New CPAP machine user - AirSense 10 for her

Hi. I am a new user and just started on my CPAP machine last night. I had a few questions for those familiar w/ this machine. I have the climatelineair hose and use a airfit p10 nasal pillow mask. The tech set my machine on 4-10 auto ramp and a 4 for my humidity at 70 degree temp. I had some issues with the air feeling too cold and also was woken up by a surge of air in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I didn't get a very good nights' sleep, but I expected that being it was my first time on my machine. Any suggestions to make the air temp more comfortable and also will I get used to the added air pressure once I fall asleep. It literally felt like I was breathing out against this forceful air stream and also felt like a "suctioning" type of feel. it was very strange and not natural feeling at all. Wonder if my settings need adjusting. Any thoughts? Thanks so much--I have already learned so much just from being a "lurker" in this group!

I use the Airsense 10 with the climateline. I think the tech may have set your temp too low. You can adjust it by going to Options on your home screen- Climate Ctrl. I have mine set at auto and it works fine- you can change it as you see fit.

I'm too new to this to address your other issues. My experience was similar and took a couple nights to get used to.

bluskydaze wrote:Hi. I am a new user and just started on my CPAP machine last night. I had a few questions for those familiar w/ this machine. I have the climatelineair hose and use a airfit p10 nasal pillow mask. The tech set my machine on 4-10 auto ramp and a 4 for my humidity at 70 degree temp. I had some issues with the air feeling too cold and also was woken up by a surge of air in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I didn't get a very good nights' sleep, but I expected that being it was my first time on my machine. Any suggestions to make the air temp more comfortable and also will I get used to the added air pressure once I fall asleep. It literally felt like I was breathing out against this forceful air stream and also felt like a "suctioning" type of feel. it was very strange and not natural feeling at all. Wonder if my settings need adjusting. Any thoughts? Thanks so much--I have already learned so much just from being a "lurker" in this group!

Blusky,

I think you should first try "Auto Climate Control"......on the Auto Climate the machine will give you 80 degrees for the hose temp and 85% relative humidity, these sound high, but in reality they really aren't. I like my hose temp set around 83~84, but to start with give the auto setting for climate a try, and if the air is still too cold feeling, then try the manual setting instead of Auto Climate and bump the hose temp setting up a degree or two starting from the Auto default of 80 degrees.



Almost everyone starting out feels like the pressure is way too much, but you do get used to it and frankly your setting of 4cm to 10cm is not really very high, but you'll eventually get used to it to the point you hardly even notice the pressure. There is also an EPR setting on you machine that will lower the exhale pressure for you, so you might experiment with the EPR settings for your own comfort. There is 1,2,3 .........on the ResMed machine those will lower your exhale pressure one cm, two cm, or three cm below your inhale pressure so that you don't feel like you are struggling to exhale so hard. Be aware that the EPR will only work if it has "room" to work from your current setting, for instance if you are at 4cm pressure that is as low as the machine will go, so even if you have EPR set it won't have room to work. On the other hand if you are breathing at 10cm then the EPR has room to work so for instance if you had EPR set at 3cm you would end up with an inhale of your current 10cm and an exhale pressure of 7cm. Also some people might have more apnea with the EPR because their exhale pressure isn't enough to support an open airway on the exhale. It's a comfort feature that you can play with and set to your personal taste, but it sounds like you might benefit from at least giving EPR 1 a try.

One last thing for now...........I am posting a page from the clinical manual for your machine that will allow you more access to settings........you may need to get into clinical settings depending on how your machine was set up for you by the DME to adjust things like the climate control. If you go into the clinical settings menu you'll see a line item labeled "Essentials"........go into that and make sure that is set to "Plus" instead of just "On". With that menu item set on "Plus" you can get a more detailed sleep report on your screen in the morning and also have a few more menu items in the patient menu to give you more flexibility on your settings in the regular settings area.



if you get a chance go to the upper section at cpaptalk in the Announcements area and read Pugsy's pointers.......you should download the 9.8.1 version of Sleepyhead software that works with your Airsense machine so that you can download the data from your machine's SD card and keep a closer eye on your therapy effectiveness.

bluskydaze wrote:Hi. I am a new user and just started on my CPAP machine last night. I had a few questions for those familiar w/ this machine. I have the climatelineair hose and use a airfit p10 nasal pillow mask. The tech set my machine on 4-10 auto ramp and a 4 for my humidity at 70 degree temp. I had some issues with the air feeling too cold and also was woken up by a surge of air in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I didn't get a very good nights' sleep, but I expected that being it was my first time on my machine. Any suggestions to make the air temp more comfortable and also will I get used to the added air pressure once I fall asleep. It literally felt like I was breathing out against this forceful air stream and also felt like a "suctioning" type of feel. it was very strange and not natural feeling at all. Wonder if my settings need adjusting. Any thoughts? Thanks so much--I have already learned so much just from being a "lurker" in this group!

Your machine offers EPR (exhale pressure relief). It does nothing at 4, but when the pressures rise above 6 cm it starts to provide lower pressure during exhale.
Since you mention you had a poor night sleep, you should keep an eye on your AHI numbers, and the best way to evaluate your therapy is to track it in data. There is a link to the Sleepyhead program in the signature at the end of this post. It is worth your time to download and learn to use that program.

EPR on the lower section of the page:

Yeah- what he said....



now don't I feel like an idiot......

B Becker

Hey your response was perfectly fine, you had a great sugestion......I was just bored and decided to "expand" a little on what you had already said. I think you should feel good about your very helpful sugestion, no worries Mate



We are all here to help each other, or if we get bored we can cause a little mayhem on the side.

TangledHose wrote:B Becker

Hey your response was perfectly fine, you had a great sugestion......I was just bored and decided to "expand" a little on what you had already said. I think you should feel good about your very helpful sugestion, no worries Mate



We are all here to help each other, or if we get bored we can cause a little mayhem on the side.

Thanks-
we have the exact same equipment!

Bbecker223 wrote:
Thanks-
we have the exact same equipment!

Nuthin' but the best equipment for Studs like us, Eh