New user, first night

Just spent my first night with my machine. Had a difficult night, took me about 90 minutes to get asleep. Left the mask on till about 5:00 and turned it off when I went to the bathroom. Downloaded Sleepyhead so I could get a look at my data. Couple questions -

1) Is there some way to put the machine on pause if I unhook my mask to go to the bathroom?? Otherwise it just keeps pumping out air and probably recording bad data.

2) Where can I get a more detailed explanation of all the data in Sleepyhead? I don't see where the Help area in the software gives much info. All that data without me being able to interpret it isn't much use.

Thanks!!

dooger54 wrote:Just spent my first night with my machine. Had a difficult night, took me about 90 minutes to get asleep. Left the mask on till about 5:00 and turned it off when I went to the bathroom. Downloaded Sleepyhead so I could get a look at my data. Couple questions -

1) Is there some way to put the machine on pause if I unhook my mask to go to the bathroom?? Otherwise it just keeps pumping out air and probably recording bad data.

2) Where can I get a more detailed explanation of all the data in Sleepyhead? I don't see where the Help area in the software gives much info. All that data without me being able to interpret it isn't much use.

Thanks!!

1. Turn the machine off when you go to the bathroom...leave the mask of if you have a good seal. Turn the machine back on when you are back in bed.

2. Go to the very top of the main page...Announcements...Pugsy's Tutorial on Sleepyhead.

just turn the machine off ... and it will continue when you turn it back on.... you will see a short brake in the data.

Pugsy's posting at the top of the page for a tutorial on sleepyhead:

viewtopic/t88983/Pugsys-PointersSleepyH ... Hints.html

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Look at Sleepyhead the same way.
You might start with the chart at the left that shows your AHI and the break down of events and maybe the graph at the top that shows the distribution and type of event. If things are going well, that may be all you ever care about. If not so well you can learn about the other graphs over time as they apply to your issues.

There will always be help here.

At this point I'm just trying to figure out what went wrong the first night. Not a restful night at all. My AHI was 16.77. Not really sure what to look at after that to help understand problems.

My biggest frustration was air leaks from my mouth. I used a chin strap but still had puffs and air leaking from my lips. Enough so it woke me up a number of times. I will try to adjust chin strap tighter tonight but don't know if that will help.

I'm not keen on going with a FFM without giving the nasal pillows a good shot. Typically not a mouth breather either. In good health and not overweight, if that's makes any difference.

It takes a while to get used to all this stuff. You probably did well for the first night. The mouth leaks just might lessen with time. Some people try chin straps, cervical collars, or even tape, but you can learn to keep your mouth closed, even while asleep. Start by placing your going conciously on the roof of your mouth behind your upper teeth. That seals the air pressure behind your toungue so it can't puff your cheeks open. If you wake up with a leak, do it again. I found the situation improved within weeks of starting.

Sleepyheads software can help you understand why your numbers are so bad. They may get better in a few nights too.

Please put your equipment into your profile to help us help you, and tell us about your machine settings and sleep study results.

Jim

If you have smartstart on, it will shut itself off when you remove the mask. However, you can shut it off by pushing the button on top. I do that anyway so I don't wake my wife with the sound of rushing air.