questions from a newbie

[Crist]

I'm into the second week now of CPAP and am having some great results but of course some teething problems too which brings me to post in the hope that there will be some wisdom out there to help overcome this hurdle.

Some background info:
Female, 37
Sleep study results - AHI 115 and O2 62%
Tried nasal pillows at first, just for 3 nights, but being prone to mouth breathing and shifting around a lot in my sleep they were not working for me so I switched to a FFM.

Week 1 I was using a S9 AutoSet from the sleep clinic and finding my way and knew nothing about downloading the data and looking at it myself but when I returned the machine and saw the tech and the Dr I was told that my AHI had averaged 1.8. Getting used to the machine, mask, mask changes etc I was only getting about 6 hours a night on the machine but I felt so much better.

Week 2 and I am using a rental machine (also an S9 AutoSet) and I have installed Sleepyhead and am downloading my data.
Night 1 - AHI 2, woke up at 6am finding that I had unknowingly removed the mask in the night, data shows I only had the mask on for 3.5hrs
NIght 2 - AHI 1.3, 8.5 hours sleep, fantastic night, didn't wake at all that I remember and mask securely in place on waking
Night 3 - AHI 2.6, woke without mask, data indicating 3.5hrs use
Night 4 - AHI 3.1, woke without mask, data shows 3.25hrs use

The only thing I did differently on night 2 was that I had refitted my mask after reading a fantastic link I found on this forum from Janknitz 'taming the mirage quattro' and before going to sleep I felt really happy with the fit and in the mask fit mode I had no leaks at all. The following 2 nights however, after putting on the mask and putting the machine into mask fit mode I had terrible leaks and had to readjust the fitting quite a bit as the pressure went up.

That got me thinking that maybe it was leaks disrupting me or discomfort from the mask and making me remove the mask without waking fully but the graphs for leak rates are varied and the good night I had actually shows more variations than the other nights. I can't figure out why after following the fitting steps and getting such a good result the first time that when I followed the same process the next two nights I got such a different result. Obviously there are going to be good nights and bad nights on CPAP just like there are without it but after 2 bad nights after such a good one I am feeling a bit lost.

Here are links to my SH data, first the good night I had
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ot7g92iea1nib ... ek%202.png

and the other 3 nights
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pdv1lnr5ccmnh ... ek%202.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdsx9b3cjwl5a ... ek%202.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2dy3vnao740ij ... ek%202.png

Thanks in advance!

[Julie]

Just a tip - don't put lotion, etc. on your face before masking or everything will slide around.

[Crist]

Just a tip - don't put lotion, etc. on your face before masking or everything will slide around.

Thanks for the reply Julie. I'm not using any lotions, just doing a good cleanse of the face to make sure I've removed makeup before bed.

[Sheriff Buford]

Put some mild medical tape with one end of the tape on the mask and the other end on your face. Use two or three strips and put them in different spots. That way, when you unknowingly remove the mask at night, it will wake you up.

Sheriff