After one month on BiPap, AHI is higher than sleep study?

[Pugsy]

Mask leak is NOT a problem.
The problem is SH using the ResMed default red line of 24 L/min for statistics.
You had zero large leaks...see the LL line on the events graph? That's large leak...if your machine thought you had any they would be flagged up in the events graph.

Go to Preferences/CPAP tab...change the 24 red line to something around 70 or 80...because that's approx where the red line is for a Respironics machine.
Long story as to why SH defaults to a ResMed leak number and no time to go into it.
Either change it or turn it off...and watch the Events graph for LL reporting.

Gotta run....airport is calling.

Good job on last night. MUCH improved...still some room for improvement but you will get there.

[palerider]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask the doctor what they actually prescribed - machine and settings to see if the correct machine was provided by teh DME. If not, best to get that fixed while the doctor can help with that.

Nah, keep the bilevel...unless he can get it traded for a Resmed

[palerider]

Hey guys.

First off I want to thank you all again for your help so far. Last night didn't subjectively feel too different from normal - maybe I had a slightly easier time getting out of bed this morning? But I know not to expect instant results. The biggest thing I noticed, really, was before I even fell asleep. That 10 PS never felt fully comfortable while awake... things are waaay more comfortable while I'm trying to fall asleep now. Big plus.

an EPAP of 10 is hard to handle... especially the unsubtle way that the Respironics machines deliver it. Hopefully that 'a little better' feeling this morning will be cumulative.

Naturally, of course, it's the data that's most important so I pulled another graph this morning. Those numbers don't lie... definitely the best night I've had since I started this thing. I know from other threads here that it can still get even better, but I'll run with these settings for a few days before making any other changes.

I'd go ahead and bump your minepap up to 10. Yesterdays numbers were just an educated guess at a reasonable starting point.

Mask leak rate is a problem today... but that's probably natural given the new pressures. I'll need a couple days to readjust the straps and such, I think. Everything else is probably better though? Any thoughts?

Like pugsy says, the 'time over redline' is wrong, because respironics machines don't *have* a redline.

Sleepyhead is a weird mishmash of defaults between Respironics and Resmed... it's not as bad as it used to be, but the author is more entertained by putting in shiny new stuff that fixing annoying and confusing things.

Basically, Resmed calculates excess leak and anything over 24lpm is 'too much'... Respironics aren't that smart, and they just say "here's your total leak", which varies greatly with pressure... so 'too much' leak will depend on whatever your pressure is at that moment... so I just recommend turning off that 'flag leaks over redline' feature, and just watch for Large Leaks flags (which the machine creates when it thinks there's to much leak).

In other words, no LL flags, don't worry about it.

[zoocrewphoto]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask the doctor what they actually prescribed - machine and settings to see if the correct machine was provided by teh DME. If not, best to get that fixed while the doctor can help with that.

Nah, keep the bilevel...unless he can get it traded for a Resmed

I was thinking that it was a straight bilevel and not auto. Since the settings seemed like auto settings on a straight cpap, I was thinking they had not provided an auto machine. So, i was thinking he still needed to get an auto machine. Perhaps I need more sleep myself.

[palerider]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask the doctor what they actually prescribed - machine and settings to see if the correct machine was provided by teh DME. If not, best to get that fixed while the doctor can help with that.

Nah, keep the bilevel...unless he can get it traded for a Resmed

I was thinking that it was a straight bilevel and not auto. Since the settings seemed like auto settings on a straight cpap, I was thinking they had not provided an auto machine. So, i was thinking he still needed to get an auto machine. Perhaps I need more sleep myself.

It's an auto bllevel, that was set to really stupid settings by someone before he got it.

[zoocrewphoto]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask the doctor what they actually prescribed - machine and settings to see if the correct machine was provided by teh DME. If not, best to get that fixed while the doctor can help with that.

Nah, keep the bilevel...unless he can get it traded for a Resmed

I was thinking that it was a straight bilevel and not auto. Since the settings seemed like auto settings on a straight cpap, I was thinking they had not provided an auto machine. So, i was thinking he still needed to get an auto machine. Perhaps I need more sleep myself.

