New to CPAP Therapy | Nothing But Problems

[m_misztal]

Greetings from Texas,

I'm 28 and am on week 3 with my CPAP therapy machine and for the life of me, I cannot adjust to sleeping all the way through the night. The longest I've been able to go is about 3 hours.

I've been making minor adjustments but I'll list where I have fallen short.

1. The first mask I had was a Philips Respironics Dreamwisp nasal mask that gave me a rash, so I switched to the airfit P10. The problem now is that the mask appears to get clogged with moisture, I use the system one setting, on level 1.

2. The pressure I was prescribed is from 6 - 12. Sometimes, I awake feeling like I cannot catch my breath with the pressure being so high. To date, I haven't checked the pressure when I feel like this, instinctively I just turn the machine off in the middle of the night.

3. I don't know the difference between A flex vs C flex, but I'm currently using a flex with the relief set at 3.

4. When falling asleep, I get on the verge of sleep and then feel like my body forgets to breathe and I'm once again wide awake to start the sleep process over.


My big problems are 1 & 4. Problem 2 might be due to the mask getting clogged with moisture from the humidifier. I'm getting frustrated with the machine because I can't find anything that works. In my 28 years, it has always taken me forever to wake up in the morning and I yawn/am on the verge of falling asleep throughout the day. This happens every day!

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated!

[zonker]

Greetings from Texas,

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated!

welcome to the forum! others will be along shortly to help with more technical matters.

you may not have the settings on your machine set correctly.

what you could do in the meantime is read this, if you haven't already-

viewtopic/t172378/Sticky--Newbies-PLEAS ... STING.html

in particular, it would be good to get you going on the free monitoring software called oscar. see my link in my sig for a source for downloading oscar.

good luck!

[Janknitz]

Do you know how to get into the clinical menu? It would be helpful to know what your humidifier settings are.

The System One is an older machine. Did you get it used? There is a way to set the humidifier in "classic mode" which gives more humidification. This is not a factory setting, so I cannot imagine it would be turned on unless someone who used the machine before you turned it on. If you think you bought it new, do you know how to check "run hours"? Other than in classic mode, it would be very unusual for your machine to put out too much humidity, even when the humidifier is set to 5 which is the max setting.

Do you live in Houston or another area of Texas that's more humid than usual? Most of Texas is pretty dry in the summer (attended college there). But if you have your AC on pretty high at night, that might force the humidifier to work harder. And when the room is cold but the air is warmed from the humidifier or from you exhaled breath it can cause rainout right in the nasal pillows. But if the rainout is in the hose, that's a humidifier setting.

[Okie bipap]

Your third problem seems to be quite common. Personally, I have never had that problem. What I do is a simple breathing exercise. I breathe in for a count of three, then exhale for a count of three. By concentrating on my breathing, I don't think about other things that can keep me awake.

[rick blaine]

Hi m_misztal,

We'll start with (1) I have the same machine, and (2) there is a learning process or 'curve' people go through when they start sleeping with APAP.

3. You say: "The pressure I was prescribed is from 6 - 12."

What that means is your minimum pressure is that which would hold up 6 cm of water in a vacuum tube, and your maximum pressure is that which would hold up 12 cm of water in a vacuum tube. Same way as the air pressure at ground level holds up 30 cm of mercury in a vacuum tube, like in one of those old-fashioned barometers.

The machine leaves the factory set at 4 minimum and 20 maximum – so your machine is set a bit higher than factory minimum, and could go higher if you were a patient who needed more.

Whoever is treating you thinks that 12 should be enough for you, for now.

4. Based on a moving four-minute window, your auto-adjusting machine decides if your airway is being kept open. If it is, fine. It does nothing. If it isn't, that's not fine. And it ups the pressure by 1.5 cm.

Then it takes another four-minute look, and if the airway still isn't being kept open, then the machine ups the pressure 1.5 cm again.

And this goes on till there's a clear airway. And in your case, it does not go higher than 12 cm.

5. If the pressure gets up to, say, 10.5 or 12 cm, then you have to breathe out a little harder than you do without the machine. This means that your diaphragm and the muscles between your ribs (the inter-costals) have work a bit harder than usual. And that is likely to be when you get the sensation of "feeling like you cannot catch your breath".

It is something that you have to get used to. What you're reporting is what a lot of beginners report. But if you stick with it, you will gradually learn to breathe out in a way that is: (a) natural and (b) not forced (ie, not like blowing up a balloon) but which (c) has a little more 'push' to it.

And the way that you learn to breathe out like that is – by sticking with the treatment.

I sometimes say it's like that thing with jobs and experience. You can't get a job without the experience. And you can't get the experience without somebody gives the job in the first place.

In this case, you have to 'give yourself the experience'.

6. Both A-flex and C-flex are 'comfort features' – they drop the pressure a half, or one, or two units when you breathe out just to make it a little easier. One of them does it by 'softening the curve' on both the inhale and the exhale. The other just 'softens the curve' on the exhale.

And some people find either or both helpful.

And some people find after a while this 'exhale-relief' is not such a big deal, and they don't need it. And they turn that comfort feature off.

