Just Changed from an N10 to an N20

As far as pure functionality goes, I like the improvements on the N20 . They've added a swivel and quick disconnect, and the nose pillow has a more stable attachment point. The first thing I noticed when I just tried it out is the feeling that I was not able to exhale as well as with the N10; and when starting at a pressure of 5 (my take off point), I'm not getting enough air at all. Has anyone experienced this and is there a way to increase the exhaust function on the Airsense 10? It's confusing why such similar products from the same manufacturer would perform so differently.

Regardless of mask, most people have the feeling of not getting enough air with a starting pressure of 5.

Hopeful50 wrote:Regardless of mask, most people have the feeling of not getting enough air with a starting pressure of 5.

I agree, but I was OK with the N10 starting at 5. The thing that has me puzzled is why the N20 is giving me a smothering effect while starting at 5 and then I'm having more difficulty exhaling later on when at higher pressures. These things are subtle but noticeable, and the masks are Resmed, one generation to the next, with the same machine and settings. If I'm still alive tomorrow morning, I'll report back.

Comfortably Numb wrote:but I was OK with the N10 starting at 5. The thing that has me puzzled is why the N20 is giving me a smothering effect while starting at 5

Haven't used either mask but maybe it is something similar that happens often with nasal pillows and low pressure settings.
Sometimes just changing sizes in the nasal pillow is enough to cause a problem or alleviate a problem without the pressure itself changing.
There's a tiny bit of volume difference in the sizes of nasal pillows and sometimes that little bit of difference gets felt as either easier air movement or more restrictive air movement.
Maybe there's a tiny bit of difference in the volume of the N 10 cushion compared to the N 20 cushion even within same size.
It can also maybe account for problems exhaling later or perceived problems anyway. When the air doesn't seem to move comfortably we can either feel air starved or even experience trouble exhaling.

Now I don't know for sure that this is what you are experiencing but what you describe is quite common with nasal pillow users who get relief simply by changing sizes of the nasal pillows.
Since that isn't something you can do with a nasal cushion mask then about all you can do is increase that starting point from 5 to something a little more comfortable if you find that the suffocation feeling simply bugs you so much you can get past it.
Often 0.5 or 1.0 more pressure is sufficient in terms of comfort. Worth trying while awake and then you can decide if you want to continue trying it (a little more than 5 starting pressure) while asleep.

Thanks for your comments. I did pretty well last night in spite of my first taste of the new mask. I did encounter one strange issue, however, that was probably not caused by the mask. For some reason, I only got credit for 4 hours sleep on both My Air and Sleepy Head. Last night was no different than any other in the past two weeks (except for the new mask). I got at least 8 hours +. Could I have caused a glitch by experimenting yesterday afternoon with the new mask? I did a couple of "Fit Mask" procedures and may have turned the unit to start a couple of times but I quickly turned everything off. From the looks of my graphs, I didn't start getting any data until about 2 a.m.????

No...mask fitting experiments shouldn't have affected data recording.

The only thing that might cause graphs to go missing would be if the SD card wasn't in the AirSense machine until the 2 AM mark where it started recording....so that would involve you waking up and putting the card back in the machine.
Even then it should record usage hours though.

I am not sure how the My Air thing does when there are split sessions for any reason...like does it only show the most recent session for a short period of time. I don't do the MyAir thing.

Now if you went to bed at 10 and didn't wake up or get up or turn the machine off and back on at 2 AM (and the clock is correct on your machine) and it didn't start any sort of recording until 2 AM....maybe something wrong with the data writing portion of your machine and if it happens again...contact the DME.