New Machine & Mask

[zaquon]

I was given a bottom of the line Resmed from my DME and the not having access to data from troubleshooting was killing me. So I picked up a barley used S8 Elite and have been using it the last two nights. I also switched from a cushion mask to the Swift II nasal pillows. The pressure felt a lot higher in the nasal pillows and the first night I had trouble adjusting to it, so I backed off my pressure. Last night I put my pressure back up to my titrated pressure of 8cm. The results have been promising but not quite there.

Both nights I had 0 leak rate, which is awesome. I assume that means i'm not leaking out my mouth which had worried me.

My AHI was ~8, with ~1AI and ~7HI. I'm thinking a slight bump in pressure would get me there.

I'm getting some aerophagia, but nothing I can't live with consider the Swift II is way more comfortable than the old mask.

I can't wait to get the software. I have Rescan 3.3 coming, an I understand it's possible to get an upgrade to 3.5, but I'm a little unclear on how to do that.

It's so great to have access to the data. Knowing is half the battle, they say.

Any thoughts?

_z

[Slinky]

I assume you changed your Mask Selection in the Elite for the Swift? W/an AI of 1 and some aerophagia I would sit tight at the present settings for a week before deciding on how much of a pressure change to make. And remember, you can make the changes in .2 cm increments, you don't have to change 1 full cm at a time. "They" say Resmeds tend to be a little more aggressive scorng hypopneas so be patient, give these two changes (mask and pressure) a week and then see what the cumulative week's data indicates.

[zaquon]

grr! Last night I had an AHI of 18! (a=2, h=16). I've been back to square one in terms of learning to breathe with the new mask, but when I woke up this morning I wondered if it was even on because I had gotten used to the breathing. I wonder if I screwed up the numbers during the hour it took me to fall asleep, I kept holding my breath cuz the machine made me feel like it was forcing me to breath too fast.

Still have a leak rate of 0 though!

_z

[Slinky]

Since you bought this Elite used you might want to have the Elite's pressure output checked w/a manometer. I had my DME supplier check out my Elite w/a manometer before I sold it just to be sure it was still in tip top condition.

[zaquon]

The aeropahgia has gone away after making some changes, I'm not sure which one did it, or if it's a combination, but I'm back to sleeping on my side mostly, I stopped using EPR, or maybe I just got used to the new mask. I felt like the EPR was trying to breathe for me, plus I felt it was compromising my pressure. I found if I just ramp it from 4cm the pressure sneaks up on me and it's fine.

Not being a very patient person I've bumped my pressure .2cm each day and watched my AHI go down.

The odd thing is I've been waking up at 4:30am and checking my numbers. Consistently my AHI would be 2 higher between 4:30 and 6:30. Since it's an average, I'm have more than twice as many events in those 2 hours.

I didn't check it at 4:30 today, but when I got up my AHI was exactly 5! (A=.8, H=4.2) These are my best numbers since I got the new machine. I'm still tired as heck, but my mood is improving, and my brain is functioning a lot better! I'm not making stupid mistakes at work and having to check my work a zillion times before I can trust it. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, it felt so good to sleep! Usually it's because I don't feel able to take on the day.

I think I'm on the right track, pressure is now at 8.8. If the current trend holds I'll be below 5 AHI tonight when I bump it to 9.

_z