3 concerns after first night!!

My sleep study was at home. My titration was at the sleep lab and they now have my ResMed S9 on auto settings to start at pressure 5 and ramp to 8. It is my understanding that the pressure can go much higher if needed. Since my apnea is severe with an index of 46.3 there may have been times it ramped up higher last night. What I noticed was periods of gulping air and immediately burping as if I'd just sipped something very carbonated. My husband also noticed this because he was awakened by a dramatic noise increase from the ResMed machine. I was gulping and burping and not sleeping well. He was trying to be a good sport and hang in there but went to sleep elsewhere as it was too disturbing. After 4.5 hours the bridge of my nose had such a sore indentation that I gave up and took off mask, sad and frustrated. I need this to work better!

"Dramatic noise increase from the S9 machine?" .......very unlikely. Could he have possibly heard the mask leaking at the higher pressure? What mask are you using? Why not fill in your equipment in your profile.

I suggest mask liners; they will protect your face from sores/irritation. They are also good for minimizing noise from leaks. Karen at Pad-A-Cheek makes nice ones, and she also has strap pads; go here: http://www.padacheek.com. You could also try the RemZzzz liners; they are available from https://www.cpap.com; the sponsors of this forum as well as from most DMEs. Liners were a game changer for me.

HopingForSuccess wrote:. Since my apnea is severe with an index of 46.3 there may have been times it ramped up higher last night.

Severity and pressure are not related. I was very severe with my SPO2 dropping to round 56% but my pressure at 7 relieved most of it and 9 just about all of it. One can have very mild OSA and need 18cm of pressure.

What I noticed was periods of gulping air and immediately burping as if I'd just sipped something very carbonated. My husband also noticed this because he was awakened by a dramatic noise increase from the ResMed machine. I was gulping and burping and not sleeping well. He was trying to be a good sport and hang in there but went to sleep elsewhere as it was too disturbing. After 4.5 hours the bridge of my nose had such a sore indentation that I gave up and took off mask, sad and frustrated. I need this to work better!

The noise is probably due to mask leaks. If you have an autoset, install sleephead software and look at the data to see what was happening last night. If you have an Escape Auto the go back to the DME and throw a fit because you won't be able to find out what the problem is.

Welcome to the board.

Please fill in your equipment in your profile so we can help you better. There's a link in my signature line. What does it say next to the power button on your machine?

Yes, the air pressure may get air in your stomach and cause burping. We call this aerophagia. Sometimes it goes away on its own. Sometimes you have to do some things to try to relieve it.

Was the noise a sound like air rushing? If so, you may very well have had air leaking around the mask. It's one of the things us CPAPers have to figure out how to fix.

It often takes some time and effort to get the mask to fit correctly, and not dig into you.

I did update most of my equipment info. Important reminder there. When I read info it only showed how long it was in use last night. On the second screen there were figures which meant nothing to me. So far as the gulping of air perhaps I should prop shoulders and head up somewhat.

library lady wrote:I suggest mask liners; they will protect your face from sores/irritation. They are also good for minimizing noise from leaks. Karen at Pad-A-Cheek makes nice ones, and she also has strap pads; go here: http://www.padacheek.com. You could also try the RemZzzz liners; they are available from https://www.cpap.com; the sponsors of this forum as well as from most DMEs. Liners were a game changer for me.

Yes, mask liners sound excellent as I REALLY do not want it tighter on the strapping. I'm sure this is an item I will need to order. Patience is a hard thing.

archangle wrote:Welcome to the board.

Please fill in your equipment in your profile so we can help you better. There's a link in my signature line. What does it say next to the power button on your machine?

Yes, the air pressure may get air in your stomach and cause burping. We call this aerophagia. Sometimes it goes away on its own. Sometimes you have to do some things to try to relieve it.

Was the noise a sound like air rushing? If so, you may very well have had air leaking around the mask. It's one of the things us CPAPers have to figure out how to fix.

It often takes some time and effort to get the mask to fit correctly, and not dig into you.

Yes, updated most of the equipment info. Will try and get some mask liners to prevent leaks at higher pressure. I certainly do not want to tighten straps, may in fact loosen top ones tonight. Will also try propping shoulders and head up. All the info I could glean was the amount of time I had it in use. There were other figures which meant nothing to me.

HopingForSuccess wrote:

archangle wrote:Welcome to the board.

Please fill in your equipment in your profile so we can help you better. There's a link in my signature line. What does it say next to the power button on your machine?

Yes, the air pressure may get air in your stomach and cause burping. We call this aerophagia. Sometimes it goes away on its own. Sometimes you have to do some things to try to relieve it.