It's an auto bllevel, that was set to really stupid settings by someone before he got it.

definitely. I was thinking the wrong machine was issued and they tried to use auto settings. But to do that with an auto machine means somebody had no idea what they were doing at all. Maybe they need to get their own cpap machine and be awake before they work.

[BiPapColorado]

Hey, everyone. I hope you're all enjoying the holidays! I wanted to check in and assure you guys I haven't forgotten, heh. Unfortunately my parents don't have a computer, only mobile devices. So I don't really have a way to pull the full data into Sleepyhead this week. I can say from the limited data that DreamMapper provides that the AHI has hovered around 5. An improvement from before, to be sure, but it could still be better. It's hard to suggest changes without the full data, I know. Instead I'll share some of the subjective things I've experienced.

• Always waking up parched. I was used to this in Colorado, unfortunately the air is just as dry here in Vermont. This is with the humidifier set at 3. I haven't tried turning it up yet, maybe I should, but the tank has barely any water left in the morning as it is.

• The past few days, been waking up a bit gassy. Mild aerophagia, maybe? Nothing too uncomfortable or unmanageable.

• Last night I recall a vivid dream, which generally doesn't bother me but I know it's another symptom of disturbed sleep.

• I have a couple times woken up in the middle of the night and I think it's due to pressure changes. The pressure seems to increase throughout the night. On one night I had to toggle the machine to reset it back to 8 cm so I could get back to sleep. I hope I'll be able to adjust to that with time.

I think that covers it for now. Certainly all I can care to type out on mobile. I plan to do a full update on Sunday when I'm back home and can pull up the full data. Thank you guys again for your help so far and enjoy the rest of your holidays!

[BiPapColorado]

Hey guys.

I swear I didn't forget, but things got busy after the new year and, being the procrastinator that I am, there was always a handy distraction. Now here I am making a last-minute post just an hour before my appointment with my doc.

Well, anyways, things have been fairly smooth since I returned home. I actually didn't experience any aerophagia since I returned home. In retrospect, I was on an air mattress when I was visiting family. And even though I tried to keep it well-inflated I wonder if it was sagging just enough to cause some aerophagia issues.

There's only a couple subjective things I'd want to improve and I plan to discuss these with the doc in an hour.

• I have some small redness around my lower lip, I think from mask irritation. It doesn't cause any pain but I am a bit self-conscious about it. When I remember to use some Carmex lip balm on it, that seems to help a lot. But I'll ask the doc about it.

• My ears pop a few times every night while acclimating to the pressure. I assumed this was, more or less, normal. It also doesn't cause any pain, just temporary discomforts from mismatched pressures. It has improved significantly since changing the pressure settings last month. Probably my ears kept getting thrown off by the 10 Pressure change.

Honestly besides this I have few complaints. But if it looks like the machine is managing my snoring, then I'm going to ask about switching away from a full-face mask. Even 2 months on it's not fully comfortable for me. Any suggestions on non-face masks?

For the sake of not overloading you with graphs here are just the ones from this week:

https://imgur.com/a/z4SOBcm

Thanks again for all your help guys!

[Pugsy]

I think you could still use a little more minimum EPAP....will see what the doc says.

As for non full face masks....which kind peaks your interest more? The over the nose cushion...the under the nose cushion or nasal pillows of some sort.

Take a stroll through here
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-masks
and see what just looks interesting to you

If the nasal pillow interests you....look at the one in my equipment profile.

Do you want something touching the nasal bridge area of your nose or not..does it bug you?

[BiPapColorado]

Hm, probably an over-the-nose mask. I don't think anything on my bridge would bother me since I wear glasses, but I've noticed the skin between my nose and my upper lip gets kinda sensitive to pressure. Generally pain free but sometimes a bit like there's a nerve there if I do put pressure. I'll be sure to discuss options with the doc. It's time for me to be heading out.