Waking up struggling for air

[Odiferous]

A handful of times in the past couple of weeks I've woken up with the sensation of struggling to get enough air. It almost feels like a power outage, but the machine's still on.

I'm usually not awake enough to process what's happening, but this morning I was a bit more coherent. I was breathing comfortably (and mostly asleep) until I flipped from my stomach to my back, and instantly felt like I had to work much harder to inhale. I continued to fight it for a minute or three, then turned the machine off (perfectly normal breathing without the mask on). A short while later, I put it back on and fell back asleep without further issue.

I've been using the Autoset 11 for about six weeks; I don't recall ever experiencing this with the 9 or 10. I've been using the same pressure settings for over a decade. Same mask (P10), and no issues with fit. No events or significant leaks around this time. The hose is anchored hanging above my head, so it didn't suddenly get pinched or lain on.

What the heck is this thing doing?

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[Julie]

Have you tried raising the min. pressure to 7 for a couple of nights - it could just be a bit low for you.

[Odiferous]

Have you tried raising the min. pressure to 7 for a couple of nights - it could just be a bit low for you.

I haven't tried adjusting anything yet. I may try that if this keeps up and I don't have any other clues, but it seems like I'd be struggling during the low pressure warm-up mode if it was purely a pressure issue.

[Julie]

Are you using the ramp feature - not sure if that's what you mean by 'warm-up mode'. #4 is the default low for machines and if you have a long ramp time to 'reach' 7, it's just wasting time as you delay therapy rather than enhance it. Only if your min. setting was e.g. 10 or higher would you bother and most of us don't as 7 is still pretty low to be effective for many people and it might be an idea to raise it to e.g. 9 and see how it works for a couple of nights.

[chunkyfrog]

I see Odiferous registered in 2014.
Is this a different machine than what you were using then?

[Odiferous]

Are you using the ramp feature - not sure if that's what you mean by 'warm-up mode'. #4 is the default low for machines and if you have a long ramp time to 'reach' 7, it's just wasting time as you delay therapy rather than enhance it. Only if your min. setting was e.g. 10 or higher would you bother and most of us don't as 7 is still pretty low to be effective for many people and it might be an idea to raise it to e.g. 9 and see how it works for a couple of nights.

Yes, I have ramp on. I probably wouldn't have a problem going without it--it's just been on since day 1 and never had a reason to turn it off.

I see Odiferous registered in 2014.
Is this a different machine than what you were using then?

Yes. I originally used the S9, which still works great. Then an Airsense 10 for just long enough for the warranty to run out before it started growling, and now I just got the 11 as a replacement.

Here's a better shot of my settings and detail of when it woke me up. The 5-second flat line followed by tiny oscillation on the pressure graph seems to be consistent with the beginning of OA events, but the pressure crashing to 0 afterward doesn't show up often--Oscar rarely even sets the scale below 2.0. I know EPR isn't supposed to let it go that low--why would it even do that?

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[Julie]

I personally would first raise the min. setting to 7 for a few nights to see how things go, as there's not a lot else that looks dire in any case.