Labored breathing with P10

[Sluggish]

I’m still trying to get a good night sleep. As my 6 hr. nights slowly become 5, panic and anxiety are really setting in.

One thing I have really noticed the last couple of days is that it’s actually harder to breathe wearing the mask. Mainly on the exhale. Hard to tell on the inhale but it seems like a little there too. It’s like the exhale takes a lot longer because I am forcing the exhale against the incoming pressure. It actually takes effort to exhale and I notice the difference as soon as I remove the mask. I spent a good hour cleaning the exhaust ports yesterday and the problem isn’t any better. I can still feel air being blown out the vents when I put my hand in front. I can’t tell if it’s less than when the mask was new or not. My humidity is 5 and as far as I can tell the vents are dry in the morning. Is any of this normal?

[ChicagoGranny]

One thing I have really noticed the last couple of days is that it’s actually harder to breathe wearing the mask. Mainly on the exhale. Hard to tell on the inhale but it seems like a little there too. It’s like the exhale takes a lot longer because I am forcing the exhale against the incoming pressure. It actually takes effort to exhale and I notice the difference as soon as I remove the mask.

What are your pressure settings?

[LSAT]

Try a larger size pillow with a larger hole....Are you using the EPR on your machine? What setting?

[Diotima]

I’m still trying to get a good night sleep. As my 6 hr. nights slowly become 5, panic and anxiety are really setting in.

One thing I have really noticed the last couple of days is that it’s actually harder to breathe wearing the mask. Mainly on the exhale. Hard to tell on the inhale but it seems like a little there too. It’s like the exhale takes a lot longer because I am forcing the exhale against the incoming pressure. It actually takes effort to exhale and I notice the difference as soon as I remove the mask. I spent a good hour cleaning the exhaust ports yesterday and the problem isn’t any better. I can still feel air being blown out the vents when I put my hand in front. I can’t tell if it’s less than when the mask was new or not. My humidity is 5 and as far as I can tell the vents are dry in the morning. Is any of this normal?

I find the P10 to be the most comfortable mask and tolerable noise. Are you using your AirSense 10 EPR (Expiatory Pressure Release) settings? Using that might make exhale easier! Also make sure you're using the right sized mask. As for air being blown out vent I can't speak to that as the diffuser in the P10 is so well designed that I barely feel an ything.

[bernieb]

I wear a size medium for almost everything I have used but the P-10 medium felt restricted so I am happy with the large size P-10. There is definitely a noticeable difference. I still switch around from P-10 pillow to P-30 and dreamwear cushions. Going to try the P-30 pillow soon but not sure what size to order for that.

[Dog Slobber]

Have you always experienced this with P10s, or have you just started experiencing this with you existing P10s?

Might be time to consider swapping out existing pillows or mask.

[Sluggish]

I have included a screenshot to help answer the tech questions. All the morning on/off activity is me trying to figure out whats going on. We already determined that I must have a pinhole leak somewhere so ignore the constant 8.0 leak.
While I can get away with wearing the large pillows they tend to leak more and not fit as well. I don't mind trying again but I'm not sure I follow the logic as I fell like increased airflow would make it even harder to exhale, although I suppose easier to inhale maybe. When fiddling around this morning I swapped out the P10 for the F&P Eson that came with the machine. I noticed immediately that breathing felt much more natural and easy.

Dog Slobber, hard to say for sure about previous p10's. I can say that this is the first I've noticed it but that definitely doesn't mean the issue hasn't always existed. I can tell you that this is my 2nd P10 after the dog chewed my first one to oblivion. That was only 3 months ago so I find it hard to believe I need a new one already unless this one is somehow defective. It does kinda feel like the vents are clogged or something.

Is there supposed to be some amount of back pressure when exhaling normally through a CPAP to help keep airway open on exhale? I would imagine so. Just can't tell why it feels so labored.

[Cpapian]

Clogged vent is a thing. Search Apnea Board for the topic ....."Evidence of the P10 vent obstruction causing hypercapnia".

