poor results [Please Advise]

[Sleeprider]

By gently pressing on the jaw, they are excellent for stopping mouth breathing.

[Gideon]

Use your sleep study as an opportunity to try different masks. Just ask the tech working with you that night. Otherwise you will just get the mask they pick for you. Just ask.

[Commodore]

Using using the dreamwear gel pillow I get leaks around 34 consistently, but ahi data below 5.  I am most comfortable with this mask.  Is that leak enough to invalidate the data?

[Commodore]

AHI last night 2.5 leak rate 34

dreamwear nasal pillow 

Reliable AHI data?

[AndyB]

I will defer to the experts here, but my understanding (from my sleep doc) is that one shouldn't be concerned if the leak threshold is not exceeded more than 10% of the time.  Here are my results from last night, which show a max leak rate of 39.6 but a median rate of 3.6 and a 95% rate of 6.0 and under.  The amount of time over the leak threshold was 2.026%.  I think these rates are OK; if your max is high but the % of time you have large leaks is relatively low, then I doubt you should be concerned.

[ajack]

The 95% is the important one. The max could be for any reason, including scratching your nose. I use the chart, to see where and what the leaks are.

[Commodore]

Do you question the AHI data with high leaks?

[WhyMe]

Do you question the AHI data with high leaks?

That depends - if you have a large leak that only lasts for a short time, it will have little or no impact on the overall numbers.  On the other hand, if you have a large portion of your sleep time where the leaks were excessive, the data will not be very meaningful, since the machine will probably not have gotten accurate information about your therapy for much of that time.

[Commodore]

I have begun using chinstrap and leak data seem better though high and clustered near waking.  I am going to try the cervical collar next.  Last night s data is similar representative.  I am lower on tital volume and minute vent than normal I think.  If it matters, I am a very active distance runner and generally in good cardio fitness.  I have had lung function test that were negative for any problems. 


I feel great but wonder is any of the respiration data needs a closer look?

Thanks for all the great insight.

[Sleeprider]

Good idea! Let's see 2-minute segments of the flow rate, and compare what's going on at 00:30 and 01:15. For bonus points, include Flow Rate, Tidal volume, Minute Vent and Respiration rate. Remember, the individual wave form needs to be clear, so a 2-minute segment is ideal.