Hi all, I've had my CPAP for 3 nights now and everything is going great except for one thing. The rubber nasal mask is causing irritation where it hits at the base of my nose. It looks and feels as though the skin there has been rubbed raw. Has anyone else had this problem and are there any solutio...

Hi Keepac, When I was first using CPAP I was using a mask that didn't work well for me; not comfortable, so my body was straining to be in the "perfect position" keep the mask minimally painful. That caused my neck and back to hurt. I also encourage you to keep working on mask fit or comfort. Or, po...

Hi MaryEllen, I find that I get sore spots where my nasal pillows rub up against the skin between my nostrils. I've been experimenting with putting a 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch piece of hydrocolloid dressing over that part of my nose to protect the skin from the pressure of the pillows. I found that the Co...

I just bought a new Transcend CPAP for travel, and bought the Q-tube muffler to try out because the Transcend literature said that the Transcend is a few decibels noisier than my Resmed Airsense 10. I found that the Transcend is noisier, and that the Q-tube not only doesn't seem to make it quieter, ...

Hi SleepyMatt, You're doing exactly the right thing by asking lots of questions on this site, lots of great knowledge here! \ Then within two hours I wake up, up to five times throughout the night. I feel as if I'm constantly dreaming when I am sleeping. It took me about 2 months to get some full ni...

Whats bothering me is when the hose slides off the bed It pulls my nasel pillow down and causes it to leak, then I wake up. Hi Painter19, I've had good success with a snuggle hose cover. Here's a sample: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/snuggle-hose-tube-cover.html It's covers the hose, so the surf...

Glassjules, I went to a class on sleep apnea/CPAP that was put on by my sleep doctor. The same question came up, namely, after loosing weight/having surgery can people with a history of sleep apnea stop using the CPAP machine? The answer that he gave us was that as we age, our tissue in our throats/...

Thanks Sandman19 for your clear information. I have a question for you... Recently I was offered the opportunity to have a laser surgery on my feet for plantar fasciitis. They wanted to sedate me with "twilight sleep", probably versed, in the OR. I was advised that my CPAP machine could not go into ...

Hi woodmizer5, About 3 to 4 a.m the pressure finally works and finds a hole between skin and tape. I've had good luck stopping the leaking using poligrip strips. They seal the lips gently and well, which stops that "3 AM leak creep". But the strips don't have much tensile strength to stop the jaw fr...

I believe that you'd be more likely to see central apneas (no breath in, as it hasn't been triggered), rather than hypopneas. So you'd have less breaths per minute than you may actually need to keep your oxygen saturation in a safe range for your brain/heart, etc. My sleep doc is a combination of pu...

I have a distiller--I use the Waterwise 4000. I like not having to lug water jugs home from the store, and not adding plastic to the landfill. However it does use electricity to run, which burns coal....ah, the challenges to being green... It takes about 4 hours to distill a gallon of water. I fill ...

I'm still going with 4-5 liters/minute every night and I think I feel much better. Is there any reason to not breathe this much oxygen every night? It's generally not a good idea to go higher than your prescribed oxygen flow level if you have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Here's why...

Hi Kenneth P, Since switching to nasal I have a place on my nose where the seal rides & Ihave several spot's that are raw. I second Harry33's point and have two other suggestions: * to help your skin heal, you might try using Lansinoh lanolin on the raw spots at night. It helps to keep the skin supp...

Happysleeper, is there a goal level for O2? Ken, you're right. The usual goal for oxygen saturation is 90 or above. if you use O2 can you lower the pressures on your bipap? I can't sleep that well on 14/10 Sickwithapnea17, no, you can't lower your pressure because you're on O2. You still need the b...

Hi Ken, I'm an RN, and I've worked quite a bit with patients in their homes who are first starting oxygen. I've seen a number of patients, whose O2 saturation levels were dropping down into the 80s at night, increase their quality of life significantly after they starting using oxygen just at night....