DonMidwest

Amazing night last night! Thanks for the suggestions!

I taped mouth shut but by morning the tape was loose and allowed a small opening. I had never taped mouth shut before: always left a small opening.

I was using a reasonably hard foam pillow with indents thinking it was a CPAP pillow. I changed to a feather pillow.

Feel great this morning. Maybe didn't realize how much sleep has been lost with the CPAP attacking me because of leaks and mouth breathing.

I made the suggested changes. EPR = 3 Max Pressure = 12

I don't tape my mouth completely closed. Last night it was a open too much. Tonight I will be shut more.

I use standard surgical tape.

The lankylefty27 recommends not using auto sense. That may be something to try in the future. Try different pressures at different nights.

I am now going to take a walk in the sun. Exercise seems to help my sleep. But there are so many changes that I can't tell.

The bedroom is dark. The temperature is low with window open a little. My wife does charge cell phone and hearing aids in the room. Is it because I shaved? What I ate? When I went to bed? So much variation that I know something is not working.

Yes leakage has been a problem, probably for over 3 years. The doctor stopped commenting on it so I have not focused on it. Now that I learned that leakage can set off the machine and/or wake me up, and your comment that various measurements are compromised with poor seal, this will be a priority.

You + OSCAR have already given me 5x, or 10x more information than the "doctors" in 13 years. They have a racket. I am on Medicare advantage with 80% coverage. I feel sorry for people paying retail price for this equipment.

Hi Sierra, After finding out yesterday that my pressure was maxed out, I changed the upper limit to 16. I am going to try pasting the first page of my report from last night. This is my first attempt. Don

Hi Hi I just found leakylefty27 on youtube. He has a video that leaky mask can cause wake up which messes things up. The other thing is the variable pressure.

Feel free to send me to various links to learn more.

It makes me angry that the medical system hides tools like OSCAR which allow people to be responsible for their own health. Making money and a prestige job seem to be what is important.

Don

Hi again. I looked at the video information for OSCAR and looked at daily data. My current max pressure is 13. The first day I looked at maxed out at 13! In other words, I need to increase the upper limit. I will set it for 16 this evening and look at my OSCAR report tomorrow.

All the days I looked there was no snoring.

One of the days the AHI was over 11.

The sleep technician said not to worry about numbers like that. She sees numbers in the hundreds. When I went in for my sleep study in Feb at 5' 9', 160lbs the other patients were obese.

I am trying to really improve my health. The goal is AHI less than 5 and lots of Stage 3 and REM sleep.

OSCAR sure provides a lot to play around with.

Don

Hi Sierra,

It has been more than a month and I finally loaded OSCAR today. I loaded it directly from the card. OSCAR recommended locking the card and I did.

I have a years data. AHI for the year is 6.77. The last month it was 9.41.

The original question involved Stage 3 and REM sleep levels. Maybe the color codes on the graphs will tell the story but in the short time I have looked at it if doesn't jump out.

The doctor signed me up for a titration in May so I have some time to work on things.

A couple of years ago I had trouble with leakage and switched to a foam cushion full face mask that covered mouth and nose, and rested on the bridge of the nose. It worked OK for a couple of years. Then the pressure went up and to keep the leak under 20% I tightened the straps and ruined the flesh at the bridge of my nose.

Over the life of masks, 13 years, they have always been medium.

I am now using a Resmed F30i which is considered a full face mask. It covers my mouth and nose.

An online offering, MaskFit, cost $10 and recommended three masks. They asked demographic questions and took a scan of my face and my nasal openings. Their three mask recommendation were all large. And they are all nasal only masks.

#1. Fisher & Paykel Eson 2 #2 Phillips Respironics Pico #3 Resmed AirFit N20.

I have had trouble for years on the leak rate. I have been on the F30i for most of the year. My yearly leak rate is 22 and I though it was worse because almost everyday on the screen of the Airsense 10 it comes up red (failure to keep below 20%)

I have taped my mouth for over a year. Leave space to breathe.

Take a nap a couple times per week.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Sincerely

Don Utter

There is a RESMed SC card in my AirSense 10. I loaded it into my desktop and listed the files for each day.

As mentioned earlier, I will not fire up OSCAR because getting ready for a week long trip. Will do it then.

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Incredible! My machine was already in Auto which I verified because I now know how to check settings.

I had no idea that it was possible to work with my own data. The "professionals" were keeping OSCAR a secret.

I downloaded OSCAR and entered my profile. Under OSCAR Documents I see many that will help getting started and using OSCAR.

As noted in the original post, I think this 2024 sleep study is invalid but in 2009 the study found AHI at 25 which is high. In 2009 I was so sleep deprived that I would fall asleep while driving during the day. In any case, I do need some additional assist.

I do not have the time today to begin OSCAR and we are out of town next week, so it will be a couple of weeks until I respond on how it is going.

Once again, thanks for the help!

Thank you again for the help. And thank you for this community. Here is an update.

I was really upset about sleep issues and the realization that my "sleep doctor" was just a technician with a CPAP tool.

When the sleep test came back with 0.0 for both Stage 3 and REM I freaked out. These are the two most important scores for cognitive decline.

As noted earlier, I thought that the sleep test was invalid because of congestion in the chest. I attempted to find out the meaning of these scores.

I realized that they don't pay attention BECAUSE there are two tests. The initial test and the titration, the second test is when they fit the mask.

They had a SUCCESSFUL initial test because it yielded a score of 60 AHI which justified the second test and the titration. They don't care about the details. They offered me a chance to come in and speak with the big cheese sleep doctor but I know she won't be of any help because a few years ago when I brought up the book "Why We Sleep" she freaked out. A challenge to her authority or something.

Looking for another sleep doctor so far has failed. I am looking for a doctor who works with lifestyle and supplements.

I have settled down from my high levels of concern and will go for titration study in May. They sure aren't in a hurry!

I have not downloaded OSCAR and begun looking at the data in my machine. I will do that in a couple of weeks when I have more time.

Again, thanks for the help.

I am so happy to be able to discuss these issues.

1. I am using Resmed AirSense 10 Respond. My current mask is AirFit 30i which covers the mouth and extends to the underside of the nose

2. This is the first time I have looked at this data. Hypop 65 Obstr 65 Central 10 Mixed 0 Apneas 75 from 10/13/2009

Ces Apneas 16 Obs Apneas 190 Mxd Apneas 5 Hypop 9 Total Apneas 211 RERA 17 All Resp Events 237 from 2/18/24

Stage 3 0.0 REM 20.0 Study 10/13/2009 Stage 3 0.0 REM 9.6 Titration 10/20/2009

Stage 3 7.6 REM 28.1 Titration 3/9/2017

Stage 3 0.0 REM 0.0 Study 2/18/24

I noted in the original mail that I didn't think this study is valid because of chest obstruction. The primary doctor said that she reviewed the test results and said that they are valid. My hunch is that the purpose of the test is to set the stage for the next action, titration scheduled for May.

1. This is the first time I have heard about OSCAR.

Final question. I think that the 0.0 scores for stage 3 and REM prove that the test is invalid.

Thank you Don