New member. Beats my old diagnosis of ADHD. Great forum!

[Darth Vader Face]

Hi! I'm a new member. And this forum is totally awesome!

I was finally diagnosed with severe sleep apnea-hypopnea. You know what? I'm happy. For years I had been taking Ritalin for concentration and focus and to keep me awake during the day. Finally getting the sleep study done and getting a CPAP machine? Wow. I totally welcome it. It is much better than being propped up with psychostimulants all day long.

So, I got my CPAP machine on the sixth and I've been using it since. Well, except for one night that I slept on the couch. Ooops! I got a really nice machine (Auto-CPAP ResMed C9 with EPR, H5i Humidifier/Climate Control, and Quattro FX Full Face Mask). The only real problems I've noticed are:

1] When I go to bed at night, my nose stops up for a bit. In the middle of the night, when I turn from being on my left side to being on my right side, my nose will temporarily stop up again and it feels like only one nostril eventually opens up. (Oddly, usually the opposite nostril from when I was laying the other direction.) Darned if I know why that is happening. I suppose it has always been like that, but it is more noticeable since I started wearing the face mask.

2] Sometimes when I breathe through my mouth, the pressure seems so intense it is like my cheeks are blown out or something. It is really an odd sensation.

3] The straps on the back of my head seem a little... too tall? Like my head is a little too short vertically for the headgear. At the bottom, it kind of straps to my lower neck and still has some slack on the vertical piece.

4] I don't have leaks at the top of my mask, but I kind of feel like the dial at the forehead should allow for even more adjustment to bring the mask inwards. I have it turned all the way to the stop. (I never noticed. Perhaps I have a recessed forehead? LOL.)

These are all things I could probably live with, but if you all have some advice, I'm more than willing to learn.

Speaking of good advice, I already read through how to get to the secret menu on the device. Thanks! I made it so where I could read my AHI each morning, so I'm really thankful. Somehow, my breathing device was set to 'pillow', so I changed it to 'face mask'. Also, I already downloaded the ResScan 4.01 software on Windows 8 (works great) and pulled my statistics. Anyone see anything worth commenting on?




Here is last night's detailed report, but it is atypical. I went to bed early, was awake for an hour and a half, and... I had a mask big leak towards the end?



I know I've already said it, but this forum is totally awesome. You've brought me up from being a newbie to someone who is somewhat knowledgeable in such a short period of time.

Thanks for all your help,
Darth Vader Face

[cflame1]

leaks... have to keep your leaks below the red line on your machine.

[Darth Vader Face]

Update: Apparently, my mask is a medium sized Mirage Quattro and not the Quattro FX I initially thought it was. But the dial on the top for forehead adjustment adjusted to maximum. Perhaps something to do with my pointed cranium? See picture on left.

[avi123]

Hi! I'm a new member. And this forum is totally awesome!

I was finally diagnosed with severe sleep apnea-hypopnea. You know what? I'm happy. For years I had been taking Ritalin for concentration and focus and to keep me awake during the day. Finally getting the sleep study done and getting a CPAP machine? Wow. I totally welcome it. It is much better than being propped up with psychostimulants all day long.

Thanks for all your help,
Darth Vader Face

Comments,

Nice data for a sarter!



Those spikes in the graphs indicate, imo, that you're moving the mask on your face.

You're already qualified to give advice to other posters, because you backup your words with evidence of graphs. Most posters don't do it that way.

p.s.

My 48 years old son had ADHD Hyperactivity, manifested when he was at age above 6. He took Ritalin by the truck loads. But no more after puberty. At the younger age he used to wake up crying. So I gave him a slap on the face and put him back to sleep. Presently, I keep asking him about his sleep. His wife replied that it's only some snoring.

[Janknitz]

1] Play with your humidification. I'd start with turning it DOWN--one notch at a time. If congestion is worse, turn it up, one notch at a time until you find that "Sweet Spot". You can also try using a neti-pot before bed to clear out your sinuses. We recommend making only ONE change at a time and try it for several nights unless it's clearly worse, so that you can evaluate whether the change really made a difference.

2] Try to sleep with your mouth closed. If not, try to learn to at least sleep with your tongue on the roof of your mouth, which will seal off the airway from your mouth. The way to learn this is to practice ALL DAY LONG--every moment you are not eating or talking the tongue should be on the roof of your mouth.

3] I had this problem and actually had to fold and sew my headgear. Getting smaller headgear (small instead of medium) didn't help, BTW.

