Planning to buy a CPAP but need some help

I had a septoplasty and turbinate reduction in Aug 2017, three months before I was diagnosed with OSA and 5 months before starting on CPAP so I can't address your question about whether CPAP will help if you have a deviated septum.

However, I CAN say that my surgery was life-changing. Even with the splints in place (no packing, just splints sutured in place for a week or 10 days, can't remember now), I was AMAZED at how much more airflow I had through my nose! And once the splints were out...it was almost scary! No more pulling my face/nose to the side while lying down to try get enough air to breathe. More than 2 years later, I am still breathing freer than I can ever remember. SO happy I had the surgery. Obviously, each patient's experience varies.

Good luck to you!

My experience with the nasal surgery is much like yours. After I had mine, I told my wife I didn't know there was so much air out there. Prior to the surgery, I had never been able to breathe out of both sides of my nose at the same time. I actually breathed better with the splints in than I did prior to the surgery.

I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Had some issues with receiving the device/equipment. Anyways, I have the full face mask fit pack with all the sizes. The paper guide shows I should be a small cushion. My nose doesn't extend to the medium, though the width I come close, but again still in the small range. I actually always thought I had a big head, in caps I wear 7 3/8. But maybe I'm wrong with that assessment. Anyways, for the pros out there, should I just start with the small first? That's also the one the size that came installed on the headwear. Any other tips with the cushion? Thank you! I'm excited to see what happens. I'll get to the apps next so after I figure out the mask, I'll post my data and see if anyone can help me with ranges/pressures and all that good stuff.

Start with the small size since that is what the template showed that you seemed to need.

Size of the overall head has nothing to do with the facial structures that involve mask fitting.

So I tried it for just a few mins. I don’t know if I feel claustrophobic per se. but it felt like I was panting for air. I had a hard time just laying in bed with the mask on. I’m wondering if a mask like the airfit 20 covering my mouth and nose would be better? Anybody with any pointers? Also it feels like the air is very strong. I turned on ramping and started the min pressure at 7 as someone here suggested earlier. Any advice would be great. Like I said to reiterate, with the dreamwear full face on, I kept wanting to suck for air through my mouth.

I do have multiple cushion sizes, not sure if that may make things better or stick with the small which is what the sizer said I should be using.

JonathanK wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:01 am

...
but it felt like I was panting for air.
...
I kept wanting to suck for air through my mouth.

You are experiencing something that is very common among newbies - anxiety over the CPAP process. You are concentrating on your breathing and using your brain to control your breathing. During a normal day or normal night, you never think about breathing. Your autonomous nervous system triggers your breaths, and you don't even know you are breathing for much of the day.

You need to distract your mind from breathing and from CPAP. Let your autonomous system take over. Try to think of something pleasant and calming. Once you are able to fall asleep, you will breathe gently against the gentle pressure all night.

I started using the humidifier for the first time last night. I also have the heated tube. They were both set to 3 as the default and I read somewhere to just start there, after a little while of just laying in bed and in and out of sleep. I could tell I didn’t like either setting. I turned the heated tube to 4 which I think I’m happy with. I turned the humidifier to 4. I was happy with that I think too. Problem is now that I’m awake. My mouth is super dry and I notice the chamber has no water left. It was doing fine my mouth that is after I turned it to 4 I’m guessing it dried out because no water is left. Anybody have any suggestions? Also if @Pugsy is reading this. Thank you for something you posted about your nose. I wanted to make sure my nose didn’t dry out or anything. And so far so good. No drying out. No weird pains or anything. But the dry mouth sucks. Feels like I couldn’t even talk cause my tongue was stuck inside.

Are you still using the full face mask in your profile?

If so, sometimes people get dry mouth when using a full face mask even with the setting for humidity set to the maximum.
It's the mouth breathing that dries out the mouth. Some people just get dry mouth more easily than others for any number of reasons.
Medication side effects is a primary culprit for dry mouth as well.
These humidifiers were never designed to hydrate the mouth/oral cavity. They were designed to hydrate the nasal cavity which is much smaller.

We gave a lot of full face mask users who have bad dry mouth and they have to use some sort of oral hydrating product to keep the dry mouth from being so annoying (and it's bad for dental health as well).

As far as water consumption goes....several factors affect how much water gets used.
1....ambient bedroom humidity to start with
2....pressures used (higher pressures use more water)
3....humidity setting of course
3....large leaks....if you have very much in terms of large leaks it will consume water very quickly

If you have more humidity available ...might try a higher setting but remember that for some people even max isn't enough and they have to add an oral hydrating agent into their nightly routine.

