First Night on CPAP

So I got my M Series with A Flex yesteday and selected the Swift LT as my first mask. I set everything up last night and read some threads on here about the mask. The tech had put in the small pillows. I didn't really like the feel of them when I tried them at the office so I changed them back out for the medium.

Everything was comfortable when I was sitting up but as soon as I tried to lay down, I felt like I wasn't getting enough air. I changed out the pillows for the small again but that was worse so I finally got back online here to look up how to change the settings. I changed the starting pressure from 5 to 6 and tried again. This time the pressure was too high and I felt like I was drowning. The machine had a 5.5 so I changed it to that and it was PERFECT. It felt like I was just breathing normally. There was no difference with the mask on or off.

I was able to sleep about 4 hours but when I tried to turn over, I couldn't get things situated from that side so I spent the last hour with no mask. I will take a look at what the machine recorded when I get home. I don't have the card reader but I can go through the memory of the machine. So the first night was successfull overall. I wish it had been Friday night so I could have gotten more sleep. All the fooling around with the machine cut into my sleep time.

Had I been a newbie without this forum, I would have failed last night because I wouldn't have been comfortable with the settings. I don't know how anyone was ever able to succeed at this when they can't make the immediate changes they need to make it work. I would have had to wait until I could see the DME again to do something. By then I would surely have been discouraged.

Sounds like you did very well for a first nighter. As time passes you will find that the nighttime routine tends to become easier and faster as time passes. This forum has helped me in so many ways right from the start and for sure it wouldn't have gone as smoothly for me either without the help of this board.

I finally got around to checking my numbers. I don't have the card reader yet so I can only use the LCD summary screen data.

Hours: 5
Avg 90%: 8
AHI: 3
Leak Rate:24

I think these numbers are pretty good. Especially for a first night. The leak rate on the Swift LT is 28 at 8 and my AHI looks good.

I was taking the mask on and off a lot last night at first trying to get the pressure right. I thought that might have increased the leak rate but it seems it is in an ok range. If I understand all this correctly.