4] Most people need the dial to go out more, not in more. If you dial it in more, you may have a sore nose. As long as you are not getting leaks at the top, that's good. Make sure that if your data shows leaks over the red line you fix them. It's counterintuitive, but the mask should be as loose as possible to fix leaks--the air cushion must be allowed to fully inflate. I have some tips at "Taming the Mirage Quattro" in my blog below.

[Michelle P]

Darth Vader Face,

I am a newbie too. I just got my CPAP on the 13th, I am having a hard time with the Mirage Quattro mask. First night several small leaks, second night a little better, but last night I made some adjustments and messed up my face. The previous 2 nights my dial was set on 21, last night it was set on 24. Any suggestions from one newbie to another?

[Darth Vader Face]

Based on what I've read here and a few videos and websites I've visited, here's what direction I'm taking:

1] I zoomed into the events on ResScan. It seems when the pressure automatically increases, I have an big leak followed by a series of lesser leaks. So it looks like I need to adjust my fit. And, wow, seeing a profile of every single breath is a little creepy but very informative.

2] I now understand that I totally need to cleanse my face before going to bed. I'll start doing that every night.

3] I've refitted my mask from scratch. And now I understand that I must use the "Mask Fit" feature in the ResMed to get a good fit at higher pressure. Just fitting my mask before I go to bed isn't enough. My dial was at 0. Under the Mask Fit, I get leaks when I turn the forehead adjustment to 10, so I've compromised on 5. It looks my face straps, while comfortable, weren't tight enough. So I had to tighten those down some more in order to stop the leaks. Loosening them made it far worse.

Since I use the climate control hose, my unit is set so where I can only set my air temperature. It is currently set to 75 degrees. Should I play with going higher or lower?

[snelson924]

Speaking of good advice, I already read through how to get to the secret menu on the device. Thanks! I made it so where I could read my AHI each morning, so I'm really thankful.

how did you do that?? i'm a newbie, too, and have been looking for that information!!!

[Darth Vader Face]

how did you do that?? i'm a newbie, too, and have been looking for that information!!!

Do not adjust anything unless you know exactly what it is and why you are adjusting it.

HOLD DOWN the double checkmark button AND your control dial for at least three seconds.
A new menu should pop up.
Use the dial to go down one to "Options". Selection options.
Set "Sleep Quality" from "Usage" to "On"
Scroll down and select the Home option at the bottom of the screen.

[snelson924]

how did you do that?? i'm a newbie, too, and have been looking for that information!!!

Do not adjust anything unless you know exactly what it is and why you are adjusting it.

HOLD DOWN the double checkmark button AND your control dial for at least three seconds.
A new menu should pop up.
Use the dial to go down one to "Options". Selection options.
Set "Sleep Quality" from "Usage" to "On"
Scroll down and select the Home option at the bottom of the screen.

thank you!

yeah, i don't want to change anything - i just want to see the data.

[Darth Vader Face]

yeah, i don't want to change anything - i just want to see the data.

So now the info screen will give you your AHI for the night as well as mask fit, in addition to the number of hours used.

But you can get even more information if you want to go into the special menu each time:
Go into the secret menu.
Hit the Info button.
Scroll down one and enter the Sleep Report screen.
Select it and scroll down. You've got more information like average pressure and leak (at the 95% percentile), and more breakdown on your AHI.

[squid13]

how did you do that?? i'm a newbie, too, and have been looking for that information!!!

Here is a good video to watch on the S9 AutoSet. http://www.cpaplibrary.com/machines.html

[Pugsy]

Since I use the climate control hose, my unit is set so where I can only set my air temperature. It is currently set to 75 degrees. Should I play with going higher or lower?

Temperature delivered is strictly a personal preference. Use whatever feels good for you.
In the summer time cooler temps feel better for me but in the winter time I like it warmer because the bedroom temp is much colder than in the summer. My house is old, not much insulation and the bedroom is below 60 degrees and I get "ice cube nose" which is uncomfortable and disrupts my sleep.

[Tino2You]

Since I use the climate control hose, my unit is set so where I can only set my air temperature. It is currently set to 75 degrees. Should I play with going higher or lower?

I have mine set to 79 and let the machine set the humidity. This works for me but as Pugsy said everyone has their own preference.
-Tino

[49er]

Hi Darth Vader Face,

Welcome.

Don't have any good advice for you except to say I was also wrongly diagnosed with ADHD also. I understand it happens about 25% of the time at least.

It would be nice if physicians automatically screened people for sleep apnea who were suspected of having ADHD before putting them on psycho stimulants. But that makes too much sense

It sounds like you are going to do great.

49er