New CPAP user - not confident with treatment

Hi,

I have been given a Resmed S9 escape epr machine along with a F20 mask. My machine is set to ramp from 4 to treatment titration of 12. My AHI on diagnosis was 20, I suffer greatly with severe excessive daytime sleepiness. The first few days I felt great with zero daytime sleepiness however the mask ended up giving me a very large pressure sore on the bridge of my nose. I had to cut a little pad to cover over it in order to make the wearing of the mask tolerable. I understand that this machine does not record any data other than the amount of hours used and I have had this confirmed by Resmed. I would like to know is it common for it to work for the first few days and then for it to not be as affective?. When I go for my review what are the chances of it being turned up?. I am totally new to all of this and really looking for some advice. Many Thanks in advance.

I think you're having mask fitting issues. You may be making the mask too tight, and this could be the reason for the nose sore.

It is a perfectly good fixed pressure machine. As you noted ,there is little data available to evaluate the effectiveness of your therapy. Why you were given this machine when it has been discontinued for 3-4 years is beyond me.

Evies76 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:04 pm

Hi,

I have been given a Resmed S9 escape epr machine

"given"? I hope you didn't pay anything for it, that machine was the worst of the worst when I came out in 2010, and it's been replaced by newer ones for several years now.

I have issues with bridge of my nose. I have switched from a Total face mask to the Resmed F20. I love the F20. I put a small patch of medical tape and a small cut out of mole skin on the bridge area of the nose, and although the area is sensitive, the mask won't cut the skin. I cut up a weeks worth of the patches of medical tape and moleskin so when I go to bed, I don't have to mess with it.... I just plop them on. You can find the mole skin in the foot section of the pharmacy. It's used to pad corns on your feet.

Sheriff

If you use the moleskin every night, you can find it at Amazon in five yard rolls. I bought it that way when I was using it. I don't need it now that I have changed masks.

Evies76 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:04 pm

Hi,

I have been given a Resmed S9 escape epr machine along with a F20 mask. My machine is set to ramp from 4 to treatment titration of 12. My AHI on diagnosis was 20, I suffer greatly with severe excessive daytime sleepiness. The first few days I felt great with zero daytime sleepiness however the mask ended up giving me a very large pressure sore on the bridge of my nose. I had to cut a little pad to cover over it in order to make the wearing of the mask tolerable. I understand that this machine does not record any data other than the amount of hours used and I have had this confirmed by Resmed. I would like to know is it common for it to work for the first few days and then for it to not be as affective?. When I go for my review what are the chances of it being turned up?. I am totally new to all of this and really looking for some advice. Many Thanks in advance.

The big problem is that with the machine you have, you have no way to evaluate the effectiveness of your treatment, except by how you feel. They may want to adjust your pressure based on how you're feeling, but without data it's just a shot in the dark.

How did you end up with that machine? Did you and/or your insurance company buy it or rent it? As already pointed out, it is a discontinued model we refer to here as a "brick". You can see my blog post "Help, I'm stuck with a brick" to see if it's possible to get a decent machine with efficacy data.

The problem here is that without data it's hard to know WHY you are returning to daytime sleepiness. It may be leaks (particularly if you have the mask too tight), it may be the pressure isn't right (a titration is a one night snapshot in very artificial circumstances, and may not be an accurate representation of your true sleep needs) efficacy data can really help sort it out.

I hope your doctor pays attention to more than usage data and works with you to get a better machine.

Meanwhile, take a look at my blog post "Taming the Mirage Quattro". Even though you are using a different mask, the principal is the same. In order to get a good seal around your nose, you need to let the air cushion fully inflate--it can't do that if it's too tight. Try tightening the bottom straps of the mask and loosening the upper straps to let the cushion fully inflate to hug your nose and that should take the pressure off the sore spot. It should look like this }/ not this }\ . You may want to put some padding on your nose until it heals up--moleskin, a bandaid, or my favorite is a blister bandaid for toes and fingers. But generally padding a pressure area makes pressure worse, not better. If your nose sore persists, you need to look at other masks.