New to CPAP

[Matt40]

Hello,

Just wanted to introduce myself to the board and present my story as I have recently been diagnosed with mild obstructive sleep
apnea. This board seems like a great community and thought I would try to get involved. Pretty new to this so some of my
abriviations and grasp may be off.

Some info about my diagnosis: In my sleep test (on my back) I had an AHI of 18.1 per hour, RERA of 85., and RDI of 32.8. On
my side it was quite a differn't story, AHI of just above 5. They said I slept a total of 2 hours. I did not have a titration
appointment. My diagnosis came after a multitude of various tests to try to get to the bottom of some issues I was having;

I had been waking many times throughout the night, some nights with a racing heart and headache. Honestly I remember waking up
many times a night all the way back to when I was 15-16 years old.
Headaches in the morning.
Blood pressure has been increasing over time.
My wife telling me I stop breathing at night and sometimes gasp/choke or hyperventilate.
But mostly because of going into Afib one night back in April'14.

My Dr's do believe the Apnea very well could contribute to all of these issues I am having and I am willing to give it a shot.
All other tests that I have had came back negative. I think the DME notified me that my Dr reccomended ranges in pressure
from 5-15 starting out at 4 and ramping up. That is what my machine is set at.

I have now endured 5 pretty sleepless nights with my new machine/mask. My experiance has been all over the board. Use at
night has ranged from 4.1 hours to as low as 1.7 hours. It seems to take quite awhile to fall asleep with the mask on but
eventually I do only to have awoke to many differn't senarios. First couple nights I awoke more to clostraphobia and had to
remove the mask and being half asleep just never put it back on. I had one night where I probably did not have the mask tight
enough and awoke to the air blasting all over my face. It also seemed like the pressure was actually blowing so hard against
my face that it was pushing the mask up and pushing the air outside of the mask with my cheeks flapping(mouth open). Last
night it was the opposite. I tightented the mask down more and awoke to being very very dried out, mouth and nose were
completely dry. Only made it 1.7 hours last night. I just can't seem to get the mask tightented correctly.

Some observations I am noticing;
Negatives
The pressure at sleep seems to be to great and actually wakes me up. It either blasts the mask off my face with to little
tightness, and dries me out to much if I tighten it down.
Not sure The humidifer is working optimally. I have it set at 4.0, with heat at 80 degrees, no water is used out of the
resivour by morning (even though It's only used 4 hours or less) and I know our hourse is dry.
Not sure on my CIA, This kind of scares me as my sleep apnea is more central than obstructive I believe.
If I can keep my mouth shut I can breath through my nose with the mask and machine on fine, if my mouth opens up things go
haywire. Hard to do as I am a mouth breather.
Have not been able to make it through a full night with the mask on.

Positives
The machine is quiet and sound doesn't bother my wife or myself at all.
The mask fits well, doesn't hurt my face or feel uncomfortable.
My AHi has ranged from <1.0 to 4.7

I have read some of the newbie info already and hope to try some of the suggestions.

Thanks

[palerider]

there's a 'mask fit' option on the S9 vpap auto, that will turn on the blower at the max level currently set and let you fiddle with getting the mask adjusted so it works at that level, less guess work needed.

mask liners can help tame leaks greatly, search for 'mask liners' here for lots more info, I wouldn't want to go through the night without mine.

you might want to try a chin strap (some folks have reported using an ace bandage as a test before investing in a more 'proper' chin strap) to see about keeping your mouth closed.

I don't use humidification, so I'd kinda be talking about my butt if I were to try and offer advice on humidifier settings, I also don't have the fancy pants heated hose.

taking the mask off is a BAD HABIT, easiy to ge tinto and hard to break.

[BlackSpinner]

Are you sure that this is your machine? "Machine: S9 VPAP™ Auto BiLevel Machine"

The settings you describe, 5-15, suggest an autoset machine

[Visitor]

Others will help you with practical advice. Just wanted to drop by and let you know it is worth hanging in there and getting things right with the help you get here. It's tough to believe in it and continue when sleep is broken even more. I've been there and got it finally right with some friendly advice on the forums. Hope it will work out for you. Don't give up.

[palerider]

Are you sure that this is your machine? "Machine: S9 VPAP™ Auto BiLevel Machine"

The settings you describe, 5-15, suggest an autoset machine

good question, matt40 what's the REF number on the back of the blower unit?

[Matt40]

Thanks for the replys.

I think you are right BlackSpinner it could be the Autoset. Think I heard the woman at the DME store mention that so I may have got that wrong. I will have to check the Serial number when I get home. The differn't models and purpose is still a little confusing.

Palerider, Thanks for the info about the facemask fit option. Going to try that for sure. The ace bandage sounds like a good idea, going to try that and try to fabricate some type of hanger. Can only help I would think. I will look into the liners also.

Thank you

[Matt40]

Are you sure that this is your machine? "Machine: S9 VPAP™ Auto BiLevel Machine"

The settings you describe, 5-15, suggest an autoset machine

good question, matt40 what's the REF number on the back of the blower unit?

The ref# is 36005A

[palerider]

Are you sure that this is your machine? "Machine: S9 VPAP™ Auto BiLevel Machine"

The settings you describe, 5-15, suggest an autoset machine

good question, matt40 what's the REF number on the back of the blower unit?

The ref# is 36005A

confirmed, autoset

[palerider]

Palerider, Thanks for the info about the facemask fit option. Going to try that for sure.

It's under the setup menu (checkmarks button)

[Matt40]

Palerider, Thanks for the info about the facemask fit option. Going to try that for sure.

It's under the setup menu (checkmarks button)

Thank Palerider I was able to find the option and it did indeed help! Was able to change the temp and humidity settings to a better place last night also.

Quick question. I've seen in some of the other threads talk about software? Wondering if there is someone out there that would know what software is compatible with the machine I have?

Thanks in advance

[Pugsy]

You can use either or both...Sleepyhead or ResScan software.
If you have a Mac...only SleepyHead has a Mac version.