Feeling under the weather...

[drewcool]

Hello,

New to this forum and new user of CPAP. I haven't found where to put my equipment yet but I have an Resmed Airsense 10 and Fisher and Paykel Simplus full mask. I have a humidifier and climate tubing.

I started using cpap 5 days ago. The first 4 days I used a Philips Dreamwear full mask. I had tons of problems with it. It hurt the bottom of my nose and would leak all night. I'd wake up constantly from the leaks and one night I woke up feeling like I was smothering and couldn't breathe. I took that back and got the Fisher and Paykel yesterday and used it for the first time last night. I adjusted my temp and humidity settings, 74f/ auto climate and I slept alot better and didn't wake up with any nose soreness or dryness and generally felt like I was getting more air. My pressure RX is 14.

The issue I am having is, the last 2 days I have been having a runny nose during the day and I feel like I have a cold. I searched this forum and couldn't find much related to this problem. Is this something that could be caused by new cpap use or did I just get a cold by coincidence?

[Dog Slobber]

It could be coincidence, or could be caused by your CPAPs humidity settings.

Either too much humidity (or too little) can cause cold like symptoms.

Increase (or decrease) your humidity setting by one notch and see if it gets worse, better or stays the same. Don't make abrupt changes and symptoms may not go away right away. If you don't get any relief, try the other direction.

[drewcool]

It could be coincidence, or could be caused by your CPAPs humidity settings.

Either too much humidity (or too little) can cause cold like symptoms.

Increase (or decrease) your humidity setting by one notch and see if it gets worse, better or stays the same. Don't make abrupt changes and symptoms may not go away right away. If you don't get any relief, try the other direction.

Yes, that's another thing I've had some confusion about, what humidity works for me. I've had it set on auto so far. I'll try that and report back. Thanks.

[Julie]

If you live in a generally dry place like Arizona, you may want the hum. set on high most of the time, but if you're in e.g. New Jersey, Seattle, Fla., etc. you may only want it occasionally, if at all. It's not 'therapy' as such, but a comfort feature and because I live near water with lots of precip., I only use it occasionally (in winter, when central heat's on), and on a lower setting. I think you may have set it too high, but play with it (maybe a bit more than one notch at a time) and see how it goes.

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like "cpap rhinitis" google and and start reading.

There is no one humidity setting that works for everyone ....heck even in the same household where husband and wife both are on cpap you might find one person who wants as much humidity as they can possibly get and the spouse prefers minimal to none added moisture.

The auto setting on the ResMed AirSense is equal to around a setting of 4 if you compare it to a manual number. So a sort of low end middle of the road setting with 8 being the highest manual setting.

We don't know what it might be that your nasal mucosa will need and want. It's something you just have to experiment with and see which way they want to lean towards...drier or moister. If you find that a hot steamy shower seems to help though...I would suggest trying more moisture before I tried less moisture.

[drewcool]

Alright, good news! I turned the humidity up to 6(one before the highest) and I feel alot better. No more stuffy nose! I am still having issue with mask seal. I don't know what its suppose to feel like or what feels normal I guess. When the mask is tight and I feel its right there I hear no air noise, I don't really feel any air hitting my face inside the mask but the air does go in. So I don't know if that's how its suppose to feel or not? If anybody can tell me your description of what a proper mask seal is suppose to feel like in your words that would be great. I am waking up after a few hours and feeling like I am smothered and taking the mask off for the night right now. Later on I wake up and put it back on and sleep a few more hours without problems. I don't know what's causing me to wake up feeling like that and then it be fine later. Unless it's me sleeping on my back and not being use to it because I never did. Any advice would be great thanks.

[Sheriff Buford]

I also use a full face mask. The mask is suppose to "float" on the face. It's not suppose to "dig in". When I first mask up, or when I return from the restroom at night (I unhook the hose, but still leave the mask on), I will connect all the mask straps, hook up the hose, turn on the machine, and wait until the machine to get up to full steam (full pressure). I then unhook the bottom straps of the mask, but barely separate the strap connections from the mask. This allows the mask cushion to inflate. The cushion should inflate for better comfort and seal. I then reconnect the bottoms straps. If the mask straps were too tight, I couldn't do that. When I reconnect the bottom straps, the mask would be shoved against my face.

