Newbie's first night: rain and gas

[dtsm]

Newbie here and my first night was IMHO a good first step. My study showed severe apnea (51), 79% oxygen take (sorry but don't have copy of study and apologies for wrong terminology?). After cpap study, had no apnea and averaged 95% oxygen with 9 level setting. Was prescribed with cpap unit but thanks to this board (collective wisdom, etc.), talked my way into an apap unit with humidifier.

DME came over to deliver Resmed autoset II, 4i humidifier, and try out a few masks. She let me try the mirage swift II and the comfort fusion, I had a comfort gel compliments of my sleep center hospital. I actually thought the comfort fusion was the least intrusive but since she would only leave one mask with me (more on DME later), I picked the swift II nasal pillow and had my comfortgel as my backup (this was the same identical unit used in my sleep study so I knew it 'worked'). DME didn't want to test each mask in my bedroom lying down - mumbled something about respecting my privacy. My wife was present so not sure if real or she just didn't want to go upstairs??

Time has come: 9:30 pm, fill humidifier with distilled water, machine pre-set to 20 minute ramp, 9 setting, DME told me turned on EPR but wouldn't teach me how to use the controls - said this was doctor's suggestion? Had humidifier control to level II.

After a few minutes with swift II, couldn't 'breathe' so fast switch to comfort gel...couple of false starts, (including food run, see below), fell asleep....for one hour. Woke up for bathroom run (bad bladder!), came back, restarted and back to sleep. First sensation - it's raining in my mask? Few minutes later, lights on to do inspection and yes - rain in my mask and some moisture in my hose. Our house is cool, temp at start of sleep was 65 and at night will drop to 60-61 degrees. Wiped mask, turned humidifier down to lowest setting I and back to sleep. Each sleep session lasted about 90-120 minutes thereafter, with a bathroom run each time but I kept at it and at 5:30 am woke up. My wife came in once (she promised to return once I stop snoring for good!) to tell me I did not snore and I don't believe my mouth opened at anytime during the evening.

Conclusion - success, made it through first night .... will need to figure out about rain? This model apparently does not take a heated coil/hose but some type of wrap is available...

NOT, now the problem: my stomach is full of gas. Not sure if it's because I went to bed slightly hungary and gulped down some cereal/banana and milk or due to cpap machine. But definitely not something I experienced my night at sleep center with same mask and a cpap machine.....let's see what happens tonight.

[ozij]

Conclusion - success, made it through first night .... will need to figure out about rain? This model apparently does not take a heated coil/hose but some type of wrap is available...

Congratulations, dtsm.
Setting the humidifier lower will reduce the rainout.
The heated hose usually discussed on this forum will fit any machine that uses a standard hose: it comes with its own coil and power pack. I can't imaginge my treatment without it.
While you're taking care of hose covers, make sure you get a hose cover (or wrap) for any narrow tube you may have between the mask and the main hose.

O.

[TheDreamer]

Congratulations on your first night.

rainout is no fun....lowering humidity, hose cover, heated hose, putting machine lower, hose hanger, etc. are various techniques to deal with it. I like my bedroom cool, so its something I continue to work on.

aerophagia.... I get some extra gas in me from using CPAP, but so far its just been a minor annoyance. Though I do set off the odor sensor on my room air purifier... I could set it to night mode so that it doesn't crank itself to full blast and make a lot of noise...but then I'd probably forget to switch it back in the morning. And, I'd rather have it taking care of odors through the night.... No joy when you get a nose full of odor from the machine while sleeping....also no joy when its the first thing you smell taking the mask off in the morning.

Though not as bad when as the stink of using sinus rinse and then walking out the front door to smell it.

nocturia....this is one of the things CPAP has helped with. When I first started it was every 2-3 hours I'd be getting up, and it was so much more annoying when there's a mask and machine involved in the process. Now I'm often sleeping through the night without those trips.....

The Dreamer.

[dtsm]

Congratulations on your first night.
rainout is no fun....lowering humidity, hose cover, heated hose, putting machine lower, hose hanger, etc. are various techniques to deal with it. I like my bedroom cool, so its something I continue to work on.
The Dreamer.

Curious - I set initially to II setting but never checked to see how 'warm' it got. When I dialed down to I setting later, I think rainout stopped...and when I got up this morning, the tank did not feel even lukewarm. Is that normal?

Currently, the entire unit is set on night table which is about same height as bed...what are your suggestions? I was not uncomfortable after lowering to I setting but more interested in what happens in an air conditioned room? I travel extensiveley to SE Asia and tropical climates...

[riverdreamer]

Good job getting through your first night!!!

As Ozij says, a cover for your hose will help a lot with condensation in the hose. It also helps to have the hose elevated, so that it runs down to the machine. You might want to put your machine a bit lower, but not the floor. You don't want it sucking all the dirt up off your floor. There are some links on hose management that will give you some ideas, even ones that will work for travel. If you can't find the links you can do a search for hose management.

My humidifier does not get hot even when set to 4. I hear it doesn't actually feel hot until the highest settings, but I haven't tried. 4 gives me more than enough moisture, and I can tell a difference from the lower settings, so it is doing something.

Sorry, no experience with the gas issues. I would guess that gulping food would not help. See if it makes a difference tonight by not eating fast, and not eating right before bed.

Hope things just keep getting better!

[TheDreamer]

Curious - I set initially to II setting but never checked to see how 'warm' it got. When I dialed down to I setting later, I think rainout stopped...and when I got up this morning, the tank did not feel even lukewarm. Is that normal?

Currently, the entire unit is set on night table which is about same height as bed...what are your suggestions? I was not uncomfortable after lowering to I setting but more interested in what happens in an air conditioned room? I travel extensiveley to SE Asia and tropical climates...

I have a different unit, so I don't know specifics of yours. But, I also initially started on 2, which was the recommended starting point to find comfort. I usually lave it on 1 now. Not so much a problem now, but even 1 caused rainout for me during the winter.

I also don't really pay attention to the tank in the morning (I usually refill my tank at night, sometimes having to jump out of bed having remembered just as I'm about to fall asleep.), but it don't recall it getting all that warm.

I've only been at this 3 months, so I haven't experienced an air conditioned room....but I suspect rainout can still be a problem.

The Dreamer.