A few questions for DreamMask users

[Sonnyboy]

Your chart shows your leak as below 19.20 95% of the time.
Your leak rate can be improved but it already is within normal range.

You might need to shift the nose cushion so the air blows away from you, your pillow, your blanket, etc.
This is a very quiet mask when adjusted correctly. Try playing with your head position, pillow, etc. to see what you need to do to eliminate the noise.

It sounds like you may need to adjust to wearing a mask. Try wearing the mask while you are awake watching TV or reading a book just so you get used to it.

Start a new thread asking for help with your charts so you get the help you need with pressure changes.

PM me your mailing address if you want a medium pillow.

[Jay Aitchsee]

You can see at 6:40 (which was really 3:40)...
As an aside, I would like to fix the time, but the ResMed clinical manual warns about possible data loss if you do that. Does anyone know how to do it safely? i suspect that my DME did not set up this machine at all, just took it out of the box and gave it to me (it was also set to Pillows for mask type, when he had set my husband's machine to Nasal for the DreamMask).

Easiest method: Wait until after noon machine time, say around 5:00 PM (machine time), before you've used the machine for that day, then set the time back, in your case, to 2:00PM.
It appears (to me) that ResMed is trying to prevent people from altering their compliance data with their time setting policy. One can always set the time ahead, but setting it back into a period where there is data for the day could trigger the need to erase all saved data. Remember, ResMed days start at noon.
To be safe, never set the day back. Only the hours. It the day is accidentally set ahead, correct it by subtracting hours as in the instruction above (over multiple days, if necessary).

[robysue]

You can see at 6:40 (which was really 3:40) that the machine detected an OA and ramped up the pressure, which caused a whole cluster of CAs and then woke me up. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid by keeping the max pressure low. At least it only happened once last night instead of once per hour like it was doing before I started lowering the max.

Can you zoom in on that OA + pressure increase + weirdness in the leak graph + cluster of CAs? There's a lot to be gained from looking at troubling areas of the data close up. On the time scale that's shown, it would be useful to see the graphs zoomed in to show just the time between 6:35 and the time you turned the machine off after waking up enough to know what's going on.

Any chance you were awake for 5-10 minutes before realizing you were awake enough to think about turning the machine off and back on?

As an aside, I would like to fix the time, but the ResMed clinical manual warns about possible data loss if you do that. Does anyone know how to do it safely?

I'd put this in a new thread with the title Need advice on changing the time on a Resmed Airsense 10 APAP

[Dancers Need Sleep!]

Pretty much every time there are a ton of CAs I have not been sleeping well, and vice versa, so I don't want to take up people's time analyzing results deeply until I get to where I'm actually sleeping and not recording a lot of sleep/wake junk, as someone here called it.

Last night I got creative. First I discovered that I could actually get the back strap a bit tighter if I did it with the frame off of my head, so I did that and managed to get to a leak-free state. But it was too tight and after a couple of hours the frame was starting to dig into my cheekbones, so I loosened it a little and went to plan B, which was something I came up with a couple of nights ago when I couldn't sleep due to the mask. I discovered that it only took a very light pressure to press the mask into my face enough to complete the seal. Of course I couldn't sleep with one hand pressing on the cushion, but it did give me an idea - i tied the leg from a pair of panty hose around my head, and that was just enough pressure to fix the shifting and leaks without being uncomfortable. I had expected the air from the exhaust port to go right through this flimsy material but it did not, so I had to route the material around the port, but that was surprisingly easy to do.

All told this got me 5:43 with the mask on, and 3.1 AHI according to the machine. Sadly I had forgotten to put the SD card back in it and it apparently doesn't write much data retroactively, so I don't have any details. But it was definitely an improvement.

My DME says he'll send me a medium cushion, which may also help.

[palerider]

Pretty much every time there are a ton of CAs I have not been sleeping well, and vice versa, so I don't want to take up people's time analyzing results deeply until I get to where I'm actually sleeping and not recording a lot of sleep/wake junk, as someone here called it.

some think the point of analyzing results deeply is to get to where you CAN sleep deeply.

[RogerSC]

I have it as snug as the strap will allow... I can't pull it any tighter. I'd have to cut the strap so more of it would fit through the slots. Which would probably help.

Last night I slept fine for 2 hours, got up to pee and then just could not get fully back to sleep; I was too aware of the mask and the sound of my own breathing. After 2 more hours I finally took it off and slept the rest of the night. I don't think it was really the mask's fault; it wasn't any leakier or noisier, it was just my brain refusing to block it out.