Was the noise a sound like air rushing? If so, you may very well have had air leaking around the mask. It's one of the things us CPAPers have to figure out how to fix.

It often takes some time and effort to get the mask to fit correctly, and not dig into you.

Yes, updated most of the equipment info. Will try and get some mask liners to prevent leaks at higher pressure. I certainly do not want to tighten straps, may in fact loosen top ones tonight. Will also try propping shoulders and head up. All the info I could glean was the amount of time I had it in use. There were other figures which meant nothing to me.

Welcome to the board. You know who I am (wink). Give me a call. But also, the numbers that you don't understand - present them here and we can educate you. Read the permanent links at the top of the board to start learning about CPAP. You will learn very quickly. SleepyHead software is great. I am assuming you have a machine with an SD card that is removable. Call me again and we can get you all fixed up. Tell us if you do not have a machine with data capability - very important. You WIlL get this all under control. We will help you. XOXOX

Some ideas to help reduce the annoying and uncomfortable aerophagia (the burping and discomfort)
wiki/index.php/Aerophagia

Adding EPR if you aren't already, might help lessen the discomfort and annoyance.

photonic wrote:

HopingForSuccess wrote: There were other figures which meant nothing to me.

We will help you. XOXOX

oooooooh!

HopingForSuccess wrote: Yes, mask liners sound excellent as I REALLY do not want it tighter on the strapping. I'm sure this is an item I will need to order. Patience is a hard thing.

You can make quick and "dirty" liners out of an old well washed cotton knit t-shirt.. Just lay the mask on it, draw around it. Cut out adding an inch or two, cut a small hole for nose/mouth. Try, adjust, repeat. Once you have something that works make a pattern out of it on paper.
One of our members makes excellent reusable mask liners - Padacheek.

photonic wrote:

HopingForSuccess wrote:

archangle wrote:Welcome to the board.

Please fill in your equipment in your profile so we can help you better. There's a link in my signature line. What does it say next to the power button on your machine?

Yes, the air pressure may get air in your stomach and cause burping. We call this aerophagia. Sometimes it goes away on its own. Sometimes you have to do some things to try to relieve it.

Was the noise a sound like air rushing? If so, you may very well have had air leaking around the mask. It's one of the things us CPAPers have to figure out how to fix.

It often takes some time and effort to get the mask to fit correctly, and not dig into you.

Yes, updated most of the equipment info. Will try and get some mask liners to prevent leaks at higher pressure. I certainly do not want to tighten straps, may in fact loosen top ones tonight. Will also try propping shoulders and head up. All the info I could glean was the amount of time I had it in use. There were other figures which meant nothing to me.

Welcome to the board. You know who I am (wink). Give me a call. But also, the numbers that you don't understand - present them here and we can educate you. Read the permanent links at the top of the board to start learning about CPAP. You will learn very quickly. SleepyHead software is great. I am assuming you have a machine with an SD card that is removable. Call me again and we can get you all fixed up. Tell us if you do not have a machine with data capability - very important. You WIlL get this all under control. We will help you. XOXOX

I can see I have yet to realize the mechanics of these info exchanges. Who sees what and what I may not need to repeat. Not a priority this evening.
Well I do see the consensus is that there's a leak in the mask when the pressure increases. I can also see that the fit of the mask is perhaps one of the biggest challenges. I had a painful groove worn on my nose after 4 hrs yet I may have some part of it not snug enough. Jeez. Or I need chubbier cheeks. I've heard tell of some mask liners or pads I guess I should try. When reading about the aerophagia it seems certain positions may help or make this worse and that there's no right or wrong, across the board best position. I did sleep pretty flat/ slim pillow last night and so I'll try creating an incline.
The info on the sub screen states:
Run 5
SW SX474-1203
BID SX525-0300
VD 1
RID 100
HID SX960212

HopingForSuccess wrote: The info on the sub screen states:
Run 5
SW SX474-1203
BID SX525-0300
VD 1
RID 100
HID SX960212

that's all just the software versions in the machine.

to get more info about how your night was, hold down both silver buttons for a few seconds. but downloading sleepyhead is the best plan

If you can't see the AHI numbers or leak numbers on the machine's LCD screen when you do what palerider said with the 2 buttons then you may need to turn on the "SleepQuality" setting in the S9 clinical setup menu area. Factory default is for it to be set to OFF which turns off the patient's ability to see the onscreen data.
Watch this video and it will explain how to get into the clinical setup menu area

http://www.cpaplibrary.com/machines.html

and/or you can also download the provider/clinical manual in pdf format
http://www.apneuvereniging.nl/forum/pdf ... manual.pdf