new to VPAP

I have been on VPAP asv for a week now and I don't think I'm sleeping better. I wake up a few times an hour with dry mouth and the pressure of the machine. I thought it would be getting better after a week but it's not. I think I'm just uncomfortable and need to get used to a machine breathing for me. How long till I get used to the pressure and what can I do about the dry mouth. Also I have a 2 liter bleed in but I'm not sure the oxygen has enough pressure to over come the prescribed pressure. How can I Tell If I'm getting the oxygen I need? The oxygen machine seems to have a low pressure output.

Welcome to the forum.

Dry mouth is most commonly caused by mouth breathing and full face masks users often complain about it even if their humidifier is set to maximum humidity delivery. The humidifier simply can't put out enough moisture to rehydrate the oral cavity for a lot of people. It wasn't designed for the mouth...it was designed mainly for the nasal cavity which is much smaller.

What is your humidifier setting? Are you using the Climateline heated hose or the regular hose?
Some people have dry mouth even if they don't mouth breathe...maybe meds cause the dry mouth or maybe some other health condition causes it or makes it worse.

Getting used to ASV therapy can be more challenging for some people than cpap therapy because ASV therapy presents some additional challenges like much higher pressures.
We have no way to know how long it will take you to adjust and feel better but one week is way to expect much even with cpap therapy.
Also you say you are awakening several times a hour with the dry mouth...all those awakenings themselves can make a person feel like crap no matter how well adjusted everything else might be. If you can't sleep well you don't have much chance of feeling better. 8 hours of crappy sleep with the best therapy still will mean a person feels like crap the next day...just like someone feels like crap after poor quality sleep even if they don't need a cpap machine.

Under the best of circumstances ASV adjustments can take more time than regular cpap though.
Since you have a known problem affecting your overall sleep quality it must be dealt with first to have much chance of feeling better because to feel better you need to first sleep better.

You probably should also use the available software and make sure the therapy side of things is going good...like making sure leaks are controlled and you aren't haven't too many apnea events slip past the defenses.
Sleepyhead will work with your machine and I have information on it in my signature line.

Thanks for the welcome and your reply is much appreciated. I have the heated hose and humidity set to the highest point. The dry mouth very well could be becouse of some meds I'm on. Good point. I'll check that out. I'll download the software and check to see how I'm doing. I know my mask leaks becouse it makes a farting noise,lol, but with pressures around 23 it's probably hard to stop leaks. right? I did order a seal from one of the supplier's on this site.

Yep...ASV usually means much higher pressures and let's face it...at 23 cm it's going to be difficult (but not impossible) to get and keep a good mask seal. Many full face mask users here with ASV machines swear by the mask liners. Worth a try.
I am sorry but I am pretty much zero help with a full face mask at any pressure since I don't/haven't ever used one.
I use a S9 VPAP Adapt machine like you have and I see pressures upwards of 22 often but I use a nasal pillow mask so I can't offer much help. The surface area that needs to seal with a full face mask is much greater than my little nasal pillow surface.
I rarely have any leaks of any significance with my pressures and what I might have I sleep right through.

At some point you might consider trying a nasal pillow mask if you don't have chronic nasal congestion issues that mandate a full face mask because of mouth breathing.
Don't let people tell you that you can't use anything but a full face mask because of your pressure needs....that's an old wives tale. I am living proof it can easily be done and I am not the only forum member here who has success with nasal pillow masks at pressures over 20 cm...we have lots of people doing it.
Now if you have chronic nasal issues that you can't clear up so you can breathe through your nose...then you likely need a full face mask but the old wives tale that nasal pillows can't be used at higher pressures is totally false.

Do you know anything about oxygen supply? I don't think it's getting to the mask with us such little air pressure.

You might even want to think about a room (floor or table) humidifier - winter in Colorado can be extremely dry because of the climate and central heating - the machine humidifier may just not be enough.

Last night I had the best sleep ive ever had and today I feel great even after having a few beers. My mouth was still dry but getting that kind of sleep the dry mouth is something ill tolerate. I downloaded the sleepyhead program and it actually shows that I have been getting good sleep since I started. My average AHI is .37 and the Hypopnea Index is .25 for 6 days of use.

SO that brings me to a question. I went from a 122 AHI to .37 AHI. Is that normal to see that much of an increase? Or am I just lucky that therapy seems to be working for me?

briantrox wrote:SO that brings me to a question. I went from a 122 AHI to .37 AHI. Is that normal to see that much of an increase? Or am I just lucky that therapy seems to be working for me?

huge improvements are typical, from whatever down to the single digits.

getting under 1 is very good though.

briantrox wrote:Do you know anything about oxygen supply? I don't think it's getting to the mask with us such little air pressure.

I am not sure what you mean...are you saying that you have an attached oxygen line going to your mask or hose?

Your mask leak problem sounds so familiar. I tried 4 Full Face Mask that created the Farting sounds all night with my high pressure and then tried 4 pillows. I settled on the P10 and love it. My pressures start at 21 and very often go up to 25. I average between 22-23 for inhalation. So yes - some pillows do work at high pressure with the ASV.

Pugsy wrote:

briantrox wrote:Do you know anything about oxygen supply? I don't think it's getting to the mask with us such little air pressure.

I am not sure what you mean...are you saying that you have an attached oxygen line going to your mask or hose?

I couldn't parse that one either.

Yea sorry guys, I don't feel like the oxygen from my oxygen concentrator is getting into my mask via a oxygen port on the hose that snaps into the outlet of the machine. the pressure just does not seem to be enough to overcome the 22-25 psi I get at night.

It's not psi. It's cm h2O2 measurement.
Adding the O2 line into the hose is common and considered standard protocol.
Do you have one of those pulse oximeters to put on your finger to check the oxygen levels?

No I don't but I was thinking of buying one. My oxygen dropped to 80% in my sleep study. I would like to make sure the oxygen is doing its job.