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Optimizing AirSense 11 Settings for 3+ Year CPAP User

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njkreger +0 points · about 1 year ago Original Poster

Hi!

I've been a CPAP user since June 2019, diagnosed with mild sleep apnea by my sleep doctor via a home study test. I started with the ResMed AirSense 10, and just recently switched to the AirSense 11.

I've used the ResMed AirFit P30i since the beginning, and generally average about 8 hours of sleep per night with the machine. I'm very comfortable with it and have noticed a difference the past few years utilizing CPAP therapy.

I haven't talked to my sleep doctor since 2020, and highly doubt any adjustments have been made to the machine or my therapy since then. I learned a few days ago about this program called OSCAR, the ability grab data from the machine, and start taking control of my therapy. I very much like that idea!

I wanted to start optimizing my therapy and learning what all this data means and how to use the tools I have.

I was hoping to get some help in interpreting a general night's sleep based off the screenshot in the Google Drive link below, and where I might begin to start making tweaks to the settings, and if it even makes sense to. I've read a few forum posts and wiki's about OSCAR and the data, but will need a bit of hand holding.

My wife is a new CPAP user, but I'll post her data in a different thread so as not to mux everything up.

Would certainly appreciate any insights as to what is going on, what I might be able to tweak, what I can learn, etc., and thanks in advance!

OSCAR Screenshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eXa-fB7bMs4e34IQAg8LoJrQEggYzQM2/view?usp=share_link

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Sierra +0 points · about 1 year ago Sleep Patron

Your results are pretty good with the machine set the way it is. The only improvements I might suggest are:

  1. Increase the minimum pressure to 7 cm
  2. Increase the Ramp Start pressure to 7 cm
  3. I can't see what is driving the pressure up, but I suspect it is flow limitations. If you click and drag on the dividing line between the graphs you can scrunch the height of each graph down so more graphs will show. It would be helpful to see the Flow Limitation one. If you click and drag on the title of the graph you can change the order of the graphs.
  4. If flow limitations are what is pushing the pressure up, you may want to try increasing the EPR from 2 cm to 3 cm to see if that helps reduce flow limitations and hypopnea events.

Hope that helps some,

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njkreger +0 points · about 1 year ago Original Poster

Hi Sierra,

Thank you for the response! I'll up the min. to 7 cm and change EPR to 3 cm (that's actually where it used to be), and get some data for a few nights and follow up.

Thanks again!

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Sierra +0 points · about 1 year ago Sleep Patron

For comfort I would also adjust the Ramp Start pressure up to 7 cm. My experience is that when you have EPR on, a bit more pressure is more comfortable than less.

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