Newbie with trial equipment and questions

[Luvmybentley]

Results of my sleep testing: AHI 56.5 with O2 levels dropping to 72%, Dr. Says severe sleep apnea. That explains the extreme exhaustion and moodiness...so I began doing some research which brought me to this community. I have been reading the posts and hope that I have realistic expectations about adjusting to the treatment. It helps to know that there are others out there with wisdom and experience to share.

Here's my details so far,
Therapist is at VitalAir in a larger community 2 hrs drive from me, so she gave me the trial equipment (S9 autoset with H5i heated humidifier) with 2 masks to try out ( "wisp" nasal mask and "Quattro FX" nose/mouth mask). I have a followup scheduled in 1 week. She said the nasal masks are her most popular, and if I had minor issues with mouth opening to stick with it before trying other one as my brain may be able to retrain my mouth to stay closed. As this is my first trial machine, she explained pressure was self adjusting pending data on SD card.

Night 1: Used the wisp nasal mask. Ramp time 30 min, humidity set at 4.
At first it wasn't so bad, once I figured out to keep my mouth closed. But when it ramped up I was feeling suffocated. I was able to calm myself down and breathe slowly and it got better. I was able to get some sleep, but was blasted awake several times when my mouth opened. I stuck it out and managed to keep the gear on all night, but found the air very cold and my nose and throat were sore the next day. Also, the mask left a red welt on the bridge of my nose and the plastic straps were really irritating on my cheeks. Worst offender was the headgear...I hate stuff on my head. Also, my stomach was full of air in the morning and all day I felt like I was breathing against pressure. Overall, poor sleep and crappy day, but I will consider it successful because I kept gear on all night. Baby steps.
I gathered some info on these boards and learned that there are heated hoses available, that would help i think. I also want to try an ear loop style harness because i hate the headgear. I assume I swallowed a lot of air and hope this is just a breaking in thing?

Night 2: again used wisp nasal mask- determined to get used to it. Thought about taping my mouth but decided to just stick with it in case therapist was right and I will learn to just keep it closed. Turned the ramp OFF as the pressure blasts were just waking me. Upped the humidity to 4.5, and wrapped an electric heated blanket around the hose. Slept on my side with hand under my chin. Much better sleep tonight , went to bed at 10:30, had no problem falling asleep this time, stupid dog barked at midnight and woke me up ( still not sure what he was barking at, he never does that. Maybe my mouth was making chipmunk sounds? I did find that I was getting puffed up cheeks, but that only woke me 2 or 3 times) Hubby said he never heard anything, just happy I'm not snoring. The heated hose made a huge difference, much more comfortable. I put folded up tissue under the straps rubbing on my cheeks and it helped, definitely have to find a different harness. Dreamed several times, can't remember the last time I had dreams so I assume this means better sleep. AHI was better too, showed 3.5 last night! Success? However...woke with eyelids and under eye bags so puffy I could hardly open my eyes, and glad I had the day off because it never went away. Is this common? I tried cold packs and decongestants and nothing has helped. Sinus pressure is uncomfortable as well, but I can breathe through my nose so nasal stuffiness isn't the issue. It didn't feel like my mask was tight, just the straps are plastic rather than soft fabric so was irritating on my cheeks. Also didn't notice any air leaking unless I lifted my mask away to catch my breath after a mouth leak, which was much less than I was expecting, so an improvement over the first night.

Q: Any advice to prevent puffiness or know what is causing it? (Not regular puffy eyes that goes away after a shower...this is extreme, looked like a prizefighter all day)
Q: What do you do if you have a cough? Do you use a different mask or just go without until cough gone? I had to cough a couple of times and it sucked with the nasal mask...

I am sure i will have many more questions in the days to come, but for now I just need to get used to alien gear on my face.

[Winter]

I'm also a newbie (about 2 months in) but I have recently been through some of those issues so I'll give you my ideas. I had bad puffiness around the eyes for the first few weeks and I thought it was to do with leaks from the full face mask into my eyes. I have found it has been better since switching to a nasal pillow style mask. However a friend of mine said her husband went through the puffy stage for the first few weeks and then it seemed to die down after that so maybe your sinuses have to get used to the extra pressure? I have little cloth wraps around the straps on my face that are made by Resmed so maybe ask the person who gave you the mask if they have any of those. I've also found that I need to cough if my throat is getting too dry so I'd keep playing with the humidity/temperature to see if that will overcome it. I think your machine allows you to adjust the temperature and the humidity separately but I'll let other more experienced users go into that. Good luck and stick with it. If you keep trying things you'll find the combination that works for you.

[Julie]

What are your prescribed pressure settings? You say you're taking 30 mins. to ramp up, but to what pressure? If it's not very high (e.g. above 10) then maybe try a faster ramp up... most of us in fact turned off the ramp feature (not therapy, just comfort) within the first week of Cpap and found that just going straight to our scripted pressure was no big deal. And you probably feel suffocated because the ramp starts at too low a pressure to breathe comfortably at.

[robysue]

The eyes can also be very, very sensitive to air being blown at them. Any chance there was a small mask leak that allowed air to blow towards the eyes much of the night? Or---perhaps the exhaust flow was bouncing off the bedcovers and back into the eyes for much of the night. If you don't think there were any leaks, you might try draping a handkerchief across the eyes tonight and see if that makes any difference.

[Jeannh]

I think your machine allows you to adjust the temperature and the humidity separately

This is correct for the S9Autoset. You can set the temp to anything you want, and the humidity can be either "Auto" or "Patient". If it is set to "Patient", you can set it from 1-6. If I set mine at 6, the water chamber is used up before the end of the night (I often sleep 8-9 hours). Note that I like the temp at 80. To not use up all the water, I set mine at 5. I try and keep the humidity high because I seem to always have a dry, sticky mouth.

I also have leak problems, and look for the smallest area possible to seal. So, no full face mask for me. I use either the Nuance/Pro pillows or the Nano nasal mask. Both have some leaks, but the Nuance/Pro pillows are easiest on my eyes, since no air gets near them. For me, the DME is too difficult to deal with to get the mask from them, I use our sponsor, https://www.cpap.com/, who offers free return insurance, often for nothing, within 30 days. This has allowed me to try a bunch of masks and only pay for the one I want. Their prices are very competitive, too.

Stick with it, and keep posting. This is a wonderful community, and you will find both help and support. It takes time.

Jean