New and Improving

I guess it is time to introduce myself. I have been pretty sure i have had Apnea and sleep disordered breathing for a long time, and finally tired of feeling tired I started the process of getting on CPAP last July. Finally, yesterday March 23, I got my CPAP. The wheels of medicine turn slowly I guess. Anyway, my sleep study showed an AHI of 27, and an RDI of 77. My O2 saturation was below 88% for 53 minutes with a nadir of 82%

Went to the DME expecting the worst after extensive reading here and on that other forum. When I got there it looked like my concerns were well founded, as I was told before I even had said why I was there I was told they are all in a meeting and sit over there. I sat. Meeting was over and they all filed out, nobody said a word to me. I sat. Finally after about 15 minutes I went to the desk to make sure the guy I had scheduled with knew I was there, they told that I was meeting with someone else and she knew I was here. I sat. Finally I was called in, and much to my surprise there was a shiny new Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset configured and ready to go. Since my prescription was for a CPAP , heated hose and humidifier along with an Eson nasal mask I was sure they were going to try and foist off a brick on me. Tried on a Nasal Pillow, then decided for now to stick with the ESON, and was familiarized with the machine and sent on my way.

First night of sleeping on the hose went not so well. Although my sleepyhead reported parameters we good, I only slept bout 3 hours. But I felt reasonable considering. Last night I slept more, actually sleeping from 11:30 PM to 5AM. I mentally feel much better than I have felt in years already. I am so much more calm and alert feeling. I feel tired because I did not get enough sleep hours, but I believe that will be corrected in time, but for now the progress can only be said to be remarkable!

One issue I have had so far is at bout 1 hour after putting on my Fisher and Paykel Eson 2 mask, is that my nasal passages swell nearly close, so much so that its difficult to even inspire at my prescribed pressure of 10 cmH2O. I raised both the hose temperature and the humidity level and that seemed to help but I am totally willing to take any advice on this I can get.

Thanks in advance!

Have you tried turning down (or even off) the humidity? You're already in a relatively humid climate and may not need the thing... I never do (close to the ocean).

TASmart wrote:for now the progress can only be said to be remarkable!

My health had gotten to the point I thought I would have to quit drinking. Thank God for CPAP. Drinking and enjoying it again.

Humidity level is a trial and error thing. I started with my humidifer off and eased it up over time to see where it began to cause more trouble than it fixed. Another problem I encountered was when my nasal passages/sinuses felt blocked in the absence of congestion. Certain nasal masks sat on the side of my nose at the cheeks in a way that compressed my sinuses.

Humidity needs or preferences will vary widely among cpap users. Some people prefer little or no added humidity and some people would be happiest if they could snort water (that would be me and I don't live in a particularly dry humidity area either).

So you will just have to try various humidity settings to see what makes your nasal mucosa the happiest.

Here's the deal about nasal mucosa and humidity...the nasal mucosa reacts the same way with either too much or too little added moisture. The mucosa release histamines (think bad allergy attack) which cause swelling, drainage, itchiness, pressure in sinus area and sneezing as a reaction to both too little and too much humidity. This is one area of cpap therapy that comes with a huge YMMV sticker and you will just have to sort out what your nasal mucosa needs to be happy.

One other thing...I found that for me any mask that put pressure on my nasal bridge area up by the turbinates would cause congestion. It was the pressure that was the congestion causing agent. Remove the pressure and the congestion cleared up fairly quickly. This may or may not be a factor in your congestion but you can do a little experiment to see if it is or not.
Place your fingers up on the sides of your nose up by where the turbinates are and the nasal mask rests...apply some gentle pressure like the mask would and see if you get any congestion pop up. If you do you might want to look at a mask that doesn't put pressure in that area to lessen the chance of congestion happening.

Thanks all, at this point it seems the lower my humidity the more my sinuses swell, I will try with the humidifier off one evening just to see, but for now I have moved the humidity up. It's not congestion, just swelling. Making the issue worse is I have small nose and nostrils, so I have small masks, I tried a P10 on at the DME and felt like even at my prescription pressure I could not suck enough air through it with the small pillows.

TASmart wrote:that my nasal passages swell nearly close, so much so that its difficult to even inspire at my prescribed pressure of 10 cmH2O

Wondering how things are going?

And, what position are you sleeping in when the passages swell?

Thanks for asking! Doing quite well so far. Feeling really good, refreshing sleep, awaking spontaneously at 6AM and actually wanting to get out of bed! Having some minor leak issues, but the swollen nostrils seem to have resolved. I am trying to see if I can exchange my current nose mask for a nasal pillow type mask, left a message for the DME rep this AM. I tend to roll around a bit while sleeping so I get periodic leaks in the 60 l/m range, but average a leak rate of 10ish. OF course there is also the mouth breathing events, but not that many.

My AHI is running 1-3 most nights, and I think that may improve with a different mask.

Terry