My first night with CPAP - ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet

Hello,

My name is Marc, and I am not yet a registered user on this board. Last night I used my CPAP machine for the first time, a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet. I'm hoping you can answer some questions for me, at this point I'm still not sure what's normal and what isn't. I used nasal pillows last night, and discovered that I am one of those people who shouldn't. As soon as I go to sleep I start breathing through my mouth. Sometimes it woke me up, sometimes I would just start snoring and my wife would wake me up. So, given that situation, I was wondering if the following is normal:

- I was told (or read) this machine has a leak alarm. I was leaking all over the place, and the machine never sounded an alarm.

- Smiley faces indicate whether the mask is sealed or not. Even when I pull the mask off, and air is blown into the room, the face does not change to red (and there is no alarm).

- The machine starts automatically when I start breathing into it, however, it is also supposed to stop automatically. If I remove the mask, it will continue to blow air into the room without stopping.

Thank You,

Marc

It does not have a leak alarm.

When you take your mask off even tho it did not auto shut off its software assumes the mask is off your face so it ceases to record leaks at that point, I think that's why you don't see a change in the little smiley face.

The Auto off and on function does not work properly with all different makes and models of masks, it possible you have a mask that the system does not function well with in terms of the auto off and on. You can turn the Auto on off function off in the menu and just use the power button on top to either begin your pap therapy or shut it off.

If you are mouth breathing you may have to look into a chin strap to hold your mouth closed or possibly switch to a full face mask that covers both your nose and mouth. Mouth breathing with a nasal masks defeats your pressure therapy as all the air is going out your mouth and not holding your airway open, not to mention you'll rapidly get a very dry mouth. You need to fix the mouth breathing in order to get proper therapy.

That is the same machine I started using last week. I have never been able to get the auto start function to work and I wear a full face mask.

I use this machine with a heated hose and the first night I turned on the machine to see what all the buttons did, and inadvertently turned it off again but because of the heated hose--which keeps the machine on with a different setting--I didn't realize that the machine was not working at a therapeutic setting. I couldn't figure out why the air was surging and the mask was making such a racket. Even then, the auto start never kicked on and I was wearing the mask and breathing into it for several minutes.

Thank you very much for the quick reply!

I think I will turn off the auto on/off. I already turned off the ramp up feature since it makes it very hard for me to breathe until the air pressure is up. I see no drawback in turning on and off manually, only advantages.

I have ordered a chin strap, but will try full masks in the meantime. I have two that I was allowed to keep after my sleep study, we'll see how it goes.

I have done a fair amount of reading, and was prepared to spend the first couple of weeks discovering what works best for me.

Thanks Again

I am pretty sure that the leak alarm feature is only on the bilevel machines (at least that is the way it was with the S9 series).

SmartStart is the auto on/off feature for this machine. If SmartStart was not turned on then the machine will keep on blowing when the mask is removed.

See page 17 for SmartStart information...along with some other useful information.
https://sleep.tnet.com/home/files/resme ... -guide.pdf

Do you have chronic nasal issues that pretty much mandate that you breathe through your mouth or is the mouth breathing more out of habit? I had some mouth breathing issues when I first started therapy but it was out of habit and not because of chronic nasal issues so I eventually learned to pretty much stop the mouth breathing but it took a little bit of time and using some measures to keep the lips closed while awake to relearn that habit. I elected to do that rather than go the full face mask route for my own personal reasons. So it can be done but takes some work.

If you just have to mouth breathe then you will need a full face mask because too much therapy pressure will exit through the mouth and not make it down to your airway to help hold it open.

A word about the SmartStart feature....sometimes it doesn't kick in or turn on if the pressure being used is low (like if a person is using the ramp function and starting out at 4 cm)...there's just not enough air movement to trigger the machine to turn on.
This can also happen when using a nasal pillow mask at 6 cm pressure...just not enough air movement.
When this happens people need to start the pressure out higher or just push the button to start the machine manually.

Guest wrote:Thank you very much for the quick reply!

I think I will turn off the auto on/off. I already turned off the ramp up feature since it makes it very hard for me to breathe until the air pressure is up. I see no drawback in turning on and off manually, only advantages.

It seems that a lot of DMEs (or if you got the machine from some other source) tend to leave the default start pressure way down at the minimum pressure of 4cm. If you still want to use the Ramp feature or the new Auto Ramp feature (auto ramp actually works pretty slick) you can go into settings and set the ramp start pressure higher than the default of 4cm. Most folks on cpap don't like the setting that low as you tend to get that starved for air feeling. You'll also find some DMEs leave the auto pap set wide open from 4cm to 20cm, and again if this is the case you might find that the starting pressure of 4cm to be too low for comfortable breathing. It is my suggestion that if the 4cm seems too low, set it a little higher, perhaps around 6cm and give it a try there to see if that's more comfortable than starting way down at 4cm.

