Airsense 10 Elite: can't breathe in

[vometia]

The CPAP is well-controlled: my AHI is typically zero, and a bad night is 0.3. In that instance I believe the machine's recording, just that its idea of its own pressure output seems a bit... well, wrong.

But the cause of me waking up is a mystery. It's not just the A10, but the loan A10 APAP last year, the two S9s before it and the Respironics Remstar before them. Okay, the A10 is definitely the worst so maybe my opening line shouldn't have been stated with quite so much confidence but something else is definitely going on that keeps making me wake up. And also the collapsing was getting slightly alarming, especially tumbling down the stairs and nearly falling in front of a car on a busy road. Looks like cataplexy though the neurological consultant just smirked and said "no." when I passed on the respiratory consultant's thoughts (guess which one comes across as more competent). Fortunately the collapses have stopped since I started taking some heavy-duty ADHD medication, which has also rather interestingly shown a slight improvement in my sleep. My gf reckons I should try taking one of them before bed because she reckons that, as with ADHD, there's a good chance the stimulant's paradoxical effect might actually slow me down and let me sleep. But I'm a bit nervous about trying that when I'm just desperate for some sleep.

So although I'm fairly convinced my A10 isn't working as intended, I don't think it's the main problem. I'd say that, broadly speaking, my sleep apnoea has been well-controlled since I started CPAP all those years ago, but my sleep is still terrible and actually I haven't had a single decent night's sleep since I was a child.

Edit: I should also add that the polysomnography in question was done when I was using the S9, and my blood oxygen never dropped below 96%, so it seems that there were no apnoeas going on.

[vometia]

A rather belated reply to my post, but it eventually died altogether. Well, not quite "died" but started to make an alarming groaning noise and smelling bad, so more sort of undead, then.

So I'm left thinking that someone's assertion that mine was a bit of a lemon was likely correct.

Fortunately the sleep clinic were pretty quick about replacing it and we've just been to collect the new one. Seems I've been upgraded to an Airsense 10 Autoset, somewhat to my surprise. I'm not sure if it was in error (if it was, "you're my machine now, Dave!") or if they've just decided it's counterproductive and not cost-effective to have a two-tier range of machines. One of the staff did say that the better machines tended to be allocated to the shoutiest patients rather than those who actually needed them... hmm, maybe I've just become one of the more shouty patients, then. :/