First night on CPAP, coming up in a few hours

Hello all. Been reading around the forum here for a couple weeks, learning as much as I can about the CPAP life. Now I'm ready to go for it. Received my unit and mask today.

Background: diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea. 23 average AHI. Prescribed min/max pressures are 7/13.

Verified that the machine was set up as prescribed. Test fitted the mask. More comfortable than I expected.

So I practiced using it, and I found that exhaling was somewhat uncomfortable and difficult. So I got into the menu and changed the EPR to 3 (it was set to off). Once i did that, exhaling was much easier, although there's just a slight bit of unnatural resistance there. I've read a number of posts here and it looks like most folks leave the EPR off.

Couple of questions:
1. Is it best to leave EPR off and just get used to the exhale sensation I'm feeling?

2. Any other settings on the machine that I might want to look at before I sleep tonight?

I realize that things are probably gonna be trial and error for a while until everything is dialed in.

Thanks for being a helpful resource!

Welcome to the forum.

Use EPR for now and you get used to using the mask and machine and can fall asleep easily and stay asleep.
Revisit either using less EPR or turning it off later.
For now do whatever you need to do to be comfortable.

And "most" people don't do without exhale relief. Most people actually will use some form of exhale relief and that's fine.
Those that don't like it or don't want to use it...that's fine too.

Me....I love EPR of 3 and if it would go to 4 I would like that even better.

Use the EPR..it makes exhaling easier. That's what it is for

I've been using EPR 3 since my first night, love it.

Better comfort, great AHI numbers. No reason to turn it off, or down.

I've seen some posts about a few people whose therapy isn't as effective with EPR, but don't turn it off for the sake of turning it off.

HuffDog wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 16, 2019 5:09 pm

Hello all. Been reading around the forum here for a couple weeks, learning as much as I can about the CPAP life. Now I'm ready to go for it. Received my unit and mask today.

welcome to the zoo! there's not much else to let you know about settings. if there were a secret setting, i could charge you some serious coin and get rich!

epr is a "comfort" setting but as you can see, a few of us do use it. i have the most TERRIBLE time with aerophagia and wouldn't be able to sleep at all if not for my epr at 3.

of course, you know to get oscar and start tracking your therapy, right? right.

and i come off as some whiny so 'n' so when i type it, but please remain in this thread with any updates or questions for the first little while.

good luck!

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:15 pm

of course, you know to get oscar and start tracking your therapy, right? right.

Absolutely. Already downloaded to my PC and ready to go for tomorrow when I pop the SD card in.

HuffDog wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:23 pm

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:15 pm

of course, you know to get oscar and start tracking your therapy, right? right.

Absolutely. Already downloaded to my PC and ready to go for tomorrow when I pop the SD card in.

then we await how tonight goes!

Well, night one didn't go so well. I tossed and turned and laid awake for 2 hours, until I finally just took the mask off.

Breathing just didn't feel comfortable the whole time. A near constant sensation of not getting quite enough air. After laying there for 45 minutes or so it felt more difficult to exhale, so I tapped the button on the machine and it was ramping up the pressure to 10. Laid there a while longer and it was 11.

So it seems like I'm fighting the machine and it keeps cranking up the pressure, which makes it even harder to breathe properly.

The ramp is turned off. No mask leaks that I can tell.

My ENT says I have a deviated septum. But I can hold either nostril shut and get plenty of air flowing through either side. Not a mouth breather during the day. Maybe the deviated septum affects my breathing more than I think?

I do have an F20 mask on the way so I'll have another option.

Any thoughts?

When you turn on the machine, what does it show on the screen as your pressure settings? Why is the Ramp OFF? Have you set EPR to 3?

LSAT wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 17, 2019 7:54 am

When you turn on the machine, what does it show on the screen as your pressure settings? Why is the Ramp OFF? Have you set EPR to 3?

Try all the EPR settings (including off or zero). If you feel like your not getting enough air, it's good that the ramp is off. If eleven doesn't feel like enough, try min of 13 and max of 20.

Consider also that what might feel like not enough pressure might be too much and vice versa.

Lastly, download OSCAR (formerly known as "Sleepyhead"). Once you do that, you can use the SD card in your CPAP to download the data. If there's no card in your machine, you can get one cheap; the slot in which to put it is definitely there.

This can run on any desktop or laptop computer. It cannot run on phones; I'm not sure about tablets. It gives more information that the app provided by the CPAP manufacturer (which you can also use).

LSAT wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 17, 2019 7:54 am

When you turn on the machine, what does it show on the screen as your pressure settings? Why is the Ramp OFF? Have you set EPR to 3?

It shows Pressure 7.0 - 13

I turned ramp off because it felt like not enough to breathe properly

EPR is set to 3

I would try (ramp off) EPR of 2 - you may not really need it and 3 may interfere with other features without your realizing it. I would bump min. setting to 8, and max to at least 15 if not 20. And remember the machine should adapt to your breathing pattern, not the other way around (people unconsciously try to match breathing to machine and never get comfortable).

I am one that does not like EPR.

I used level 1 when raising pressure, as I tuned in my therapy.
Once I stopped raising and settled on a pressure for a few days the EPR would give me a sensation of my exhale dropping away too quickly. No panic, just uncomfortable.

Wonderful tool for raising pressure though.


Good luck,
JPB

Have you worn it during the day when you are not trying to
sleep ? Sit and watch tv, read a book, get used to the machine while you are awake before trying to sleep with it.

babydinosnoreless wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:28 am

Have you worn it during the day when you are not trying to
sleep ? Sit and watch tv, read a book, get used to the machine while you are awake before trying to sleep with it.

Kinda. I just got the machine yesterday afternoon. I wore it for about 30 minutes after I got the machine set up, the mask adjusted, etc. I think doing more of this will be helpful though. Thanks!