Still struggling

Quickstrike · Post by **Quickstrike** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:10 pm

and don't know what to do. I've tried 2 nasal pillows, 1 nasal, 2 full face and haven't stuck with any of them very long. The best success was with the Wisp but it was about 2 weeks before I started waking up with it off my head, partially because the headgear fell apart. I loved the Aloha and my current Swift FX both for about a week. I'm not uncomfortable but for some reason I take them off in my sleep. I really need to get this dialed in because I'm feeling awful and I won't be able to renew my DOT medical card without it. I'm using a Airsense 10 autoset set at 4-20 I believe.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:14 pm

Well if you start off with a low pressure of 4, it's a wonder you don't throw off more than the mask... no one can breathe at that #. Raise your low pressure (the important one) to at least 7 for a few days, use some tape on the mask straps for now to waken you if you start to pull it off, and come back and let us know how it's going. 4 is the machine default low setting, not therapeutic!

Quickstrike · Post by **Quickstrike** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:18 pm

Ok so I changed the minimum and start up pressure to 7 and left max at 20. You are right I struggle to breathe until it increases...what kind of tape? Also, the EPR is off...what is that?

JDS74 · Post by **JDS74** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:36 pm

Any tape you are not allergic to.
The idea is to get you fully awake anytime you pull off the mask while sleeping so you can put you mask back on and go to sleep.
Edit: EPR is a form of pressure relief that allows you to exhale at a lower pressure than the inhale pressure. It is a comfort feature. Many keep it turned off.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:54 pm

3M Micropore tape (from a drugstore, but it's not with the scotch tape), or blue painter's tape, though that might come off tooo easily! Both of these are normally used to tape your lips closed to prevent mouth breathing leaks.

yaconsult · Post by **yaconsult** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:59 pm

EPR is exhalation pressure relief. It is considered a comfort feature and makes breathing out a bit easier. You can set it from 1 to 3 with 3 being the most amount of relief. Try all three of them and stick with the one that you like best.

Many people do better with a higher minimum pressure so that the machine doesn't have to ramp up every time we have a breathing difficulty. I'm probably pretty extreme but I have my minimum pressure set to 13 and my max at 20. It sometimes goes up to 17. I am very used to this pressure and find it comforting and not an effort to breathe.

You should also be looking at your data and try to figure out what minimum pressure will prevent most of your episodes without being higher than necessary. The more you get it dialed in, the better you will sleep.

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:00 pm

Julie wrote:Well if you start off with a low pressure of 4, it's a wonder you don't throw off more than the mask... no one can breathe at that #.

more correctly... *many* or maybe *most* but, for some people, 4 is enough. that's why it's there.

Quickstrike · Post by **Quickstrike** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 4:16 pm

I was definitely breathing better last night but I still took it off about an hour in. I slide it on and off so I'm not sure how much tape will help.

Krelvin · Post by **Krelvin** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 4:20 pm

Quickstrike wrote:I was definitely breathing better last night but I still took it off about an hour in. I slide it on and off so I'm not sure how much tape will help.

The tape is to wake you up so you know you took it off, so you can put it back on.

Quickstrike · Post by **Quickstrike** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 4:22 pm

Krelvin wrote:
Quickstrike wrote:I was definitely breathing better last night but I still took it off about an hour in. I slide it on and off so I'm not sure how much tape will help.
The tape is to wake you up so you know you took it off, so you can put it back on.

I guess I'm not exactly sure where to tape a Swift FX

JDS74 · Post by **JDS74** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 4:57 pm

If your mask is the Swift FX Nano, put tape on the headgear as it crosses your cheek. No need to mess up your hair. No need to actually put tape on the mask parts either.

Remember, the idea is to wake you up when you take the mask off in your sleep so you can put it back on right away.

Quickstrike · Post by **Quickstrike** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:10 pm

I'm using the Swift FX nasal pillow

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 7:07 pm

The Swift FX Nano cushion mask and the Swift FX Nasal Pillow mask use the same headgear and you would place the tape across the cheek area no matter what mask.

The whole idea is that the act of taking the mask off and that tape would pull on the skin a little and cause a little discomfort and wake you up enough so you can stop the unwanted behavior of removing the mask in your sleep and not knowing it.

Now if you are awake and knowingly taking the mask off then that's a whole different story.

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 7:27 pm

No need to go buy a special tape if you have Bandaid style bandages in the house.

Quickstrike · Post by **Quickstrike** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 3:46 am

I took it off last night after an hour and a half because it was leaking pretty bad at 9.5. I was awake at 2 now I have to drive over 200 miles and probably work 12 hours. I'm exhausted, ugh.

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