I emailed my DME to ask him for a medium cushion and to tell him what I've been up to. We'll see if I hear anything back; the last email, wherein I told him I wasn't sure my humidifier was heating up correctly, never even got a response.

Can you get your DME on the phone, rather than email? It would be a lot harder for them to shine you on if you have them on the phone. Or can you drop into the office? Face to face is another way of relating that's hard for the other guy to ignore *smile*. Email is easy to ignore, just don't reply. If you get another email that asks again, just don't reply, and so on. Easy for your DME to not deal with your enquiries and help with your problems.

Yet another option is to purchase what you need off cpap.com. That puts this entirely under your control. You may have to have a prescription on file with them, maybe not just for a particular part of a mask, though. If you need it, it's easy enough to call your sleep doctor and request your prescription. You should have a copy of your prescription, anyways.

[Holden4th]

Pretty much every time there are a ton of CAs I have not been sleeping well, and vice versa, so I don't want to take up people's time analyzing results deeply until I get to where I'm actually sleeping and not recording a lot of sleep/wake junk, as someone here called it.

Last night I got creative. First I discovered that I could actually get the back strap a bit tighter if I did it with the frame off of my head, so I did that and managed to get to a leak-free state. But it was too tight and after a couple of hours the frame was starting to dig into my cheekbones, so I loosened it a little and went to plan B, which was something I came up with a couple of nights ago when I couldn't sleep due to the mask. I discovered that it only took a very light pressure to press the mask into my face enough to complete the seal. Of course I couldn't sleep with one hand pressing on the cushion, but it did give me an idea - i tied the leg from a pair of panty hose around my head, and that was just enough pressure to fix the shifting and leaks without being uncomfortable. I had expected the air from the exhaust port to go right through this flimsy material but it did not, so I had to route the material around the port, but that was surprisingly easy to do.

All told this got me 5:43 with the mask on, and 3.1 AHI according to the machine. Sadly I had forgotten to put the SD card back in it and it apparently doesn't write much data retroactively, so I don't have any details. But it was definitely an improvement.

My DME says he'll send me a medium cushion, which may also help.

Getting creative is the way to do it. I have the Dreamwear and am very happy with it. I have the medium frame and the small nasal piece. I used the fitting guide to determine that this was the best nasal piece to use. If it's too large then it will leak so Dreamwear say you should use the smallest possible nose piece.

This nasal mask is designed to sit under your nose, you don't want it too tight and I found that a bit of vaseline under my nose helped make a better seal as the silicone, my skin and the vaseline combined. I also found that if I moved the top of the frame (where the hose is) forward or backward on the top of my head I could adjust the pressure of the nose piece. A slightly loose pressure (moving the frame slightly forward) works best for me. Like you I tightened up the back straps before I put them on my head.

I am a side sleeper and using this system I don't record any major mask leaks. My S9 gives me the green smiley face every morning meaning my leak pressure is always under 24L.

A soft cervical collar helps to minimise mouth breathing.

Hope this helps.

[Janknitz]

Last night I got creative. First I discovered that I could actually get the back strap a bit tighter if I did it with the frame off of my head, so I did that and managed to get to a leak-free state. But it was too tight and after a couple of hours the frame was starting to dig into my cheekbones, so I loosened it a little and went to plan B, which was something I came up with a couple of nights ago when I couldn't sleep due to the mask. I discovered that it only took a very light pressure to press the mask into my face enough to complete the seal. Of course I couldn't sleep with one hand pressing on the cushion, but it did give me an idea - i tied the leg from a pair of panty hose around my head, and that was just enough pressure to fix the shifting and leaks without being uncomfortable. I had expected the air from the exhaust port to go right through this flimsy material but it did not, so I had to route the material around the port, but that was surprisingly easy to do.

I mostly sleep on my sides (although I CAN sleep on my back with the DreamWear), so I've mastered the art of "snuggling my face in the pillow" enough to help the mask seal. This was an essential skill with a Quattro FF mask, but I find it comes in handy even with the DreamWear. Sometimes when I turn on my left side (doing that more lately because of some pain in my right shoulder) it leaks just a bit at the nose (maybe because I adjusted the mask for right sided sleeping). I just push my face in to the pillow a little and that stops it. In the middle of the night I'm too out of it to fiddle much with the straps to adjust for any tiny leaks.