New ResMed Autoset 10 for her and hard to exhale!

[Peacenana]

Just got the new machine today on the advice of some of you on the forum. Tried it out just now and there's a sensation of not being able to fully exhale. Must be one of the settings? Any advice on how I can breathe more comfortably? Just switched from Dream Station.
Thanks!

[zonker]

Just got the new machine today on the advice of some of you on the forum. Tried it out just now and there's a sensation of not being able to fully exhale. Must be one of the settings? Any advice on how I can breathe more comfortably? Just switched from Dream Station.
Thanks!

pls stay in one thread. you've already asked this in your previous thread.

thank you.

for those playing along at home-

viewtopic/p1356506/SO-FRUSTRATED-I-NEED ... l#p1356506

[Pugsy]

Need to know what settings you are using and it would help to know what settings were used on the other machine.

[LSAT]

Your machine has a feature called EPR...Exhale Pressure Relief. You can reduce the pressure on exhale by 1,2 or 3. Your machine pressure settings show on your screen when you turn on the CPAP.

[zonker]

OR just start a new thread for every question you have, i guess....

[Pugsy]

The reason I didn't harp on the "keep things to one thread" in this situation is because I figured that the topic was so definitive that it might be something that other newbies might spot and relate immediately to and look to see what is being said.

Not everything is set in stone and this is one of those times I am not going to be a hard ass about it because I think it has the potential to help a lot of newbies. His other thread takes a bit of weeding through but I figured that in this situation I would let this one slide because I think it has the potential to help more than it hurts anything.

So.....I still need to know what settings we are talking about before I can offer any ideas....was the pressure at 4 or 14????
Using EPR or not, if using at what setting? Need a lot more information.

[Peacenana]

Pressure set at 4-15, but on the other machine it was 5-15 - don't know if that matters.
I will have to look for the exhale pressure setting.
But I did change the ramp time (auto to 20 minutes) and that seemed to help with the breathing.
BUT I could only use the machine for an hour last night because every time I dozed off I was awakened. Noise problem I had with Dreamstation is gone, so I don't know what happened. I am wondering if with this machine the headband I wear as a chin strap and the headband I wear horizontally to keep my mouth shut are not sufficient and I was mouth breathing? It was just like it was in the sleep lab when they were trying out masks. I had mouth "puffing" and kept waking up. But what I don't get is why is this different with the Auto Set?
Thanks for any help you can offer and I am sorry about the double post. Will be mindful of that in the future.

[Pugsy]

Well actually the starting pressure does matter because too low of a pressure actually can cause it to seem like it is harder to exhale.
It's not so much that it's harder to exhale as it is there is simply not as much air movement when is perceived as being harder to exhale.

It's actually easier to inhale and exhale with a machine set to 6 cm starting and maybe adding in some exhale relief than it is when starting at 4 cm.

When we use ramp we normally are starting at 4 cm (unless we change the ramp starting pressure) which offers no exhale relief because the machine can't go lower than 4 cm. Turn off ramp and set the minimum to 6 instead of 4 and set EPR at 2 and see how it feels.

[Peacenana]

Dear Pugsy,
I tried to implement your settings advice but was unsuccessful. I could not find where one adjusts the pressure, nor could I find the exhale relief anywhere in the settings or machine manual. It's Saturday, so no one to call!!! Disappointed as I had my hopes up for the ResMed auto set. Don't know what I will do tonight as last night I could not sleep with it on without waking up every time I started to doze!

[Pugsy]

All explained in the manual. No need to call anyone.
You just have to go into the clinical menu setup area.
https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

[Peacenana]

Hi again,
Thank you so much for the link to the clinical manual. I was able to make the settings adjustments you suggested.
All was good until about 4 in the morning. I awoke to a "banging" sound coming (I believe) from the frame of my mask. I took off the mask and a bunch of water came flowing out. It was everywhere.
My humidity setting was at 5.4 (I had been at 4 to start). I turned off ramp, and set EPR at 2. Other than that, no other changes.
Odd thing is my mouth was dry as a desert! I am wondering if the "headbands" I use as chin strap and across my mouth to keep it shut are stretching out or maybe I do need to go to a full face mask after all. If the latter, is there one you can recommend that has the attachment for hose on top of my head?
Sorry for rambling. I had forgotten how lousy you feel when you sleep without treatment. From 4:30 a.m. on, that's all I could do.
Many thanks.

[Pugsy]

If you don't have a heated hose....get one.
If you are already using a heated hose then you need to increase the hose air temp. I think the default is for Auto for the hose air temp and if you are getting water in the mask then the hose air temp needs to be increased. Sometimes the "auto" temp simply isn't enough depending on the ambient room temps.

Condensation in the hose or mask we call "rain out".

A full face mask won't necessarily cure the dry mouth. Lots of full face mask users still complain of dry mouth.

[Dog Slobber]

You were experiencing what is known as rain-out. Water vapour was condensing back into liquid within the hose.

Your solution should include one or more of the following:

• Decrease humidity
• Increase ambient room temperature
• Increase hose temperature with a cosy or heated tube

[Peacenana]

Okay. I just decreased humidity from 5.4 to 4. I do have a heated hose. Is that low enough to avoid rainout? Just increased hose air temp from 70 to 75. I see there is a Climate control feature in the clinical menu. The choices there are manual or auto. I selected auto. Is that correct? So there are two settings: one for hose air temp and one for climate control.
Thanks!

[Pugsy]

I just decreased humidity from 5.4 to 4. I do have a heated hose. Is that low enough to avoid rainout? Just increased hose air temp from 70 to 75. I see there is a Climate control feature in the clinical menu. The choices there are manual or auto. I selected auto. Is that correct? So there are two settings: one for hose air temp and one for climate control.

It all depends on how cool you keep your house in general...it's the cooling from ambient temps that ends up causing the air to release the moisture and cause rain out. Most likely all you would have needed to do is increase the hose air temp.

Auto setting means the machine chooses what it thinks will work. It does't always work out so great if a person likes a cooler house in general. Now if you kept your house to 78 degrees like my mom....probably not a big deal.
I only have a problem with the auto setting in the winter when I find it isn't enough because I keep my house really cold in the winter.

Manual setting means you choose the settings that you want.