[chunkyfrog]

Cleaning the mesh vents may be needed at least monthly.
Toothbrush cleaning has been mentioned; but I find that a waterpic
or denture tablet is more effective---and easier.

[Sluggish]

Yes I saw that thread about the clogged vents and C02 poisoning. It's a bit lengthy and admittedly I didn't dive too deep but after a couple of pages what I took away was that one person did a scientific analysis under magnification and found some troubling results. The rest of the people basically said "...that's interesting but I love my P10 and I'm not having any issues so...". It could be that I am experiencing the same clogged vents but if that's the case after only 3 months, then this mask is not an economical solution. My last P10 was going on 8 months and I don't recall having this issue but again, that doesn't mean it wasn't present. It could just be that I was busy focusing on other things like mouth leaks, chin straps, neck braces, etc..

I spent an hour the other day cleaning it. Started with 2 denture tablets, then sacrificed a brush head from my Philips Sonicare toothbrush, then last but not least a waterpik. The results... still yellow and still hard to breathe. It almost looks like I did nothing at all. Today before my nap I checked the intake filter on my machine and it was clean. I even removed it entirely to see if it made any difference and it didn't seem to. I wore the ESON mask for the nap and as I mentioned it is much easier to breathe. While doing some breathing experiments I did notice that if I inhale fast and strong and deep I can essentially out pace the machine and it gets hard to inhale toward the end which I imagine is because I am sucking faster than the machine can pump air. The natural tendency when suffocating is to increase the pressure but I am not sure I should.

[Dog Slobber]

Clogged vent is a thing. Search Apnea Board for the topic ....."Evidence of the P10 vent obstruction causing hypercapnia".

You mean the topic where the poster makes all kinds of claims about the dangers of the p10 design, so much that he has reported it to the FDA.

But continues to use it himself.

He's such a fear mongerer, he's likely to be hired by SoClean.

[Bookit]

He's such a fear mongerer, he's likely to be hired by SoClean.

Hey, watch the language. It's S*C***n.

[Sluggish]

Clogged vent is a thing. Search Apnea Board for the topic ....."Evidence of the P10 vent obstruction causing hypercapnia".

You mean the topic where the poster makes all kinds of claims about the dangers of the p10 design, so much that he has reported it to the FDA.

But continues to use it himself.

He's such a fear mongerer, he's likely to be hired by SoClean.

I don’t know him well enough to validate those claims. I’m sure he has good intentions. If I recall, he loves his P10 as much as the rest of us and uses a modified version with some pinholes in the mesh.

[Dog Slobber]

Clogged vent is a thing. Search Apnea Board for the topic ....."Evidence of the P10 vent obstruction causing hypercapnia".

You mean the topic where the poster makes all kinds of claims about the dangers of the p10 design, so much that he has reported it to the FDA.

But continues to use it himself.

He's such a fear mongerer, he's likely to be hired by SoClean.

I don’t know him well enough to validate those claims.

You don't need to know him to validate those claims, you can do so by reading the topic.

Suggesting that the p10s are responsible for killing people is alarmist.

I’m sure he has good intentions.

I question the intentions of anybody who creates such a report, publishes it, sends it to the FDA, encourages others to as well, but won't send it to the actual company that makes the device, because he feels they won't take him serious.

If I recall, he loves his P10 as much as the rest of us and uses a modified version with some pinholes in the mesh.

He documents in his ramblings, that he has used them unmodified even after he allegedly learned they were dangerous.

He has no credibility, and should not be given a platform.

[Sluggish]

I think if even a small bit of what he claims is accurate, the consumer has a right to know about it. I thought what he was saying was that C02 poisoning can kill people and that the P10 “can” contribute to this by the vents getting clogged. That is different that saying “the P10 mask will kill people”. Or at least I think it is anyway.

Regardless I take his findings with a grain of salt. But I can say for certain that my P10 is most definitely clogged and not really providing any therapy. Used the ESON last night and can feel a noticeable difference in the morning. Also slept longer than 6 hrs. I’m kinda bummed because I really did like the P10 but if it’s this bad after only a few months...