One thing I will add: if your resps per minute start to get up near 20, some people find that it gets confusing keeping up with the machine's changes – or else the machine finds it confusing keeping up with the patient's changes – and there's a mis-match. And that can wake people up.

I'm one of those people, and I have both A-flex and C-flex turned off.

You might be the same. I don't know. The only way to find out is by experimenting.

Which again means: you have to stick with it.

7. If you go back and read other people's posts when they started, you will find a high proportion who describe the same sort of reactions you describe – people saying – directly or indirectly – "I'll never get used to this."

But they do. And they have. And two, three months later, they've become like the rest of us.

Stick with it. It's a learning process.

[m_misztal]

Thanks for all of the helpful information. I'm blown away at the responses. I'm in a small town just North of College Station, home of Texas A&M University.

The machine I received was from a small company based out of Houston. To my understanding, it was brand new and the price was extremely cheap, so I don't mind it being older. The provider in College Station sat on my prescription for 3 weeks and never called. Also, they never answered when I called them, so I elected to make the trek to Houston.

I did some research and found out how to access the clinical menu. One big issue that I found was that the tubing size in the menu, did not match the tubing size I was given. This seems to have immensely helped the issues I was facing. The new problem is how cold the air has been. The wife and I sleep with a portable A/C unit that cools our master bedroom on top of our central A/C. I'm going to try and switch to the standard humidity system tonight. Even with the system one humidifier at 5, the air I was breathing in was ice cold.

I'm going to try and make a temporary cover for the tubing to see if that helps with the cold air in addition to the standard humidifier setting.

The new and main question on my mind goes back to the tubing setting. Could the mismatched tubing size settings caused me to have a ton of issues?

[Pugsy]

Look on the bottom of the blower unit for the model number...tell us that model number. 3 digits when might have P or DS in front or behind the 3 digits.
There may be a fix available for the cold air problem you are having.
Changing the humidity setting is unlikely to fix your issue....the hose cover stands a chance though.

I need to know if you are using a heated hose and/or if your machine is even capable of using a heated hose.
Also look on the power brick....what is the wattage? 60 or 80?

[m_misztal]

I believe it is a model 560p. My research today shows the model I have would need a heated hose upgrade kit. I found it on CPAP.com for 75 but I'm hoping that I can use the preheat feature of the humidifier until my next paycheck.

The current power brick I have is a 60 watt. So I think everything would need to be swapped within the kit I saw online.

[Pugsy]

You are correct...you need the upgrade kit to use the heated hose but the heated hose would warm up the air so that your nose wouldn't get so cold breathing in the air conditioned air in the bedroom.

You might try a hose cover in the meantime. It might offer enough warmth and insulation so the air in the hose doesn't cool down so much.

I don't know of a cheaper source for that upgrade kit...it's about the same cost everywhere.
I have a heated hose that I could just give you but you still need the special lid and the different power brick so that it will work.

Back in the dark ages before heated hoses....hose covers of some sort were pretty much our only option.
I cut some holes in some tube socks and slide several of them over the hose and secured them in place with some scotch tape. Wasn't pretty but it was cheap since the socks were sort of old and holey anyway and they were free.
It did help a bit.

[ChicagoGranny]

The wife and I sleep with a portable A/C unit that cools our master bedroom on top of our central A/C. I'm going to try and switch to the standard humidity system tonight. Even with the system one humidifier at 5, the air I was breathing in was ice cold.

To ask an obvious question, is the air from either A/C blowing directly on the CPAP machine?

[m_misztal]

I'm looking into buying the upgrade kit asap.

Last night using the preheat feature I got about 6 hours through the night before I woke up due to the temperature of the air. The AC is on the opposite side of the room and I keep the air intake of the cpap as shielded as possible.

I think the final step is going to be the upgrade kit and I'll finally be in business!

[m_misztal]

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

After upgrading to a heated hose setup, I've had 3 consistent nights of sleep and feel like a new person! Yesterday, I accidentally turned down the hose temperature setting instead of the humidity setting, so that caused me to get a sneezing sensation in the middle of the night. Lesson learned, won't do that again!

But I think I finally have the settings right where they need to be.

[Pauses]

Glad you got it worked out!

[Janknitz]

Glad you got it worked out and glad you got the heated hose.

I had the same machine for six years and the air from it was ALWAYS ice cold. I happened to like that, but I get why most people do not. And 3 years in, the humidifier quit working altogether--a known manufacturing defect in this model. But you may be fine with "passover humidification" (humidity just from the air passing over the tank of water) and a heated hose when and if that happens. Or, since you paid so little, you can by a better machine if that happens.

[zonker]

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

After upgrading to a heated hose setup, I've had 3 consistent nights of sleep and feel like a new person! Yesterday, I accidentally turned down the hose temperature setting instead of the humidity setting, so that caused me to get a sneezing sensation in the middle of the night. Lesson learned, won't do that again!

But I think I finally have the settings right where they need to be.

tapdancing.gif

and the irony of your posts title "... nothing but problems"!! with help from this community, you solved problems and are turning the corner.

good work!!