New APAP user without sleep study looking for advice

[ChicagoGranny]

I have an old (2013/14) Philips REMStar Auto A-Flex which I'm renting right now. I actually am thinking of buying this machine since I like it and it only has about 1300 hours on it. Might be able to get it at a reasonable price from the seller.

I'm imagining the market is different in Pakistan, but in the US, that machine would sell very cheaply because there have been three model upgrades in the meantime. But still, it's a good machine if in good condition.

Could anyone recommend a good, comfortable full-face mask (ideally that's not too pricey too)? The one I have right now is not very comfortable and I have to adjust it constantly to prevent it from leaking.

1. Find your mask on youtube and watch three or four videos on fitting and adjusting. You might find your mask is suitable if adjusted differently. Some of the videos are very good.

2. For finding a different FFM, go to https://www.cpap.com/plp/full-face-cpap-mask/ZT0yNjU and sort by Top Sellers. For each mask, there are several photos, complete specifications and many user reviews. Maybe you will see one that suits your fancy.

[Pugsy]

When it comes to any mask it's one man's treasure is another man's trash and there's no guarantee that what someone else might recommend and just love will end up giving you the same results.

[gadgetmaniah]

I have an old (2013/14) Philips REMStar Auto A-Flex which I'm renting right now. I actually am thinking of buying this machine since I like it and it only has about 1300 hours on it. Might be able to get it at a reasonable price from the seller.

I'm imagining the market is different in Pakistan, but in the US, that machine would sell very cheaply because there have been three model upgrades in the meantime. But still, it's a good machine if in good condition.

Could anyone recommend a good, comfortable full-face mask (ideally that's not too pricey too)? The one I have right now is not very comfortable and I have to adjust it constantly to prevent it from leaking.

1. Find your mask on youtube and watch three or four videos on fitting and adjusting. You might find your mask is suitable if adjusted differently. Some of the videos are very good.

2. For finding a different FFM, go to https://www.cpap.com/plp/full-face-cpap-mask/ZT0yNjU and sort by Top Sellers. For each mask, there are several photos, complete specifications and many user reviews. Maybe you will see one that suits your fancy.

When it comes to any mask it's one man's treasure is another man's trash and there's no guarantee that what someone else might recommend and just love will end up giving you the same results.

I see. Thanks for the advice! Just one question though - will the tubes of any mask fit any CPAP machine? I.e., do all masks have the same tube size so that it would be fit any CPAP, or do I have to look for specific masks that will fit with my machine?

[Pugsy]

Pretty much all mask connections will fit all cpap machines with the exception of a very few travel machines.
Now sometimes a part from one mask gets stuck in the long hose and people think their new mask won't fit but it's because they don't realize something is stuck that shouldn't be there.

[gadgetmaniah]

Pretty much all mask connections will fit all cpap machines with the exception of a very few travel machines.
Now sometimes a part from one mask gets stuck in the long hose and people think their new mask won't fit but it's because they don't realize something is stuck that shouldn't be there.

Oh, I see. That's good. Thanks!

[gadgetmaniah]

(Just posting updates of my progress if anyone's interested)

Ok, I did not have a very good sleep today. Experienced the same symptoms of fatigue and sleepiness after waking up. Turns out, after looking at my data, that there was a significant amount of large leakages while I was sleeping. I also noticed that these leakages were accompanied by hypopneas. I'm guessing that's because when the leakages took place, there wasn't enough pressure in the mask, which caused problems in my airway.

Anyways, I'll try to make my mask fit better when I sleep next. I find that it's difficult to get a good fit, especially if you tend to sleep on your sides; it's either too tight or too loose usually.

[gadgetmaniah]

Pretty much all mask connections will fit all cpap machines with the exception of a very few travel machines.
Now sometimes a part from one mask gets stuck in the long hose and people think their new mask won't fit but it's because they don't realize something is stuck that shouldn't be there.

Just wanted to ask - is the shape of my shape of my individual breaths in the flow rate chart normal? Sometimes they're crookedly shaped and other times they're smooth. I did have a good sleep today though.

