New Machine & Mask

I was given a bottom of the line Resmed from my DME and the not having access to data from troubleshooting was killing me. So I picked up a barley used S8 Elite and have been using it the last two nights. I also switched from a cushion mask to the Swift II nasal pillows. The pressure felt a lot higher in the nasal pillows and the first night I had trouble adjusting to it, so I backed off my pressure. Last night I put my pressure back up to my titrated pressure of 8cm. The results have been promising but not quite there.

Both nights I had 0 leak rate, which is awesome. I assume that means i'm not leaking out my mouth which had worried me.

My AHI was ~8, with ~1AI and ~7HI. I'm thinking a slight bump in pressure would get me there.

I'm getting some aerophagia, but nothing I can't live with consider the Swift II is way more comfortable than the old mask.

I can't wait to get the software. I have Rescan 3.3 coming, an I understand it's possible to get an upgrade to 3.5, but I'm a little unclear on how to do that.

It's so great to have access to the data. Knowing is half the battle, they say.

Any thoughts?

_z

I assume you changed your Mask Selection in the Elite for the Swift? W/an AI of 1 and some aerophagia I would sit tight at the present settings for a week before deciding on how much of a pressure change to make. And remember, you can make the changes in .2 cm increments, you don't have to change 1 full cm at a time. "They" say Resmeds tend to be a little more aggressive scorng hypopneas so be patient, give these two changes (mask and pressure) a week and then see what the cumulative week's data indicates.

grr! Last night I had an AHI of 18! (a=2, h=16). I've been back to square one in terms of learning to breathe with the new mask, but when I woke up this morning I wondered if it was even on because I had gotten used to the breathing. I wonder if I screwed up the numbers during the hour it took me to fall asleep, I kept holding my breath cuz the machine made me feel like it was forcing me to breath too fast.

Still have a leak rate of 0 though!

_z

Since you bought this Elite used you might want to have the Elite's pressure output checked w/a manometer. I had my DME supplier check out my Elite w/a manometer before I sold it just to be sure it was still in tip top condition.

The aeropahgia has gone away after making some changes, I'm not sure which one did it, or if it's a combination, but I'm back to sleeping on my side mostly, I stopped using EPR, or maybe I just got used to the new mask. I felt like the EPR was trying to breathe for me, plus I felt it was compromising my pressure. I found if I just ramp it from 4cm the pressure sneaks up on me and it's fine.

Not being a very patient person I've bumped my pressure .2cm each day and watched my AHI go down.

The odd thing is I've been waking up at 4:30am and checking my numbers. Consistently my AHI would be 2 higher between 4:30 and 6:30. Since it's an average, I'm have more than twice as many events in those 2 hours.

I didn't check it at 4:30 today, but when I got up my AHI was exactly 5! (A=.8, H=4.2) These are my best numbers since I got the new machine. I'm still tired as heck, but my mood is improving, and my brain is functioning a lot better! I'm not making stupid mistakes at work and having to check my work a zillion times before I can trust it. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, it felt so good to sleep! Usually it's because I don't feel able to take on the day.

I think I'm on the right track, pressure is now at 8.8. If the current trend holds I'll be below 5 AHI tonight when I bump it to 9.

_z