One week of data

I've been using my new Airsense 11 for 2 weeks (tonight). I'm not going to pretend like I enjoy it. But I am sleeping better (and quieter) so I'm sticking with it. I've bounced around between a few different masks and thought I would put my thoughts here for posterity and then ask for some thoughts on my 1 week trends and 1 specific night.

I started with a P10 Nasal Pillow mask kindly provided by the board (along with some others) and mailed to me by IamStumped. I liked it, but it definitely caused some sore nostrils after a couple of nights.

I switched to the Evora for another 3-4 nights and liked it as well, but felt like it leaked a lot as a side sleeper when I would push the straps by lying on them.

I did a night in the Dreamwear pillows but didn't care for them for the same reason as the P10. I then tried the Dreamwear full face and like it quite a bit. I only woke up a few times due to slippage and a singular whistling incident. However, I am entirely too vain for a full face mask to be a feasible long term solution. Plus the headgear is not exactly comfortable.

I have the Bleep Dreamports on deck to try and a call in to my DME To see what else I may want to swap my Dreamwear Pillows for. I may wait on the Bleeps for my hose hanger to arrive (Sat) since I'm not convinced my current fix of hanging the hose over the headboard will suffice for them.

On to the results. I have one weeks worth of data from my machine due to needing to order an SD Card. Here's the link to the overview of the week. https://sleephq.com/public/d979570d-276 ... 6e0249e9a9

For the most part my AHI has been below 0.5 all week with a single night closer to 0.8. If anyone has osme thoughts on that night, feel free to bring them up. https://sleephq.com/public/4b953f99-e1f ... faeb1ce6a9

Thanks for the advice and feedback.

Less than 1.0 AHI I don't even bother looking at mine.

You are doing very well. Typical issues sorting out which mask is going to have more positives than negatives but you will get them sorted out.
The mask part of this journey is probably the hardest part.

FWIW....I know Stuart really promotes using the hose hanging thing with the Bleep but I have never used any sort of hose management system with my Bleep use. Just wanted to mention it because not everyone who uses the Bleep will also be using a hose hangar.

Chipva - you mentioned the P10 irritating the nose. I had the same problem when I first tried it, so put it aside while a tried about a dozen other masks. Fast forward a year and I tried the P10 again, and this time it is WONDERFUL. No idea why. Maybe my nose toughened up?

When I used the P10 for the first time I had some tenderness at my nostrils and I had been using some sort of nasal pillow mask for years and years before the P10 was released. So I don't think it is so much "toughening up" as it is just a different mask that tends to put pressure on an area of the nose that just hasn't experienced anything putting pressure on it especially with newbies to cpap. It took me about a week for the end of my nose to quit feeling like I had run into someone's fist.

Back when the P10 was released it didn't come with that little buckle that lets us adjust the tension easily and it took about a week for the headgear to stretch out a bit so that it wasn't a bit snug on me.

I suspect that now when using the P10 and the headgear with the buckle that people tend to still make the mask simply too snug and thus put more pressure on the end of the nose at the nostril area.
It is the most common error people make with any mask....they just crank it down too snug thinking that "snug" will prevent leaking.

chipva wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 23, 2022 3:57 pm

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For the most part my AHI has been below 0.5 all week with a single night closer to 0.8. If anyone has osme thoughts on that night, feel free to bring them up. https://sleephq.com/public/4b953f99-e1f ... faeb1ce6a9

Thanks for the advice and feedback.

Those AHI values are very good, congratulations. If I might ask, what were your AHI values before you began your PAP journey?

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 23, 2022 4:07 pm

Less than 1.0 AHI I don't even bother looking at mine.

Honestly, I'm mainly surprised this is working this well this quickly and wanted some validation it's not all a house of cards.

You are doing very well. Typical issues sorting out which mask is going to have more positives than negatives but you will get them sorted out.
The mask part of this journey is probably the hardest part.

The journey continues. I like the idea of the Eclipse and am hoping the Dreamports will let me judge if its feasible for me.

FWIW....I know Stuart really promotes using the hose hanging thing with the Bleep but I have never used any sort of hose management system with my Bleep use. Just wanted to mention it because not everyone who uses the Bleep will also be using a hose hangar.

My main reason for waiting is that as a side sleeper the hose eventually ends up strangling me while it is lying on the bed when I switch from side to side. The dreamwear resolves this by moving the hose to the top of my head and I'm hoping the hanger will resolve it for those masks that come off my face.

dataq1 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:52 am

chipva wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 23, 2022 3:57 pm

.

For the most part my AHI has been below 0.5 all week with a single night closer to 0.8. If anyone has osme thoughts on that night, feel free to bring them up. https://sleephq.com/public/4b953f99-e1f ... faeb1ce6a9

Thanks for the advice and feedback.

Those AHI values are very good, congratulations. If I might ask, what were your AHI values before you began your PAP journey?

My original AHI from my late Jan sleep study was 81.4. They got them down to 2.3 in my titration study.

My settings from the provider are 8-20 pressure. They turned on the ramp but I honestly felt like I was suffocating, so I turned it off before I put in my SD Card. I'm waiting for my compliance to be measured before I go fiddling with any "real" settings.

My current mask has been in use for almost a year without any nose irritation until the night before last. Last night, I put a little Lansinoh lanolin on the irritated place. The irritation is gone this morning.

https://www.amazon.com/Lansinoh-Lanolin ... B005MI648C