Have questions need help for a friend

Hey anyone that can help i have a friend of mine with bad sleep apnea. He is around 65 years old severely over weight and is having no luck sleeping with the machine. real quick details, he uses a nasal strip and says he sleeps for an hr on hr off all night long he is sleeping for 16 hrs a day always feels tired no energy,muscle aches .when he sleeps he says his nose will clog up and cant breath through it i asked him if he has a heated humidifier he said yes. I have been trying to help him out and post something on here for him he is in terrible shape and needs help immediately. Aaron

In order to give you useful help, you will need to post some information for us.

machine model
mask model
pressure settings
ramp on or off, if on, what settings

We will also need to have more detailed explanations of the problems. For example, can he fall asleep with it,but wakes up quickly, or can't fall asleep with it.

Does the mask leak? If, so where?

How many masks has he tried, and which ones?

Does it feel he isn't getting enough air, too much?

There are a ton of things that can cause a problem, and most problems can be solved, but ittakes some troubleshooting to do so. If he is lucky, his machine will have data, which will help a lot.

There may also be some non-cpap issues that could make things more complicated such as side effects from medications.

ok i will get info from him on everything and write back

aaron, if your friend is like most of us he was given very little helpful information about how to make this therapy a little less uncomfortable. It's really nice of you to help him out and you definitely came to the right place.

Once we know which make and model of machine he has you might be able to view a brief video tutorial for it (see the link in my signature box below) which will show you how to find the pressure settings and the comfort features (like ramp, climate control and exhalation pressure relief or EPR). Then there's the mask -- probably the biggest factor in dealing with PAP therapy. There are so many, and so many types (full face, nasal, nasal pillow) and generally it takes some trial and error to find "the one."

If your friend's machine is a full-data machine, you can even use free software to see what's going on during the night with his pressure, mask leaks, and apnea events.

In the meantime, I suggest you ask him what it is that usually wakes him up. Feeling like he can't breathe? Like not enough air, or maybe can't exhale against the incoming pressure? Mask leaking? Too tight?

If you register (with or without your friend) we'll be in a better position to help. We'll do our best.

Sounds like a possible candidate for an Oracle 2 mask.
Read my post on using one. The link is in my signature block below.
If he can't make the nasal mask work, his next step is a FFM and then to the Oracle mask.

aaronwise wrote: .when he sleeps he says his nose will clog up and cant breath through it i asked him if he has a heated humidifier he said yes. Aaron

Too much humidity can cause congestion is some people. What setting is he using, what climate does he live in and what are the conditions in his bedroom?

Of course nasal congestion can be caused by many other things - http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/nasa ... m-20050644

You may know it would be much better if he could register here and start a dialogue with experienced members who could help him.