Snoring?

[LisaEileen]

My husband said that the past couple of months he's noticed I've been snoring more and more while using my bipap. It was so bad last night that he slept on the couch. I thought I woke myself up a few times in the past couple weeks due to snoring, but I didn't think that was possible with my bipap. I've noticed that I've been a lot more tired lately, but thought it was just due to the winter blahs. But, now that I think about it, I haven't felt like I've slept well for a few months.

I ordered a new mask today which should come in about 2 weeks. I've wanted this mask for awhile now:
http://www.cpapsupplyusa.com/RespCare-H ... YB500.aspx
The last time I ordered a mask I requested this one and they told me they could only give me the Liberty. I was pretty sure I wouldn't like that one, but got it anyway. Nope, I have never liked it. I can't get a decent fit with it and the plastic on the straps always digs in my face. I begged this time for this one and they said they could special order it, but if it doesn't work I can't exchange it.

I'm hoping that the new mask will help the snoring. Maybe this crappy Liberty mask is just beyond it's use now? It's just strange that it's just been in the past few months that I've started the snoring. If I don't stop after getting the new mask I'll have to call my sleep doctor. I haven't seen him since I got the bipap in August 2009. He never told me to come in for any rechecks or anything.

I'm just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and what the problem ended up being? I'm also wondering if after all this time using my bipap if suddenly I need to increase my pressures?

[LSAT]

Special order or not, if you are ordering from a DME, you should have a 30 day return privilege. All of the major brands allow the DME to return used masks for credit or replacement.

[DougVK]

Does your machine give full data such as AHI a night or week?

[DoriC]

Hi, you're obviously using the wrong mask for you and that's key.What is your pressure? Do you have software to monitor your therapy? You probably need to see your Dr, he may need to adjust your pressure and other settings. When my husband starts snoring I know it's time for a replacement mask, usually every 3-4 months.

[chunkyfrog]

The Respcare Hybrid is listed as Innomed Hybrid in the cpap library mask trial site--(same, identical mask)
The cost is very low for a 1 week trial.
Who needs a DME that won't play nice?

[LisaEileen]

I bet it's my crappy mask then. Hopefully it's just that. I also just bought a cover for my hose. I'm guessing the condensation that builds around the sides of my mask isnt' helping anything either. My pressure is set at 5/10. Average AHI's have been 3.2.

[Pugsy]

Average AHI's have been 3.2.

Data from software or off the LCD screen on the machine? How has the reported leak been?

You are probably right about the condensation in the mask..along with skin oils and a tired mask. You may be leaking more than usual or perhaps your sleep is being disrupted more from the condensation??
Hopefully the hose cozy will help with the condensation but if the condensation is from the moisture in your exhaled breath it may not completely help with the rain out.

[LisaEileen]

On the screen. The leak on the screen says 29.1.

[Pugsy]

On the screen. The leak on the screen says 29.1.

Thanks. Those are of course 7/30 averages on the LCD screen. Your leak is fine. No where near large leak.

If you had the software and the DT3500 Infineer smart card reader we could perhaps look to see if that AHI happens to maybe be from some clusters or something. I know when I had clusters and AHI of 4 I felt sort of okay but missing something and when I increased the pressure to a point where the AHI was 2 or less I saw the clusters break up and I felt noticeably better.

If you can't isolate anything external that is a possible culprit...fragmented sleep from whatever or shorter hours of sleep or bed comfort or medications you might be taking...you might think about a little increase in the pressure to see if it helps you feel any better. Not much increase but just a little. Just a thought. Kinda hard to come up with anything but thoughts but your pressures are relatively low anyway so it wouldn't hurt anything to have a 0.5 cm increase if you want to try it.

The reported new snoring...indicates that the pressure is not quite doing its best job.

[LisaEileen]

I have a really weird case anyway. So figuring out anything with me is always difficult. My sleep doctor called my case unusual and interesting. My diagnosis is Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome. I don't have a lot of issues where I stop breathing, but I have issues with having a lot of trouble breathing overall...or something like that. lol I'll have to see if I can get a follow up with the sleep doctor. It's been 3 years with no follow up.

[archangle]

On the screen. The leak on the screen says 29.1.

Thanks. Those are of course 7/30 averages on the LCD screen. Your leak is fine. No where near large leak.

Pugsy, does M series report 90%, average, or what for leak? I'd be worried that she could be having time periods with large leaks causing apnea and snoring at that time, but they don't happen for a long enough period to show up on the display.

Lisa, I agree the software (Encore PRO, not just Encore) and card reader would make things a lot clearer.

[Pugsy]

Pugsy, does M series report 90%, average, or what for leak? I'd be worried that she could be having time periods with large leaks causing apnea and snoring at that time, but they don't happen for a long enough period to show up on the display.

M Series machines report an average Total Leak on the LCD screen...so vent rate is included...so won't ever see a 0.0 on a M series LCD machine. OP reported leak of 29 L/min is probably right at or very close to the expected vent rate. If OP is having any large leaks they aren't long enough or high enough to really be a problem or that average leak would be a lot higher.
M series machines didn't do the 90 % leak thing...only total leak in Encore Viewer and of course with Encore Pro..either Total Leak or Unintentional Leak.
Granted her 29 L/min is a 7 day average...and someone could have a bad night every now and then but if consistently leaking enough to impair therapy I would suspect it would show more than 29 L/min.

Obviously we don't know with 100% certainty from the LCD screen but an occasional night of a snore here and there..yeah maybe a leak, but not long term I don't think because I think that if the leak is bad enough to impact therapy that the 7 day average would be much higher since this problem has been reported for more than a couple of nights.

I have an old M series leak report here. My vent rate is roughly 35 L/min at my average pressure here. So you can see...a minor leak later in the night but overall not much leak.


And same leak report but using Encore Pro to show only unintentional leak.