Hi from an AutoSet CPAP Newbie

[Daveyboi_1981]

Hello everyone,

I recently went back to my doctors as I was falling asleep after meals, at work, losing concentration, suffering from headaches and sometimes even getting confused mid sentence of wht I was trying to say. For years I have been told to lose weight and stop smoking by my doctors and I will feel great but despite going to the gym regularly and working out for 2-3 hours a day 5 times a week I found I oly lost like a lb a week and then I would reach a few on this get depressed or something happen and go back up again. I finally managed to ditch the smoking with my very last cigarette smoked on January 8th 2012 yay me. I don't miss it however I have up in weight since quitting. Now my doctor, in my opinion, fobbed me off again telling me to go away and lose weight. But I said to him please I am suffering all these different symptoms please let me see the ENT specialist for a second opinion. so I was referred and lo and behold I was told that my sleep study from 6 YEARS ago showed I had severe sleep apnea and due to weight gain was almost guaranteed to be worse now!! The specialist claims they thought my GP had told me and vice versa

Putting the negative of how i got here to one side I am grateful that I finally have an nderstanding of what is wrong with me and in some ways that is a relief and in others quite a daunting prospect. I have my machine and can and do sleep all ight within since day 1 and from what I have read I would be grateful for my bodies acceptance of it. I do s,entices wake up feeling claustrophobic and at times like the pressure is so high the mask just won't stop leaking so I stop the machine and start it again with the ramp at 4 to give me a chance to drop back to sleep again.

I don't have the humidifier and I do get dry mouth but apparently this can sometimes go with time. I have the full face mask and as a mouth breather I think this is best for me as I certainly do not like the idea of strapping my mouth shut and being forced to breathe through my nose I think I could possibly choke in my sleep yuck! I don't mind the full face mask up even n my side at high pressures find the mask leaks slightly and wish there was a way around this.

I am at the end of week 2 currently and I feel more alert during the day, less confused and haven't had any passing out times so I am positive it is helping me. I do, however, sleep so deep now that when I wake up I feel like my eyes don't want to open and my body wants to sleep for 8-11 hours a day but be groggy as anything when I wake up. I have downloaded the software and in the two weeks I have had the following results if anyone can tell me if they are good, bad, any concerns etc ill be more than grateful.



Once again nice to meet you all.

[RandyJ]

If your 95% pressure is 12.8 and median 9.6, your minimum could be set a little higher, in my opinion, even though your AHI and leak numbers are good. All numbers are good. The setting of 4 - 20 cm is the default for the machine. Others will respond in this thread who may be more qualified than me to suggest a better minimum pressure.

I would get the humidifier and use it; it will make your therapy much more comfortable. You can buy one new from our hosts cpap.com or check for a used one at sites like secondwindcpap.com

If you are still in your first 30 days, you can probably exchange your mask through the DME where you got it for a different one, but if you want to keep it, just let us know which mask it is so forum members can suggest strategies for making it work.

You can see how to adjust pressure settings and learn about your S9 by watching this video: http://www.cpaplibrary.com/machines.html

You're doing great so far!

Edit: I just saw you are in the UK, I'm not sure how mask exchange might work there. Sorry.

[Sir NoddinOff]

hi Daveyboi. Welcome to the forum, you've come to the right place! I can't believe your original GP was such a bonehead... but I've experienced one too. Sounds like your on the right track and are well on the way to understanding your machine and mask issues. Please report back and keep us updated. Oh yeah, before I forget, I'm a nasal pillow user and tape my mouth. I just fold over some ''pull off' tabs' and use a tape that's not too sticky... no problems that I can foresee. Besides, you'd have to quickly pull off a mask if you suddenly vomited. A chinstrap could complicate that, depending on how you wear it.

[Tino2You]

Hi Daveboi,

First of welcome to the forum. And secondly, Congratulations! 11 months smoke free is awesome. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. For me it happened in Oct '99

It is great that you are taking to the hose so well. Your numbers look very good. I've been on the machine since May and average 9 hours a night. At first I was waking up tired but eventually I repaid my sleep debt, and am waking up refreshed and ready to go. Keep at it, you will get there.

The auto machines do work better when the pressure range is narrow. When I first started my machine was set 5-15. At that range the machine let quite a few events by untreated. I have since raised my minimum to 8 and my max to 15.6 and my AHI is almost always below 2. As a side note, I too was a mouth breather but I found the Swift FX nasal pillow mask to be so comfortable that I went with it and used a chin strap for a while. Three weeks ago I left my chin strap at my cabin and, remarkably, am still keeping my big mouth shut (when I am sleeping that is

Anyway, take care. Do what you are doing it is working!

Cheers,
-tino

[chunkyfrog]

Welcome, Daveyboi!
Kudos on the smoke-freedom.
Looks like you are off to a fine start.