How to Get SleepyHead Software?

Hi - yes, got it sorted. I turned the humidifier setting down to one, and got a heated tube. The water level went down, so it was using water, but there was no condensation in the hose or mask, and no water in my face, so all is good. I think the combo of the heated hose and lower setting is key, although it still seemed to use nearly all of the water in the tank.

Great advice thanks. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Sleep deprived I guess! I actually went 9 hours with the machine last night which is a record for me, so making progress. Actually feel like a human today. The model number is DSX500H11 so it's definitely an Auto CPAP, so I seem go have the right one. It seemed like the basic mode at first because a lot of the functions were locked down until the sleep doc messed with it a couple of days ago. I'll download the software and see what I have on the SD card.

I am really dumb and cannot download the software. It keeps asking me where to save, open, run and the manual talks about zipping and unzipping. I am lost!

I agree that positional issues can cause clusters of obstructive apnea, and in that case some find a cervical collar helpful.

What I noticed is that the higher frequency of OA occurred with the full face mask and the higher pressures. The other possibility is that the clusters may be sleep wake junk (SWJ), if the mask was uncomfortable and sleep was disturbed. Once it starts to occur the machine can chase the events with more and more pressure, kind of like a dog chasing their tail.

Rich, SWJ sometimes happens when we are restless and repeatedly drifting off and waking up again. Sometimes you can recognize it by looking at the flow graph zoomed in on the area of interest where the clusters occur. Just put the mouse over the cluster of events and left click repeatedly (at least on a PC), or keep pressing the up arrow. This will let you zoom in and see how the events appear in detail and whether or not you are likely sleeping or not. Post one of those zoomed in screens and I will give you my thoughts. To reduce or eliminate the zoom, just hold the down arrow down.

First off, your more recent nights with the nasal mask seem to be a big improvement over the one with the full face on Jan 7. On the Leak Rate graph, DreamStation chooses to report the total mask leakage which includes the intentional leak from the mask vent plus the unintended leaks from the mask seal. The top green trace is this total, while the bottom one has the intentional venting subtracted out. Ignore the top trace and just look at the bottom one. Your net reading is very low, even with the full face mask. But, if the leak is disturbing you, then that is a problem. In any case you seem to be doing much better with the nasal mask.

If it was me, the first thing I would change would be to turn the Flex off or set it to zero. It reduces the pressure on exhale and is estimated by the green trace in the pressure chart. So while you are getting the higher pressure (red) on inhale, on each breath it is being reduced on the exhale. Events can occur on exhale as well as inhale. By turning flex off your machine may not need to raise pressure as much to control obstructive apnea and hypopnea. You also have some clear airway or central apnea events. They tend to increase as pressure goes up. So, a lower pressure would be a good thing for them too.

If you have decided to adjust your own machine, first I would turn Flex off and see what that does. After that you may be able to gain some more by increasing the minimum a bit, and reducing the maximum. But I would hold off on that until you see what turning off the Flex does.

First off, don't make changes to your machine unless you are fully comfortable with doing it yourself and closely monitor your results with SleepyHead. If you are comfortable I would do it in two stages:

1. Turn the Flex off. And you may want to move your ramp start pressure up a bit. It looks like you are starting at 4 cm which some can find uncomfortable -- not getting enough air when you are awake and trying to get to sleep. But it is just a personal comfort thing. Don't change it if you feel you are getting enough air during the ramp.

2. It looks to that you could benefit from increasing the minimum to 7 cm from the current 6 cm. While your obstructive apnea is very good, the hypopnea and RERA are a bit high. That may be disturbing your sleep. However I would not make this change until you have a few nights with just the Flex off to see if that changes anything.

When you are seeing these choices are you referring to the machine menu, or the manual. The manual covers a number of different machines and no all choices in the manual are actually on the machine. If you are referring to the machine it sounds like you have a BiLevel machine, not just an Auto CPAP. I believe the actual model number is one the machine on the bottom. Dump the water out before you look for it! I see that SleepyHead has identified it as an Auto CPAP. I don't think it should have the choice of running in BiLevel mode, unless it is there but grayed out.

One your machine your mask type should be set to the correct type. That is what makes your leak rate accurate because it compensates for the purge flow for each type of mask. Full face have the highest purge flow, and nasal pillow masks the lowest.

The is a small difference in the way the machine shapes pressure on exhale between the A-Flex and C-Flex. Here is a link that provides a bit of an explanation.

Generally there are only three types of masks that you select in the machine; Full Face, Nasal, Nasal Pillow.