The start of my CPAP treatment. 06/05/14

[jimmye4golf]

Ok. Well I finally got my ResMed S9 AUTOSET and a ResMed AirFit N10 nasal mask. I get it all set up and go to bed about 11:30pm. I adjust the mask to where it feels good and Im not noticing any leaks. I fall asleep in about 10 minutes and the AirFit N10 is very comfortable to me. I wake up before my alarm went off and checked the S9 info to see what it said. I was only asleep 2.5 hours and AHI was .7. I lay there for about 20-30 minutes and fall asleep again. This time our 3 year old woke me up. Her allergies are pretty bad and she has a pretty good cough and she had some really cold feet that she stuck against my bare back after she climbed in bed with us. So I get her back in her bed and back to the machine I go. I managed to sleep a few more hours and I woke up feeling like I was choking. I ripped the mask off and my mouth was extremely dry. I only had about 45 more minutes till my alarm would make that deathly sound so I just went ahead and got up. The S9 showed 3.9 hours of sleep, mask fit was good and AHI of 4.0. My allergies have been bothering me a little and Ive had a small cough and I know I coughed 2 or 3 times before I fell asleep. Could the machine have mistaken the cough for an AHI or is it too smart for that? The humidity is set at 3.0 and Im wondering if that could be the cause of my dry mouth and choking feeling? I was planning on doing a daily blog until I got used to the machine but decided to just post on here instead so I could get feedback.

[Seawind36]

I don't know about the AHI, I'm still learning, but my humidity was set to three when I got it and the first morning I woke up with sneezing fits and dry sinus. I changed it to 3.5 and it seems to be better. That is a comfort setting. If you think going higher might help, try it.

I know that with the AIrfit P10 it feels more like I am struggling for air that the mask does, but I prefer it and I just keep reminding myself that it's ok, I can breathe fine. I think it is just that having something up against my nose that is triggering some of my claustrophobia.

Hope that helps.

[Pugsy]

The machine is smart but not smart enough to know if you were awake or not so it can and will flag stuff while awake and coughing will do it. Awake breathing irregularities are often flagged by mistake by these machines. We just learn to ignore those. I once had an hour of awake time because of really bad nausea but I still kept the mask on. That hour was packed full of all sorts of events and I know for sure I was awake. Those events elevated my AHI which would have been quite nice if not for a truckload of events getting flagged while awake.

Best thing to do is learn to evaluate the software reports so that you can sort of mentally discount any events you see being flagged during the time frame where you know you were awake.

Don't get fixated on a number all by itself. A nice perfect AHI of 0.0 doesn't mean squat if the sleep quality is in the toilet. There's so much more to this therapy than a single number.

Dry mouth could be mouth breathing when using a nasal mask. We need to evaluate the leak line graph to see what it shows to decide how much of an impact it might be having on therapy.
I have had bad dry mouth show up with as little as 10 minutes of mouth breathing (easily seen on leak graph) and the rest of the night no real leak...so it doesn't always mean the entire night was spent mouth breathing and thus might be in the toilet from leaks.
10 minutes of mouth breathing, even if massive tornado mouth breathing and it doesn't always have to be massive, isn't the end of the world if the rest of the night the leaks are within acceptable limits.

[jimmye4golf]

Seawind36, Yeah I think I will bump it up a liitle and see how that works. I really like this N10 mask. It goes completely around my nose and seems to seal very well. I didnt like the nasal pillows at all. Thanks for the input.

Pugsy, I will be downloading the software tonight and will look for a big air leak. I didnt even think that maybe my mouth was open and the air from the machine dried it out. I was really pleased with how quite the machine was. I was affraid it was going to sound like a jet. lol Thanks again for the info and help.

[jimmye4golf]

[Pugsy]

What do you get when you click on the "detailed graphs" tab?

[jimmye4golf]

No detailed data available.

[Pugsy]

Did you watch the video tutorial that I sent you?
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/ Tutorial

Either you didn't change the download default to "all available data" or the Sleep Quality setting in the clinical menu is set to "Usage" and it needs to be set to "On"
So...confirm in the S9 clinical menu that Sleep Quality is set to "On" first. If it is already set to "On" then the problem is the download. The default is for the summary statistics that you see now...you have to change it to "all available data" and it won't have those files on the SD card if Sleep Quality isn't set to "On".

[billpedley]

Ok here goes:

In the past 3 years I have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my knees..so I had them both replaced..still recovering from that.

Then they find a small amount of blood in my urine,so i go to a Urologist and eventually find out I had prostate cancer. under the knife I go again..this was August 2013. Still recovering from that!!! But cancer free for now. Then I go back to GP and find out I have Severe sleep Apnea with initial AHI of 121.2 OMG. So the first DR.,a specialist puts me on cpap set at 11 pressure and it gets me down to about 7.4 AHI.Was delevered a machine,a brick,Pr System one 60 series with 60 series humidifier. Quatro Fx full face mask.

For the most part I think it is working but still feel tired ALL day and now have been yawning pretty much all day. First DME calls and says my insurance will not pay for the hose..I said WHY NOT? So fired them.Got a different DME but still have same machine..go figure. I'm at the end of my rope here and somebody should tell me what to expect next or at least what to do...This site has been wonderful though. Oh and by the way the BRICK won't give out ANY info.

[palerider]

also, I might suggest, set your account profile here to use text, not pictures, because there's about a dozen different machines that look exactly like that picture, and sometimes when you ask for help, it's handy for the person responding to know what you have.

fortunately, it's on the report, so Pugsy knows...

she's a good one, that pugsy.

[jimmye4golf]

Sorry for the delay I fell asleep early and I slept for 14 hours. Unfortunately I forgot to put the memory card back in the machine. All that time wasnt on the machine though. I woke up again 2.5 hours aftet I fell asleep. I felt like I was choking again and couldnt breathe. I was awake for prob an hour then put the machine back to work. Then slept until I felt like I was choking again and then I layed there for a few minutes without the machine trying to find out whats could be going on. Of course I fall asleep without the machine on and slept the rest of the night. Ive already put the card back in so I dont forget it tonight. UGHHH

[HoseCrusher]

Bill, you are on your way to becoming a Bionic Man. Wow!!!

What to expect next... Without feed back you will probably continue a slow decent down hill and eventually you won't wake up some morning... OK, bad joke.

You need to become pro active. Take charge of your situation. Buy a machine that gives you some feedback. If your insurance won't provide it, pick up a used machine at a great discount price. Review your data to gain the knowledge needed to review your data with your doctor and provide you with a direction to proceed to dial in your therapy.

Your sleep therapy may need some adjusting, your bionics may need some adjustment, and when you get everything dialed in - look out world...

Ask questions and let's get this sorted out.

From what you posted, a pressure of 11 seems "reasonable" but it would be better to try to get your AHI below 5.

[Guest]

Ok, I think I might have found out why I keep waking up with that choking feeling. "Try not to exhale through you mouth. If you do, you will experience that choking sensation which is caused by the pressure against the back of your throat which gets relieved only when you exhale through your nose." My questions are should I get a chin strap? Is there any adjustment on the machine that might not make me feel the need to exhale thru my mouth? Should I switch the machine from CPAP mode to APAP mode? Still learning but this forum, the information and people on it are simply amazing! Thanks again.

[jimmye4golf]

Opps, looks like I posted without logging in. Didn't know that was possible.

[jimmye4golf]

Well I mad a chinstrap and proceeded to bed. I was doing great until I was at full pressure. I couldnt swallow and it gave me a claustrophobic feeling over and over. Needless to say the mask came off and I fell asleep the rest of the night without it. Back to the drawing board.