It doesn't take a lot of mouth breathing either to cause the dry mouth. For some people it can happen with as little as 10 minutes of mouth breathing.
Don't forget...medication side effects can make it worse and also some other health conditions can also make dry mouth worse.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sun May 03, 2020 8:03 am

Are you still using the full face mask in your profile?

If so, sometimes people get dry mouth when using a full face mask even with the setting for humidity set to the maximum.
It's the mouth breathing that dries out the mouth. Some people just get dry mouth more easily than others for any number of reasons.
Medication side effects is a primary culprit for dry mouth as well.
These humidifiers were never designed to hydrate the mouth/oral cavity. They were designed to hydrate the nasal cavity which is much smaller.

We gave a lot of full face mask users who have bad dry mouth and they have to use some sort of oral hydrating product to keep the dry mouth from being so annoying (and it's bad for dental health as well).

As far as water consumption goes....several factors affect how much water gets used.
1....ambient bedroom humidity to start with
2....pressures used (higher pressures use more water)
3....humidity setting of course
3....large leaks....if you have very much in terms of large leaks it will consume water very quickly

If you have more humidity available ...might try a higher setting but remember that for some people even max isn't enough and they have to add an oral hydrating agent into their nightly routine.

It doesn't take a lot of mouth breathing either to cause the dry mouth. For some people it can happen with as little as 10 minutes of mouth breathing.
Don't forget...medication side effects can make it worse and also some other health conditions can also make dry mouth worse.

So first answer is yes, I am using the full face airfit f20. I do know about the full face masks drying out your mouth more. My room has a fan going because here in SoCal it’s very warm at night. But beyond that I have nothing to control the humidity in my room. Also to clarify I am not taking any medication currently. Also occasionally prior to using cpap I would sometimes wake up with dry mouth but not as bad as I did this morning. Also based on the machine, I was around 16.7 pressure wise. So that is higher. I do have the option to go to 5 on the humidity setting. Also should I put in more water? I think I filled it slightly before the max line in the chamber. Should I try filling it with more water? Also I forgot to mention since I’m trying to hit all of your bullet points. I did do the check mask fit setting and I was in the green. So I assume no large leaks or anything.

Mask fit check only pertains to the initial fitting. Doesn't guarantee no large leaks later in the night or for how long.
Need to use OSCAR software to evaluate leaks optimally...plus you need it for other reasons as well.

You are using higher pressures and that alone consumes a lot of water.
So start each night off with the water line to the max to give you the greatest chance of the tank not running dry.
This is something I have done for 11 years now....annoying yes and I just want to strangle the people complaining about "only" getting 3 nights out of a tankful of water. While I might not use all of the water...it's always been a least more than half unless it's been raining lately and the windows are open and the ambient humidity is high.

Buy a cheap humidity gauge thingy. They are cheap on Amazon. This way you know for sure what the machine is starting the night with in terms of moisture in the air. It is possible that your air is so dry that the machine simply has to use a lot of water to try to maintain your desired humidity level

Oh...the 16.7 cm pressure showing on the machine is what we call a 90% number. It is NOT an overall average and it is NOT where you spent 90% of the night.
90% numbers are where were were AT OR BELOW for 90% of the night. The or below part of the definition is really important to understand. Your overall average might have been much lower. I have had 90% numbers of 18 but the overall average was just 11.
10% of the night you were over 16.7 and we don't know how high.
90% numbers are easily skewed to the high side with a relatively short period of time spent at the higher numbers.

You may need to add one of those oral hydrating products to keep the mouth moist. You won't be alone...a lot of people use them.
Some people need them and they don't even mouth breathe all that much. Some people just drew the short straw and their mouth dries out easily even if there are no meds to blame it on. You may have to try several to find that works well for you.

I'm trying to watch some YouTube videos. So last night as I stated, I turned the humidifier to 4 and the heated tube to 4. (After a while in bed I realized my mouth was dry, hence I turned both to 4) As I stated I woke-up, and no more water in the chamber. Someone said the heated tube is too high and that would dry my mouth out as well. Is that right? Basically should I try going back to 3 humidity and 3 heated tube, since those were the defaults and try again? I didn't use that setting for long. Also, neither 3 or 4 caused any rain out or anything of the sort, but I am using a heated tube and the way the tube is to the cpap machine, I doubt I can ever feel water hitting me face. Anyone have any suggestions on the settings? I will dry and buy something for my dry mouth, maybe even drink more water before bed.