false positive update: rental mask acquired

[user232]

Hi All,
Got my 3 night rental mask today. I went in and they had a dream machine, and I told them I specifically requested a resmed (from researching here and elsewhere), so they got an airsense 10.
My initial thoughts are that it is not what I expected. It is cumbersome, and I felt really uncomfortable breathing in and out, like I was struggling to get enough air. He said to practice relaxing first before using it, and he
said no one helped him in the beginning to learn that. So I am watching tv with it. And I'll see if I can take the card out and look at the data. They said the office will evalutate, but I don't see any issue with just creating a folder and copying it over.
Also, he said if I was worried about sleep test results, the machine records events where you stop breathing, so it should be pretty accurate. Also if it is always 5.0 or less, he said that would show you likely don't need it.

I'll post progress as it goes. Thanks all.

[user232]

I notice it feels like can't get enough air, like I'm struggling to suck in enough air and it's not flowing with my demand.
There is not separate oxygen tank, just recycled air. But if I talk, I can feel it forcing air in. Is that a normal experience?

[Bertha deBlues]

My only experience is with my Dreamstation, but if your Resmed machine has a ramp feature, that may be what is causing you to feel that you're not getting enough air. It is intended to deliver a lower pressure at first, then ramp up to the therapy pressure over a short period of time. Many folks find they're more comfortable without the ramp.

As for talking while it's turned on, my experience is that when I start to talk, the air whooshes out of my mouth. It's difficult without practice. It's a matter of closing off the back of your mouth.

[ChicagoGranny]

I notice it feels like can't get enough air, like I'm struggling to suck in enough air and it's not flowing with my demand.
There is not separate oxygen tank, just recycled air. But if I talk, I can feel it forcing air in. Is that a normal experience?

What are your pressure settings? What is your ramp pressure and time?

If you stick with one thread and not add new ones, we can more easily follow your history and not ask you questions you might have already answered.

[Julie]

If they set your pressure to the default low of 4 (or 5) it's likely you'll have trouble getting enough air... so bump the low pressure to a higher one, e.g. 7 and if you need help to do that, we can provide it.

[user232]

Thanks all,
he said it is all pre-set don't muck with it. I don't know enough to know if it is ramping...
I see on the screen Pressure 5.0-15.0
it shows 4.0 with a rotating green circle.
And Auto and 60 temp.

[user232]

He also said it is APAP so the numbers will adjust when I actually sleep. I'm watching a movie and practicing getting used to it now. AirSense 10 unit.
BTW, it says on the unit "AIRSense 10 AUTOSENSE FOR HER."
I'm a male, I sure as heck hope it's not optimized for a female.

[Julie]

The numbers will adjust between the two settings, but if those are incorrect it won't help you much. This is Your therapy and you should control things... we alll reset our pressures routinely with the help of software results of overnight stats and advice from πeople here.

[user232]

I'm all for modifying and monitoring with help, just worried I don't want to screw up my 3 night rental results. It would be nice for a week or more.
And technician didn't really sound too agreeable about me doing anything to alter the pre-settings.

[user232]

I'm going to download sleepyhead for win and see if I can (copy over SD card and) look and maybe post results twomorrow, so I at least have 2 more nights to adjust anything.

[user232]

reading the sleepyhead data, they are critical about write protecting the card, so as not to mess up win8.1 from writing over resmed and confusing it.
I will put the SD card in lock mode before copying over. Please let me know if I'm screwing up on this, I'd hate to return it monday and have them say I somehow corrupted the disk.

[user232]

So as a test case (win 8.1), I
1) Unplugged unit
2) removed SD card
3) Locked card (toggle to lock state)
4) Inserted to PC and copied entire card to folder
5) removed card and reset to unlock state
6) put back in machine
7) power machine on
pointed sleepyhead to copied directory
9) sleepyhead successfully read data
10) machine came back on and started to ramp up, with no adverse screen

everything looks ok. What's weired is sleepyhead shows months of data on the card. I guess they never reset between patients. Got the last hour of data I was using to test it, no events, little leakage, etc. Just trying to familiarize with software.
I see sleepyhead will do the oxymiter too, I hope it can sync two datassets easily.

[user232]

I should add that the nosepiece smells like a bacterial dishrag when I turn it off. Even wife (4 ft away) is complaining. I wonder how well they clean between patients.

[Julie]

Ok, but now don't confuse pressure settings with ramp settings... in fact, if you're like most of us, you probably don't even need the ramp and could try just not using it at all. Then leave your high setting ... high, at e.g. 15 or 20 - that won't hurt at all, but will allow any high events to top out so you can see where they end up. Don't push the low setting (for now, at least a few nights at a time) too high all at once, but I think e.g. 7 will be enough to tell you that a) you can actually inhale some air, and b) how your results look.

[user232]

Thanks Julie,
Unfortunately, I only have 3 nights to rent the device, and don't want them complaining I messed with presets too much.
I have to make it count and let them use their diagnostics for now. Whether I proceed to get one is very dependent on only these 3 nights.