Ready to grit my teeth and get on this thing - Help!

[BReece]

Hi All,

I've had my M Series APAP for about a week now. I used it the first night and got about 3 hours of sleep (and about 3 1/2 hours of trying to sleep). I know I need to have persistance and patience, but I also want to make sure that my stuff is set up correctly rather than finding out I've been banging my head on the wall.

My DME set my unit to Min: 4, Max: 20. I think this is the lazy, incorrect way to do it, but I'm not sure.

I don't have a copy of my sleep study w/ me (on the road for work), but my machine tells me that on my one 3-hr night, it averaged around a 13.

I'm having two problems when I try to use the machine now. One, I feel like I can't get enough air. My mask is the Mirage Swift Nasal Pillow System (Original, not II). I don't feel like it's the mask's fault, though. I feel like the machine just isn't delivering enough air and I keep breathing through my mouth to "catch up". I could be wrong, though. Maybe this is just normal (?)

The other problem is that I can't get used to the warm air that's being delivered. The room air is significantly cooler and I'd like to have that temp delivered to my nose, but I don't want to turn the humidifier off and turn into beef jerky.

Thoughts?

Thanks much,
Bret

[Babette]

Bret, not the expert, but here goes - I think you need to set your apap to closer to your average. Try.... 11 - 15. See how that goes. Might help.

I was given this advice when I bought my apap two weeks ago.

And no, I have been running it straight cpap with cflex because I'm scared to mess with it right now and risk a bad morning... Maybe NEXT weekend...

GOOD LUCK!
b.

[Babette]

Also, turn your humidifier to the lowest setting, or zero. If you wake up sahara, don't do that again.

Me, I tolerate 0 very well.

Cheers,
B.

[KAZ]

I'm new to CPAP(one month on machine)so I will leave the advice to the many pro members. I was getting up 5 or 6 times a night when I first got home from the hospital with my trachea tube uncapped at night. After my sleep study (pressure 20) and getting my machine I have not been up at night and sleep all the way till morning. Point is,when things are right you get into the deep sleep you require. Keep working until you have all systems go. Regards

[BReece]

Thanks very much for the replies.

I set my machine to 9-16 last night and I set the humidifier down to 1. I also turned the ramp off. All of that helped a lot. I finally felt like I could get enough air. It still took me an hour or more to fall asleep, but I ended up getting almost 7 full hours of sleep without waking up. Pretty cool.

I think I'll turn my humidifier back up now, though, because the air didn't get any cooler and I woke up pretty dry.

This morning, my biggest problem was that my ears are really sore. The cartilage bump part just inside the top part of my ears are really red. I'll look at that in more depth tonight once I put my mask of life back on.

Thanks again,
Bret

[tangents]

Bret,

Glad to hear that you had a better night. I think you'll find that narrowing your pressure range is the key to comfort and treatment success, IMHO. If your mask is pressing on your ears, try putting some kind of cushion there tonight (cotton pad, makeup applicator sponge, etc.) and see if that helps. I have read that others put chilled water in the humidifier. Even if you turn on the heat, the air might feel cooler for a while, long enough for you to fall asleep.

Take Care,
Cathy

[Sergey45]

You also should start experimenting with different masks. I am doing it already for more than a year.

[snoregirl]

Definately narrow your pressure range. Never set it at 4 (even a ramp) as most of us here know we can't get enough air at 4 and many of us at 5 too.

Good that you are doing better. Keep looking at your numbers and getting that range even a bit closer may help more.

Are you taping your mouth and/or using a chin strap or homemade chin strap? Your dry mouth could be more related to leaking air out your mouth than the level of the humidifier.

I find that in the summer months (assuming you are in the northern hemisphere and not in a desert) it is naturally more humid and I just use mine as a passover humidifier (water in it but turned to 0), but in the winter I need to have heated humidity or my sinus gets really irritated.

[Babette]

Hey Bret, that's great! I've never been able to tolerate the ramp. I tried it ONCE and thought I was suffocating. Good call turning it off.

Have you played with the Aflex settings? I like Cflex at 3. But you should fiddle around and see what works for you.

7 hours continuous sleep is AMAZING! Lots of people here would KILL for that, me included.

Look into Padacheeks products. Might have something you could use to tweak your mask straps with to make them more comfy.

http://www.padacheek.com/

The owner of the company is a forum member. Her ID is PADACHEEKS, suprisingly...

Congratulations!
Barbara

[BReece]

All,

Thanks for the tips.

I've played w/ the CFlex setting a little bit, but I haven't really been able to tell much of a difference yet. It was that starting setting of 4 that was killing me.

I am very pleased to be able to sleep more or less continuously with the mask on, and to be able to fall asleep in around 1/2 hour or so. I still don't feel any different during the day, though. I'm crossing my fingers that I will soon. I'm also going to get a card reader and software to be able to peer into what's going on when asleep.

Thanks again.
Bret

[roster]

...
I think I'll turn my humidifier back up now, though, because the air didn't get any cooler and I woke up pretty dry.

........

If your mouth was dry, you may be "mouth leaking" and losing the therapy of the pressure.

[Babette]

Rooster's right.

Bret, are you taping or using a chinstrap? Rooster has a great taping procedure. Rooster honey, could you repost that here for Bret? Or someone link to the thread?

Cheers,
B.

[roster]

Here is the mouth taping link: viewtopic.php?t=9653&; but first figure out if you are mouth leaking. There are also other solutions besides taping. Just ask and people here will help.

BReece, the Subject of this thread (Ready to grit my teeth and get on this thing - Help!) amused me. I had bruxism. After I started cpap the bruxism went away. I believe I was gritting my teeth during the nightly struggle to breath.

Good luck.

[BReece]

I'm just using the chin strap that my DME gave me for now. I'll check that information out. Thanks very much.
-Bret