OSCAR Questions - Leaks, Minimum Pressure and Central Apnea

[hookedonstitch]

As I have been slowly increasing my min and max pressures to try to combat the flow limitations I am experiencing I have noticed that the leak rate numbers are all over the place.  I'm assuming since I haven't had any flags that things are fine but I was wondering what the cutoff number is before a leak is flagged as bad?  

What does increasing the minimum pressure do?  Also, if I feel like I am being woken up by the pressure changes does it make sense to keep my pressure range smaller?  Right now it is set at 7.4-9.4 and I am only waking up about once an hour or two that I am aware of.

Also how long is too long for a Central Apnea event?  Is there a number in seconds that is considered dangerous or is the total sum of them from the entire night that flags an issue?

I'm just trying to understand more about how things work.  I will attach last nights data just in case it is needed for my questions.

[staceyburke]

Just a few facts. To begin your numbers are quite good. 

Min pressure is the inhale pressure AND exhale pressure if you are Not using EPR. 

EPR is exhale pressure relief. It allows you to breath out at a lower than your min pressure. 

Max is the highest the machine will go to stop events. 

Now, as I said, your numbers look good BUT your flow limit are high and they can cause sleep disturbances or even wake you up 

EpR is used for comfort but is also used to fight flow limits. 

Flow limits just like C an H events (see my signature to see how apnea is graded) are apnea they are smaller and not timed. 

I would set EPR to 3 - I cannot see what it is set in your graphs.  This should make your sleeping better and reduce your waking.

[staceyburke]

I forgot about leaks. All leaks need to be worked on BUT yours are not large. To see large leaks - right click in the left box wher the name leak rate. You will find an option to put in a dotted line. That line is the large leak. Above that line the machine can NOT treat your apnea well or not at all.

[hookedonstitch]

Thanks for answering staceyburke,

My flow limits have always been an issue, hoping it will either sort itself out or I can eventually persuade my Dr. for a bipap machine.  .  My AHI is pretty much below 1 all the time, EPR has always been set to 3.  Playing around with my min and max pressures to see if it will help the flow limits.  But I don't care so much about them at this time.  I've had excellent feedback on other threads that all point to me needing a bipap at some point in the future.

For now, I'm more looking to understand events, timing of events, leaks and pressure settings