Again, the mask should not be so tight the cushion is crammed to your face.

Question: are you letting the cushion inflate while wearing your mask?

Sheriff

[babydinosnoreless]

If you live in a generally dry place like Arizona, you may want the hum. set on high most of the time, but if you're in e.g. New Jersey, Seattle, Fla., etc. you may only want it occasionally, if at all. It's not 'therapy' as such, but a comfort feature and because I live near water with lots of precip., I only use it occasionally (in winter, when central heat's on), and on a lower setting. I think you may have set it too high, but play with it (maybe a bit more than one notch at a time) and see how it goes.

I'm in Arizona. My humidity is at the lowest setting. I grew up here and I'm not a fan of humid. If you are used to low humidity and suddenly humidity is in your face all night you might want to turn it down or off completely.

[Julie]

Maybe one day I'll visit AZ and discover that I should shut up - I'm sure there are lots of areas that aren't desert!

[palerider]

Maybe one day I'll visit AZ and discover that I should shut up - I'm sure there are lots of areas that aren't desert!

Until then, try a d understand that different people have different needs.

[drewcool]

I also use a full face mask. The mask is suppose to "float" on the face. It's not suppose to "dig in". When I first mask up, or when I return from the restroom at night (I unhook the hose, but still leave the mask on), I will connect all the mask straps, hook up the hose, turn on the machine, and wait until the machine to get up to full steam (full pressure). I then unhook the bottom straps of the mask, but barely separate the strap connections from the mask. This allows the mask cushion to inflate. The cushion should inflate for better comfort and seal. I then reconnect the bottoms straps. If the mask straps were too tight, I couldn't do that. When I reconnect the bottom straps, the mask would be shoved against my face.

Again, the mask should not be so tight the cushion is crammed to your face.

Question: are you letting the cushion inflate while wearing your mask?

Sheriff

By your description I am definitely wearing the mask too tight, for sure. That is probably why I am suffocating when I try to sleep at night lol. I think me putting the mask to tight is having the opposite effect of what you are describing and making mine too tight and leak more air because the seal is not as good from it being inflated. I'm going to work on this tonight and see if I can get the mask to inflate and a better seal and I'll report back tomorrow. Thanks.

[babydinosnoreless]

Maybe one day I'll visit AZ and discover that I should shut up - I'm sure there are lots of areas that aren't desert!

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/major-storm-s ... ories.html

[zonker]

By your description I am definitely wearing the mask too tight, for sure. That is probably why I am suffocating when I try to sleep at night lol. I think me putting the mask to tight is having the opposite effect of what you are describing and making mine too tight and leak more air because the seal is not as good from it being inflated. I'm going to work on this tonight and see if I can get the mask to inflate and a better seal and I'll report back tomorrow. Thanks.

i'm given to understand that there are mask fitting videos on youtube. and one searches for their particular mask.

haven't done that myself, but i see it mentioned here on the forum from time to time.

good luck!

[drewcool]

Last night I kept the mask on all night! I did have to keep waking up to adjust it every once and a while, but I was able to sleep on my side like I would without it comfortably all night other than that.

A side note:

Something funny happened last night. I went to put on my cpap mask and some straps had come loose so I put it back together and then I noticed 2 straps had no where to go. I looked online and realized that a plastic clip was missing for them to attach to. I spent 50 minutes looking around my bedroom for the plastic clip. After 50 mins I looked at the picture of the mask online again and then I finally realized that I had the straps backwards and the 2 clips were in the same place by mistake. 50 minutes... lol

[WhiteAngel]

Last night I kept the mask on all night! I did have to keep waking up to adjust it every once and a while, but I was able to sleep on my side like I would without it comfortably all night other than that.

A side note:

Something funny happened last night. I went to put on my cpap mask and some straps had come loose so I put it back together and then I noticed 2 straps had no where to go. I looked online and realized that a plastic clip was missing for them to attach to. I spent 50 minutes looking around my bedroom for the plastic clip. After 50 mins I looked at the picture of the mask online again and then I finally realized that I had the straps backwards and the 2 clips were in the same place by mistake. 50 minutes... lol

You sound like what I will be tomorrow night for my FIRST night with CPAP,