@wiredgeorge It's my understanding that the ResMed Leak reports 'Liters' per minute, not 'leaks' per hour. If you click the 'Tour your Dashboard' and at bottom 'Learn more...', it gives info on all the categories. The theshold I saw for full face masks was 24 L / min. of expected expiration & incidental leaking. So your leakage scores are probably not as bad as you thought. But I have noticed like you, that AHI and amount of leakage do not necessarily correspond in tandem.
Hi, how you access your sleep data depends on what brand & type of cpap you have. If it is a ResMed brand, you sign up for an account at myAir.com. But the information is quite limited compared to what you can access directly by going into the Clinical Setting window of a ResMed device. I don't know what woks for other brands, but for my ResMed AirSense10 & my hubby''s AirCurve10, if you press and hold the round button and the Home button for about 5 seconds, whie you are on the Home screen, it will switch to Clinical, and then you scroll to Sleep Report. That gives a lot more information, including 30 day averages. (Just don't tell your RT you're doing this -- it really freaks them out :O). I am the type of person who does better with my compliance when I have more specific details. Hope this helps!
When I got an oral device, the price was for the complete treatment package -- that included evaluation by my dentist of my oral structure and any potential problems with shifting teeth and to see if I needed dental work first. She took impressions of my teeth so the manufacturerer could make the custom fitted appliance, and she provided follow-up consultation and all the adjustments needed to properly tension the devie as I became gradually adjusted to the pulling pressure. The device I used was definitely more technically advanced than a "boil and bite" generic mouthpiece as it had built-up spacers to hold my back molars open and had a set of increasingly firmer & shorter elastic bands (Not rubber bands) that incrementally move the lower jaw out to the needed therapeutic position to trear the apnea. I learned that not all oral devices or mouthpieces are certified as apnea treatments. Many can only be advertised as snoring preventatives. I was disappointed when I had to stop using my oral device after about a year because of morning ligament pain & TMJ problems it aggravated.
If you are considering getting an oral devise for apnea/snoring, you may want to have the dentist carefully evaluate you for any problems with loose/shifting teeth or TMJ joint problems, as these devises put a lot of pressure on teeth & lower jaw. I used an Myerson EMA device ($600.00 through my dentist in S. Dak.), for a year, but was not able to get it adjusted to the needed jaw extension to fully treat the apnea because of severe morning jaw pain, and also my previously undiagnosed TMJ problem, for which I had to have my chiropractor do frequent adjustments. Checking out forums about dental devices can give you a realistic idea of the pros & cons of treatment & the various styles available-- before you pay out the $$.
Thank you, Joesph, for this information. I'm going to try to download it today. I, too, am very underwhelmed by the MyAir skimpy date for my AirSence10 machine. I have been able to supplement that by accessing a more detailed 'Clinical' screen directly on the machine, but even that is quite limited - it shows 30 day averages for AHI, AI, central AI, pressures, & leakage rates. The way to access the clinical setting screen is to simultaneously press the black Home button & the silver center of the selection knob and hold about 4 seconds. Then select the sleep report window. My RT freaked out when I told her about it. She didn't even know that was on the machine. She was afraid I was going to go into the clinical settings window and mess with the machine settings. I leave that part to the experts. I'm just one of those people who is helped by seeing the actual black & white evidence that my theraoy is showing results. When I could see daily evidence that my AHI was coming down, it helped pull me through the days I was feeling there was no improvement, & sometimes even feeling worse than before I started using the cpap.
