turbinates swell, they completely cut off all air from the nostril. My normal pressure of 7.6 isn't enough to open it up, lol. I had to crank it to 20 before it would open. I don't know if that's why I felt tired after using the nasal pillows. I've always done very shallow breathing with them with an average tidal volume of 380 mL. Anyways, so that's why I tried to go back to the full face mask. And yeah, I did read the mask primer guide.
