New CPAP user

Hawthorne wrote:I don't know anything about that new Resmed machine, which you have, but I have been on cpap for 12+ years. I get very congested with much humidity. I use passive humidity (water in the chamber but no heat) most of the year. On colder winter nights (I live in Southwestern Ontario in Canada) I usually only need a setting of 1.

You probably have a heated hose - about which I know nothing. I just know that I get very congested with very much heated humidity.

Out situations may be way different but just sharing my experience.

Okay, thank you! I will try a different humidity setting. I took it apart and cleaned it really good today. I was putting room temperature bottled water in it, but I will try distilled water now. I have noticed that when I get at least 5 hours a night on the machine, I feel tons better already. I can only imagine how I will feel if I get a full 8 hours a night on it

At a setting off 8 for humidity with your machine...that's the maximum (may vary depending on the ambient humidity where you live) it can go to and while I don't know how that relates to automatic at 85% ....it's going to be cranking out the moisture and while some folks do well with it maxed out ...others don't do so well with it.

This humidity thing when it comes to cpap therapy...the humidity needs of the nasal mucosa very widely among individuals. Some people find that too dry and not enough humidity causes bad nasal congestion and others find that too much causes congestion. There is no right or wrong way to go that covers all the users because everyone can be different. There's only what works for the individual.

Since you are maxing out the setting and going to bed with things fine and waking up with problems...I would also suggest a reduction in that humidity setting. How much of a reduction is a crap shoot because we don't know what your nasal mucosa wants to be happy. I think I would try cutting it in half before going down way low if it were me...like a setting of 4. Up to you though. This is an area that you sort of have to figure out for yourself. You have to do the experimenting and figure out what makes your nasal mucosa happy. It may take a bit of trial and error but you can get there.

Pugsy wrote:At a setting off 8 for humidity with your machine...that's the maximum (may vary depending on the ambient humidity where you live) it can go to and while I don't know how that relates to automatic at 85% ....it's going to be cranking out the moisture and while some folks do well with it maxed out ...others don't do so well with it.

This humidity thing when it comes to cpap therapy...the humidity needs of the nasal mucosa very widely among individuals. Some people find that too dry and not enough humidity causes bad nasal congestion and others find that too much causes congestion. There is no right or wrong way to go that covers all the users because everyone can be different. There's only what works for the individual.

Since you are maxing out the setting and going to bed with things fine and waking up with problems...I would also suggest a reduction in that humidity setting. How much of a reduction is a crap shoot because we don't know what your nasal mucosa wants to be happy. I think I would try cutting it in half before going down way low if it were me...like a setting of 4. Up to you though. This is an area that you sort of have to figure out for yourself. You have to do the experimenting and figure out what makes your nasal mucosa happy. It may take a bit of trial and error but you can get there.

That makes perfect sense....I live in the most humid part of the south. I will set it on 4 tonight and see how I do tonight. It's kind of a hit and miss kind of thing. Thanks for all of your help!

Thanks to everyone for their help. I lowered the humidity level after I cleaned my machine and I didn't preheat the humidifier. I slept for almost 7 hours, which is the longest I have slept on it in the almost 2 weeks since I started CPAP. I'm so excited that I think I finally have it figured out.

That's great news. Sometimes it's something so simple as a little humidity change to make this therapy work so much better.
That's one hurdle you have overcome.
Good job.
It gets easier now. I promise. There may be some bumps in the road down the road but pretty much any problems someone has...someone else has also had them and fixed them.

Currently doing very well on the CPAP. I usually manage to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night on it. I no longer have to get up to go to the bathroom several times a night. Apparently, the changes in how you feel are going to be gradual. I really thought that I would get up and feel "Oh, this is awesome. I feel completely different." on the first night. First, I just noticed the fewer trips to the bathroom and now, after a few weeks, I have noticed that I don't feel quite as sleepy during the day. Is there a chance that it's not working like it should or is it just little things at a time? I will say that since starting, my AHI has gone from 13.4 down to 0.2.