Oscar Patterns and Anomalies

I've been using CPAP for 3 months and rigorously recording my progress from Oscar data every morning. I've read as many posts on MyApnea as possible, but I still have questions about some of my Oscar charts. Please refer me to another thread if this topic is already being addressed. If not, I'd like to start a thread about Oscar patterns and anomalies.

Can someone explain the peculiar pattern "blackout" from 22:57 to 23:00, and the peculiar pattern of little towers from 23:00 to 23:10?

Thank you!

Wow! That is unusual and certainly something I have not seen before. My first reaction is that the data is bad, but I am not sure why. The flow rate going from full scale positive to negative causing that black out would seem impossible. You could expand it out more to see if that is what is really happening. Those tower things are also impossible for it to really occur. You have to exhale the same amount of air as you inhale. The tower suggests you have only inhaled but not exhaled, but no apnea events are recorded to verify that there is no flow. The mask pressure going to zero makes no sense either. It is derived from the set pressure and the flow rate. However it would suggest if the flow rate was really that high and sustained then mask pressure would probably go low or to zero.

You may get a little more information if you concurrently display Minute Ventilation and Tidal Volume along with the Flow and Mask Pressure. At times your leak rate is high, but not real high, so I don't think leaks are the problem. And part of the times where you have a blackout and a few towers, the leak rate is very low. It is possible you were awake at that time? And if so, did you notice anything unusual?

I kind of think if it is a hardware problem with the machine it is the flow rate detection has an intermittent problem.

I guess anything is possible but this does not look like it is really happening, and there must be something wrong with the data.

This pattern is indicative of a machine running before mask is fitted and breath could be detected or mask was loose during this time.

Thank You!