Confused after 2nd night

[tarainfo]

I just completed my 2nd night on cpap
with Respironics M series Aflex
and optilife mask

I have felt pretty tired after both nights

First night I set myself up with 6-12 auto with aflex to 2
I had chosen cushions on my own and turns out I found out next days was very leaky
My pressure was between 9 and 11 but I had a sense of breathing very deeply easily

The 2nd night my clinician had me change to cushions to larger which she said would prevent leaks
My pressure never went beyond 7.1 and felt that breathing was harder but my wife woke me saying I was brething very shallow and too often
I also woke up with a sense of repressed lungs as if I had a weight on my chest all night

I can send my encore reports for each night to anyone who could interpret them and tell me if things are on the right path because I certainly can tell from my experience of sleep quality

Thank you

[ozij]

Tarainfo,
If I understand you correctly, the only difference between night 1 and 2 was the pillow size of the mask.

On the second night:

My pressure never went beyond 7.1 and felt that breathing was harder but my wife woke me saying I was breathing very shallow and too often
I also woke up with a sense of repressed lungs as if I had a weight on my chest all night

Now, I'm no doctor, nothing to do with the medical profession, but this report has me worried. Both your wife and yourself are describing breathing problems - and yet the machine is not responding as though you airway is obstructed.

Which to my mind points at the possibility that your breathing problems have a different source. For instance, my grandmother used to have breathing problems at night because she didn't take enough of the diuretic she was supposed to take - and her weak heart couldn't handle all the fluid in her body, so it collected in her lungs. I will say a word about sleeping with cpap in a minute - but please, go to a doctor.

About cpap:

1. When my machine has me exhaling against pressure that I'm not used to - I can fell it my chest muscles in the morning - mostly in the back. It does not affect how I breathe during the day. I would expect that feeling after your first night, not so much after the one with lower pressure.

2. Did your therapist make any changes in the machine - e.g. turning cflex of aflex on? There are some people for whom these comfort options are simply not good.

3. Since we all learn from each other, I think it would be nice if felt it was OK to share your Encore Pro data with all of us, and not only with one or two people by PM. Looking at the data and hearing what the mavens have to say may help someone who isn't even posting.

I really hope I'm being alarmist - but my gut feeling is - call your doctor.

O.

[tarainfo]

I would gladly upload the reports as pdf
but there is no such option on the board

[tarainfo]

I talked with the therapist
She said that it was normal that breathing was more laborious the 2nd night
as there was such was leakage the first night the effective pressure was much lower but so was the benefit

She said it it normal to feel a kind of chest muscular sore the 2nd night
because I am not accustomed to the pressure
If someone is able to interpret encore reports and would be willing to look at mine
I would be happy to send them to you

[ozij]

I'm very glad that's the reason.
O.

[jqp]

I'm on a pressure of 13cm H2O.

I felt the sore chest muscle thing the first couple of nights as well.

It's all gone a week later though. I actually slept 8 hours last night for the first time in years. Keep trying.

[cflame1]

how to upload reports so that anybody can see them (one way... there are others)...

save pages as jpg's or other picture formats... each page at a time.

sign up for an account on a place like photobucket.com

upload the pics to photobucket.com... then either link to them or use the img tag.

[papdaddy]

Hello, when I first started using cpap my pressure was 16 and breathing felt laborus in the begining. I used the ramp feature which starts out at a lower pressure to help. When i woke up I could tell i had to breath harder than normal. after the first week it got easier as my body became used to it. Now 5 years into it I can barely tell if the machine is even on. I have to check the exhale port sometimes. It does get easier with time. Hope that helps.

[Snoredog]

have you had a sleep study or PSG? What pressure was found there?

If not, I would bump up the bottom/Auto:Min pressure to 8.0 cm, how does A-Flex feel?

Breathing against it, it should feel completely natural to you. Too low and it may feel like too much pressure being delivered and/or no relief, too high like on #3 you may feel the pressure isn't high enough or it can cause you to hyperventilate.

Use a A-Flex setting so the machine matches your breathing not the other way around.

What Humidifier setting are you using? Too much humidity can make you feel stuffy, I accidently bumped the knob on mine to 1 and it was way too warm. This time of the year I use it in passover mode only.

What did it show for AHI and Leak on the LCD? Is that enabled? If not, you can
enable those features:

Here is detailed info on the M Series Auto. Obviously, put in your own pressures.

Respironics M Series Auto with C-flex/A-Flex:

1. Hold down the <- -> buttons while plugging in the power on the back, wait 2 beeps, release buttons.
2. Press the + key. <- -> buttons move to next field, -/+ keys decrement/increment
3. Check the following field(s):

-Therapy Mode=AFLEX (CFLEX/AFLEX)

-Auto:Max=12 (default=20.0cm)

-Auto:Min=6.5 (default=4.0cm)

-CFlex/AFLEX Setting=2 (options are off, 1, 2 or 3)

-AutoRamp Time=30 (options are 05 to 45 min)

-AutoRamp Pressure=6.5cm (4cm->AutoMin)

-Mask Alert Feature=ON (On/Off)

-Auto Off Feature=Off (On/off)

-Split Night Time = Off (off, 120, 180, 240)

-Show AHI/Leak Feature=ON (On/Off)

Press On/Off button to exit.

Suggested settings

I used to use a 6.5CM Auto:Min pressure, was too low with A-Flex now I use 8.0 to 8.5 cm and it feels about the same as Cflex did on 6.5.