Brand New User - Looking for some advice

Hi,

I picked up my CPAP machine yesterday and used it last night. Well, I didn't sleep at all I do not think. I ended up taking it off after 4 hrs to get some sleep
I am looking for advice/guidance from more experienced users.

I am using SFF1002 Siesta Full Face Mask
I have the ResMed Airsense 10 CPAP machine.

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea from a home test.
total AHI: 10.7/hr
supine AHI: 21.7/hr
non-supine AHI: 8.5/hr
Hopefully these are the correct numbers to show from a test.

When I went to my sleep dr she mentioned that maybe I could use the nasal mask which looked good to me. When I went to pick out the mask, I wasn't really given an option as they said the full mask was the best for me.

Anyway here are the issues I had last night (I know only one night!)

- dull headache
- dry mouth
- cant sleep on my stomach - I noticed that is where I usually end up
- after about 2 hrs the pressure changed and it seemed like my cheeks started filling up with air

Thanks for listening! If there is any guidance/suggestions you can recommend I am listening!

Do you have chronic nasal congestion (that you can't fix) that requires you to mouth breathe to move enough air to be comfortable?

If you do then a full face mask is probably the best choice but if you only have intermittent congestion and/or you can easily deal with the congestion then a nasal mask of some sort might just work better for you.

DMEs don't choose the mask you use....YOU CHOOSE and they give you what YOU CHOOSE.

Impossible to know why you couldn't sleep last night except maybe the newness of it all.
Did you spend any time just getting use to the machine and pressure before you tried to sleep with it?

I do not have chronic nasal congestion, just seasonal allergies which I do not have right now.

I will give it a couple of nights and then see if I can switch it out for a nasal one.

Good advice about putting it on before I try and sleep to get used to it.

Thx1

What are all your machine settings?
Pressure?
Ramp?
EPR use? If so, what setting?
Mask setting?

Is your machine a ResMed AirSense 10 CPAP or is it the AutoSet model?

So I went to the unit and got the following

Pressure from 5-20
Ramp is 20 minutes
Climate Manual
Tube Temp 78 degrees F
Humidity 5

There is a pressure relief option but in the manual it states it must be enabled by your care provider and I do not see it

If your pressure settings are 5 minimum and 20 maximum then you don't have a fixed CPAP machine....you have the AutoSet.
So...when you say 5 - 20 are you talking about minimum and maximum settings or are you referring to the machine can be set from 5 to 20???? Really important to know.

EPR is the exhale pressure relief and you may need to go into the clinical menu setting area (requires a secret handshake to get there)
to check the settings and/or turn it on or off or change settings.

Are you sure AirSense 10 model?
Here's the clinical manual for that model machine and in it are the instructions for the secret handshake
https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

Sorry if I am confusing things here.

Thanks for showing me how to access the clinical menu settings they are not in my manual!

More info:

Mode AutoSet
Max Pressure 20
Min Pressure 5
Response Standard
Ramp 20
Start Pressure 4
EPR On
EPR Type Full time
EPR Level 2
Climate Ctrl Manual
Tube Temp 78 degrees F
Humidity 5

Okay.

Now just practice using it during the day when you are under NO pressure to sleep.

Just get used to it.

If you experience ANY DISCOMFORT at all....report back please with the details.
With your current minimum setting you aren't getting much exhale relief and the low minimum might be a bit uncomfortable for you (some people have problems starting with lower pressures and some don't).

Thanks! This has been very helpful!

I will try it a few times before bed to get used to it.

So are you saying the EPR level maybe too low at 2? Looks like my options are 1,2,3.

And maybe starting at 4 is too low for pressure?

Just trying to understand which items I should try first

Thx!

What setting to maybe change sort of depends on your own experience....negative or positive.

About EPR....it drops the pressure upon exhale in the amount of the setting...1 is 1 cm drop, 2 is a 2 cm drop and 3 is a 3 cm drop. EPR at 2 is a reasonable setting choice but you aren't getting a full 2 cm drop with the current setting of 5 because the machine can't go below 4 cm so during exhale the machine is only dropping the 1 cm to 4 cm from the setting of 5.
It can't give you that 2 cm relief and it may or may not be that big of a deal for you.

Now once you are asleep and IF the pressure increases then the drop can increase. Once you get some actual sleep using the machine you can use OSCAR software and then we can figure out setting adjustments (if any) depending on your results on paper as well as any issues you might be having with pressures, etc.

So for right now.....your biggest priority right now is getting some sleep with the machine and mask on.
Until we have some actual sleep we just don't know if you need to adjust anything or not.

So, no sleep over the weekend. Here is how it went.

I put my mask on and turned on the CPAP machine. I was wearing it comfortably and breathing normally - could breathe through my nose

When I get to bed I put it on and then read for a while to get used to it. Never felt as good as when I was sitting up (more relaxed, different pressure?)

I couldn't breathe out of my nose anymore and it felt like I was taking shallow breaths.

Not sure what to do. I think I will call either my sleep Dr or the CPAP place (recommendations)?

Anyway just looking for any guidance anyone can give.

I have not changed any of the setting yet as I don't know which ones to change

Thanks!