First Night....

[Tallen234]

Ok, I had my first night last night. I just got my ResMed Autoset II with humidifier and my F&P full face mask.

I am a very finicky sleeper and didn't sleep at all during my first sleep study. During my second one, I slept enough to diagnose SA, but they didn't have time to titrate. I barely slept during the titration study.

In any event, I didn't sleep at all last night. Today, I am very very tired and have no energy. The mask felt fine, there wasn't a lot of pressure, it was just the fact that I had a mask on my face. I am a side sleeper and there was no leaking.

I was wondering if I should take a day off to get some sleep and then try again on Friday. Or should I try the CPAP tonight risking more lack of sleep? I am almost useless today with the lack of sleep.

Thanks!

[bdp522]

Maybe tonight you'll be tired enough to fall asleep with the mask and machine! My feeling is every night you don't sleep with the machine makes it harder to do this. Your mind and body both need to know that you will do this and that both mind and body will adapt to it. Of course it takes time, some take longer than others. It seems to me that people who take nights off take longer to adapt to treatment.

Brenda

[Georgio]

You are off to a great start because you have an excellent machine many here desire, and that your mask didn't leak! Just wearing the mask all night long is a big accomplishment at first for some some of us. Hopefully, very soon you will be like many of us beginners that suddenly realize they feel better when they wake up! If you know how, or you can obtain advice here how to do it, you can post your nightly data that folks here may be able to help with. You don't always get sent home with a machine set to the best pressures for you. Also fill out your equipment segment of your user control panel, and list your prescribed pressure, and machine settings, to help inform those who may offer you advice. Good luck...it gets easier....4 weeks for me...

Georgio

[gasp]

Rested Gal once told me something that has stuck ever since I first started treatment:

Rested Gal responded to my mention of taking off my mask for the last two hours of sleep. Due to her encouragement I have never done that since, remembering her note, "Ohhhh...nooooooo... What you did for those last two hours was become oblivious to the two-hour life and death struggle your body went through."

The more you use your therapy, the sooner you'll get used to it and be able to relax and sleep. That's my four cents.

[Tallen234]

Thanks for the responses. I think this is going to be a long process to get everthing dialed in correctly and for me to get used to the therapy.

On night two, I took some sleep medication that put me out so I was able to sleep with the mask on. When woke up, I was still very tired, but it was a different type of tired than normal. Unfortunately, I forgot to check my "stats" on the machine.

On night three, I didn't take any sleep medication and it took me a long time to get to sleep. I am pretty sure I slept some (maybe three to four hours or so). Here are my stats:

Pressure 8.0
Leak .36L/s
AHI 14.5
AI .7
HI 13.8

My Autoset pressure range is set from 7.0 to 14.0. Can someone help me out with these stats?

Thanks

[Hawthorne]

Your data looks pretty good! Not being familair with Resmed machines, I can only comment on 4 bits of data.

Your pressure (8) may be fine (I am assuming that is your 95% pressure).

I'm not familiar with Resmeds, I can't comment on the leak rate but ask - did you set your machine for that mask and what does the mask user guide say about the leak rate at a pressure of 8? There is a chart in your mask users guide to tell you that.

Your AHI is good - could be better ( it's the sum of your Apneas (AI) and your Hypoapneas (HI).

Your AI is excellent!

Your HI is a a little high but Resmeds, I understand measure more HIs than other machines. This inflates your AHI.

Your auto setting (7.0 to 14.0). Someone who knows Resmeds better than I will know more but I think the setting is a little broad. If you leave the minimum pressure at 7.0 and gradually move the 14.0 (1 cm a night) you might get fewer HIs.

If we knew your titrated pressure we might make a different suggestion as to the pressure range.

It will take a while. You are making good progress. Hopefully, you won't need sleep meds too much longer or too often.

[Georgio]

Tallen,

If I understand correctly, they were unable to establish a titrated pressure for you from your study. Then your Dr. must have prescribed your range of 7 - 14. Is that correct?

You're making progress! Keep recording your numbers a couple more nights to help folks here make suggestions and lower your AHI.

Georgio

[Tallen234]

Hi All:

Here are my night 3 results:

Pressure 8.8
Leak 34 L/s
AHI 20.8
AI 4.1
HI 16.7

I changed the mask setting on the Autoset to Standard (the DME had it on FF Mirage). According to the F&P 431 manual,at 7 pressure, the exhaust flow is 32L/m and at 8 is the 35 L/m.

Given these results, I am thinking about increasing the starting pressure to 8. Does this make sense or should I gather more data?

Thanks

[Hawthorne]

I think raising you bottom pressure to 8 would be good and see what that does to tonight's data. If there is an improvement it might be good to leave it at 8 for a few days. Take a look at things tomorrow then make a decision about further changes.

[Sideswiper]

When I started therapy I was also on Auto for a week or two to determine a good pressure.

I had trouble keeping the mask on because a low pressure really bothers me. Once the pressure is above 10 I feel better, my face is cooler, I don't feel like I'm breathing in what I breathe out.

So anyways, maybe there's hope you'll actually be more comfortable with a higher pressure than what it is set to now. I haven't set the pressures on my machine myself, but... looking back, I wish I had dialed up the starting pressure some.