newbie with a question on using Cpap

Hi, I am hoping someone here may be able to help me. I have sleep apnea & have been trying to use the Cpap Machine. I could not adjust to the mask so I am now using the Nasal Aire hose with the Puritan Bennet GoodKnight 420G set at 7. I am having problems with this also. I wake up in middle of the night with a horrible headache & end up shutting machine off so I can get some sleep. I was diagonsed about 6 months ago & my insurance does not pay for the sleep test so I really don't want to go for another sleep test. Anyone have any suggestions??
Thank you
Charlee

charlee, if you can get your home health care provider (the people who gave you the 420G) to swap that machine for a 420S or 420SP, you'll have a machine that can give you data that could be useful in figuring out what (if anything) is going wrong with your treatment. With a 420S or 420SP, information that the machine is recording while you sleep can be downloaded via a simple cable to a computer. The software called "Silverlining" will show the data on a computer.... the home health care people's computer if they do the download, or...your computer if you got the software yourself.

One of the most important things to look at in a download is the leak rate. If the leak rate is high, that's an indication that therapy air is escaping and not going where it's needed to keep your throat open. Leak rate can't tell you WHERE the leak is coming from... so you'd have to be your own detective to figure out if the leaks were from the mask or were air escaping out your mouth if not wearing a Full Face mask.

If leaks are well under control, but the AHI reported by the data is high, that could be an indication that the pressure needs to be higher...that your pressure of 7 is not enough.

The 420G can't tell you (or your health care provider) any of that, even if you got software for it and downloaded it. The "G" records only hours of use.

Charlee - A few things come to mind. If your pressure is not high enough to stop your apneas, you could have a headache from that. If you have a copy of your sleep study, you might want to check to see if your sleep time was sufficient to get enough data that included sleeping on your back and in REM. You may be able to get a loaner of an autopap to check your pressure need. Cheaper than another study if upgrading your machine is a problem.

Mouth breathing can make treatment ineffective. Hope you figure it out so you can get the treatment you need all night long.