You might have to go into clinical menu to adjust the start pressure for ramp and or the start pressure for therapy. Here is a page that explains how to go into clinical menu:

Guest, I'm only about three weeks behind you. I've been reading the manual lately and will add a little snippet I remember: the machine keeps below for a short period after you take the mask off to keep condensation from building up in the hose. It will turn off by itself eventually, but it's so noisy I can't imagine how anyone who is married could put up with it. I'm in the habit of reaching for the "stop" button and timing it so I hit the button and remove the mask in the same motion.

glowradar wrote: the machine keeps below for a short period after you take the mask off to keep condensation from building up in the hose. It will turn off by itself eventually, but it's so noisy I can't imagine how anyone who is married could put up with it.

I believe you've misunderstood what the manual means, the machine keeps running the fan on low for a while after you hit the stop button, if you've had the humidifier temp turned on. you can barely feel the air with your fingertips, but you certainly can't hear it.

Device blows a small amount of air in order to avoid condensation in the air tubing. It will stop automatically after 20 minutes.

the poster you're replying to is talking about the autostop not working. that's a different thing.

I've seen that happen on one of the s9 type machines when I had the wrong mask type selected.

Ah, mask type in menu......thanks for reminding me PR, that might be the OP's issue, he should check the menu and verify he has the correct mask type selected. Seems you have dodged the Alzheimer's bullit!

TangledHose wrote:Ah, mask type in menu......thanks for reminding me PR, that might be the OP's issue, he should check the menu and verify he has the correct mask type selected. Seems you have dodged the Alzheimer's bullit!

I don't know how it works with smartstart on the as10 series, but on the s9, when I first got a pillow mask, I just stuck it on, forgetting about the mask type setting, and when I pulled the mask off, the machine just kept running... which disappointed me, until I remembered to change the setting... then it worked fine.

the extra resistance to flow from the pillows was enough that the machine was thinking "large leak!" as opposed to "mask off" ...

due to the way my headboard and side table and all is, reaching the machine from the bed requires some contortion, so I really like the smartstart option

Thank you for all replies, what a great community, hopefully I can address all resplies!

Regarding the air that blows out. I have noticed the very slight airflow referred to in the manual as meant to cool down the hose. Mine actually keeps blowing full force. As Glowradar pointed it out's very noisy. I noticed last night when I got up to go to the bathroom and just left my mask on the pillow thinking it would shut off. Surprisingly my wife didn't wake up. I did set the mask type, so that's not it in my case. I have the P10 mask with the medium pillows installed. We'll see tonight when I use the full mask, I'll make sure to change the mask settings.

Regarding the ramp up issue, it does start at 4, which makes breathing difficult for me. I'll follow the instrucions and see if I can get it to start at 6.

Today another question arose. I signed up for the ResMed account where you can see your data online. Unfortunately, I am not able to see last nights data since I did not signe up until today. Can I plug my sd card into my computer and take a look, or would I just be opening up a can of worms. I've searched the internet, but it seems that it's not as easy as just plugging the SD card into your computer.

There is a link in my signature line below for Sleepyhead software, it's free and is the preferred software for most users here. The newest version (9.8.1) will work with the Airsense machines.

The install is not typical, you unzip the software in a directory of your preference, then look at the unzipped files and near the bottom you'll find open GL and broken gl, try clicking on Open GL first and see if it displays ok on your computer, broken is for less capable graphics cards. After you get Sleepyhead running you can import your data from the machines SD card, be sure and follow the cautions about locking your SD card so the computer doesn't write any files to your SD card, especially if you run windows 8.1 as that version of windows will write some files to your SD card if it's not locked. Also be sure to unlock the card before putting it back in the Airsense machine....you'll notice the screen on your Airsense showing a message like "preparing SD card" which is normal.

If you get the program to work properly you can also go back into the folder where you unzipped the files and right click over the open GL (if that file worked for you) and you can create a shortcut for the program on your desk top or pin it to your start menu on the computer.

This is also a site with the Sleepyhead download information. When you have questions just ask here. https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

I followed the links and installed Sleepyhead, but whenever I attempt to upload the data from the SD Card I get an error message. Nothing specific, just that the program has stopped working. Since this happens on "open" I was going to try the "broken" .exe, but a message told me I have full support for "open" on this computer.

Has anybody else experienced this?

Guest wrote:I followed the links and installed Sleepyhead, but whenever I attempt to upload the data from the SD Card I get an error message. Nothing specific, just that the program has stopped working. Since this happens on "open" I was going to try the "broken" .exe, but a message told me I have full support for "open" on this computer.

Has anybody else experienced this?

Exactly which version of SleepyHead and exactly what OS are you using on your computer?
Exactly which model machine are you using?
Are you saying you got SleepyHead unzipped and appears to be working properly except for when you attempt to import your data from the SD card?

Otherwise...yes I have had that happen when SleepyHead just stops working but it has always been when I have been too impatient and clicked on too many things to tell it what to do and it gets confused. Not saying that is your issue...just saying that I have had it happen and the reason for it happening in my situation.

You might want to take the time and register here at the forum and add your equipment to your profile (see my profile for example)....I am assuming that you are the original poster in this thread by the name of Marc using the new AirSense 10 AutoSet but "guest" could be anyone and it makes it difficult to know what is being used unless you mention it in every post you make which I suppose is okay but a lot of unnecessary typing.