[Pugsy]

Those breaths are pretty much normal.

[gadgetmaniah]

Those breaths are pretty much normal.

Ah, that's good. Thanks!

[gadgetmaniah]

Those breaths are pretty much normal.

Ok, despite a low AHI today, I did not have a very good sleep. Could you tell me whether breaths like this one at 12.55 are events that OSCAR missed? I have a number of these in my flow rate graph but OSCAR hasn't marked them.

[Pugsy]

First of all OSCAR doesn't "mark" anything or figure out anything. The machine does all the figuring and OSCAR just reports what the machine records.
The irregular breathing at 12:55 ....that's just a small segment of arousal/awake breathing. You weren't totally asleep.
No big deal...you probably have no memory of the arousal because it was so brief but if you see very many of such irregularities it just goes along with you saying you didn't sleep well. These sorts of irregular breathing aren't the cause of the poor sleep but instead a result or symptom of the poor sleep. Does that make sense? OSCAR only reports what the machine records. If the machine doesn't flag something then OSCAR isn't going to flag it either.

Now as to why you didn't sleep so great....that's really something we have no way to know for sure what might have been the cause.

Might have been some flow limitations happening which might have been a factor but that data you didn't show on this report.
Need to see the flow limitation graph not zoomed in on....and then even if it is very active we don't really know for sure if that was a factor in the poor sleep.
We don't sleep the same each night and sometimes we just sleep poorly for reasons unrelated to the airway.

[gadgetmaniah]

First of all OSCAR doesn't "mark" anything or figure out anything. The machine does all the figuring and OSCAR just reports what the machine records.
The irregular breathing at 12:55 ....that's just a small segment of arousal/awake breathing. You weren't totally asleep.
No big deal...you probably have no memory of the arousal because it was so brief but if you see very many of such irregularities it just goes along with you saying you didn't sleep well. These sorts of irregular breathing aren't the cause of the poor sleep but instead a result or symptom of the poor sleep. Does that make sense? OSCAR only reports what the machine records. If the machine doesn't flag something then OSCAR isn't going to flag it either.

Now as to why you didn't sleep so great....that's really something we have no way to know for sure what might have been the cause.

Might have been some flow limitations happening which might have been a factor but that data you didn't show on this report.
Need to see the flow limitation graph not zoomed in on....and then even if it is very active we don't really know for sure if that was a factor in the poor sleep.
We don't sleep the same each night and sometimes we just sleep poorly for reasons unrelated to the airway.

Ah, I see. Thank you so much for the detailed reply! Yeah, I guess your sleep isn't going to be great every day. It's just that today I had the same feeling of heaviness in my head and slight sleep deprivation after waking up, which used to happen much more severity before I started using the CPAP. But still, I do feel much more refreshed than before and am not experiencing the extreme exhaustion that I used to. I still do feel a slight headache after waking up, I guess that has to do with my oxygen levels.

[Pugsy]

Poor quality sleep (no matter what the reason) is going to pretty much guarantee a crappy next day.
Figuring out what might be causing the poor quality.....sometimes takes a lot of detective work.

Life is never easy.

[gadgetmaniah]

Poor quality sleep (no matter what the reason) is going to pretty much guarantee a crappy next day.
Figuring out what might be causing the poor quality.....sometimes takes a lot of detective work.

Life is never easy.

Yup!

[gadgetmaniah]

Poor quality sleep (no matter what the reason) is going to pretty much guarantee a crappy next day.
Figuring out what might be causing the poor quality.....sometimes takes a lot of detective work.

Life is never easy.

Yup!

Ok, I again did not have a good sleep today. The only thing that stands out a bit on OSCAR is a lot of pressure pulse events - 53 pressure pulse events over about 6-7 hours of sleep. Could that be causing some problems? Also some flow limitation events (11).

Edit: Actually like you pointed out before, I don't think pressure pulse and FLs are anything to worry about. I'll try changing my settings to CPAP mode rather than Auto, since my pressure usually remains at 6cm. Perhaps a straight pressure may suit be better if the pressure spikes that the Respironics machines employ might be causing any disturbance in my sleep.