New User -- mask issues - looking for tips

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:50 pm

Both ends of my hose look the same ... one end plugs into the machine, the other into the mask (or another smaller tube for the Evora). Not sure if that means it's heated or not.

If the ends of the hose look identical, then you have an unheated hose.

robysue1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 14, 2024 7:51 pm

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:50 pm

Both ends of my hose look the same ... one end plugs into the machine, the other into the mask (or another smaller tube for the Evora). Not sure if that means it's heated or not.

If the ends of the hose look identical, then you have an unheated hose.

Hmm... is that normal? Should I ask them to send me a heated hose?

I also wonder if my hose is a bit shorter than most too. With the Evora it's less noticeable, as that has a thinner white hose attached that connects to the big hose. With the Dreamwear, it just connects to the machine hose.

I see photos of folks draping their Dreamwear hose over their bedrests and such.... mine barely gets to the middle of my bed. If I roll over too much the machine would go flying to the floor...

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2024 9:55 am

I also wonder if my hose is a bit shorter than most too.

It's a conspiracy against you!

Your hose is almost certainly six feet long.

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2024 9:55 am

mine barely gets to the middle of my bed. If I roll over too much the machine would go flying to the floor...

If you are going to act like that, get a 10-foot hose ------>

https://www.google.com/search?q=10-foot ... e&gs_lcrp=

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2024 10:50 am

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2024 9:55 am

I also wonder if my hose is a bit shorter than most too.

It's a conspiracy against you!

Your hose is almost certainly six feet long.

I probably just saw some ad copy somewhere that made it look like a nice long hose one could hang from above or something. I try to position mine above my head so it's not dragging down, just that it's not long enough to hook above or anything.

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2024 9:55 am

robysue1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 14, 2024 7:51 pm

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:50 pm

Both ends of my hose look the same ... one end plugs into the machine, the other into the mask (or another smaller tube for the Evora). Not sure if that means it's heated or not.

If the ends of the hose look identical, then you have an unheated hose.

Hmm... is that normal? Should I ask them to send me a heated hose?

It's up to you. You may have to pay for a new heated hose totally out-of-pocket if your insurance company has a "hose replacement schedule". The heated ClimateLine hose for the Resmed AirSense 11 costs $46 at cpap.com right now, whereas the Resmed SlimLine (unheated) hose costs $35 and a generic (non-SlimLine, non-heated) standard hose costs $5.

If your nose is chronically cold enough to bother you when you're in bed sleeping with the machine, a heated hose can help with that. If your nose isn't cold, then you don't need a heated hose for any particular reason.

I also wonder if my hose is a bit shorter than most too.

The standard non-heated CPAP hose is about 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. The Resmed SlimLine hose is a 6 foot hose. The heated ClimateLine hose for the Resmed AirSense 11 is 6.6 feet (2 meters) long.

I see photos of folks draping their Dreamwear hose over their bedrests and such.... mine barely gets to the middle of my bed. If I roll over too much the machine would go flying to the floor...

How big of a bed do you have? How far from the bed is your nightstand? How much difference is there between the height of the nightstand and the top of your mattress?

My husband drapes his hose over the headboard, but we sleep in a plain old double bed (i.e. 54 inches wide) and he (obviously) sleeps pretty close to his side of the bed. I run my hose under the covers. Even if only one of us is in bed, the 72" unheated hoses will easily allow us to roll to the middle of the bed.

But many (most?) Americans these days sleep in bigger beds, even if they aren't sharing the bed: A queen size is 60 inches wide and a king size is 76 inches wide. So I can see how an active sleeper rolling all over a king sized bed might find the length of a standard CPAP hose limiting their range of movement.

For what it is worth, there is one company that makes longer (unheated) CPAP hoses in the standard 19cm diameter, which is a bit larger than the diameters of the Slimline ClimateLine diameters, both of which are 15cm hoses. So if you opted to buy one of the longer hoses, you would need to make sure that the Tube setting was set to Standard instead of Slimline. (If you use a ClimateLine hose, the machine recognizes that automatically.)

Links to those longer hoses from cpap.com:

10-foot standard diameter unheated hose
8-foot standard diameter unheated hose

robysue1 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2024 5:41 pm

How big of a bed do you have? How far from the bed is your nightstand? How much difference is there between the height of the nightstand and the top of your mattress?

It's a queen-size, and I usually sleep towards the middle-ish of the bed. And my stand is a bit lower than the bed ... so the combo is probably why I though the hose was a little short. Or at least too short to hook above.

I'll make do ... and see what insurance covers. If they cover a replacement hose that is heated eventually, I'll try that. The air does feel a bit cold to me, and it's not exactly cold in the room.

----

Quick settings question -- for nasal cushions, should it be set to nasal (I assume) or pillows? Although cushions aren't the same as a full nasal mask, and are kind of like pillows (without the pillowy bits) .. so am not completely certain.

Tried the pillows again last night and numbers weren't so great, apneas at around 7, and machine telling me I had a bad seal. Nose not so great either. Thinking the cushion is at least a little better, although neither is so comfortable. Can't get much past 4hrs though so far w/ either dreamwear configuration, and that's not even all sleep-time.

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 16, 2024 12:33 pm

Quick settings question -- for nasal cushions, should it be set to nasal (I assume) or pillows?

For a quick answer, send an email to captainobvious@gmail.com.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:17 am

Anonynose wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 16, 2024 12:33 pm

Quick settings question -- for nasal cushions, should it be set to nasal (I assume) or pillows?

For a quick answer, send an email to captainobvious@gmail.com.

No need to be snarky about it. I thought perhaps nasal was for nasal masks, the type that are larger and go over one's complete nose. Geesh...

Numbers have been sort of lousy (11+ apneas last night), so something seems off somewhere. Thought it may be settings.

When in doubt about what mask setting choice to make.....when using a ResMed mask look at the paperwork for the mask because it will tell you which choice to make....and be careful because some of what we might think would fall under the "nasal" category will end up being told to choose "pillows".

For non ResMed brand masks just choose what appears to be the correct choice with the guidelines below.

Nasal mask....can be the traditional over the nose cushion or it can be an under the nose cushion.

Pillows mask....traditional nasal pillows and some under the nose nasal cushion masks. Like the ResMed AirFit N30 under the nose cushion and ResMed says to choose "pillows".

Full face mask....non ResMed....this includes the traditional full face mask along with some of the hybrid types.
If the nose and mouth are part of the circuit in some fashion that gets sealed...it's a full face mask.