Chuck's 1st CPAP night

Y'all,

Okay so my new PB420e got here yesterday. I plugged everything in and filled up the water gizmo and quickly watched the video that came with the Activa. I didn't have much time and wanted to get to sleep so I didn't read all the instructions, or wash everything out, and open everything.

I was really tired and so it took over an hour for me to get relaxed enough to fall asleep. Maybe eleven or so. I slept 'til about 3am, woke up and took off the mask, put it back on and then went DEEP asleep until my alarm went off at 04:45.

Question: my gizmo is set to APAP 4-20, and the Dr. / titration study prescribed 8. Before I fell asleep the display said "4.0". I'm not sure what happened after I fell asleep because I was ... like... asleep. Is this good?

Got free breakfast from the new restaurant across the street from my office this morning. How cool is that?

Another question: The video said to take the mask apart every day to clean it. The procedure appears to be slightly more complex than routine neurosurgery. Didn't I read a post on here that said scattering the mask wasn't necessary? I just took the mask and short tube into the shower with me and wrenched it out with some ivory soap and water. Do I have to warsh the big, long hose, too?

The PB420e is like sooooo quiet. Between the AC, ceiling fan, and fans in my HTPC I couldn't even hear it!

I got no water on my face (rain? Is that what you call it?). so that was good. I had the hummadinger set on "3" at first, but here in Hotlanta it's like 5780 degrees kelvin and it was too warm. I cranked it down to minimum setting and the cooler air felt good.

I'm going to try the other nose watchamacallit tonight. Swift?

Just wanted to give y'all an update since you were so helpful with all my questions in my earlier thread ("Sorry if you've heard this story before").

Chuck

Oh, Chuck, a man after my own heart. I was an exclusive Activa wearer for about seven weeks. Just got my new Remstar Auto with CFlex yesterday, too, and the Swift.
Word of advice. DO NOT take apart the Activa. I did when I got it to clean it and never got it to work the same as it did the first time. Then someone on this site recommended to just wash the areas that come in contact with your face so that you don't risk happening what happened to me. I learned the hard way. I bought a Breeze a couple of weeks ago. Did not work at all for me and sold it to someone on this site for very cheap and he likes it a lot so far. However, just got my Swift last night and it seems to be the best mask I've ever used.
Now my pressure was titrated at 10 cm when I had my sleep study. The DME yesterday set my auto at 5-15, stating usually it's five below and five above your steady pressure. Maybe other DMEs or doctors have a different way of thinking. But 20? That seems awfully high to me. But if you're never going to need it, I don't think it would really matter because it just won't ever kick in that high.
Did you buy the Silverlining software to monitor your nights? If not, I would look into doing that. I believe this is the machine that has the ability to do that, no? I am waiting for my software and card reader so I can do same with my Remstar.
Another word of advice, it has been recommended to use Baby Shampoo to clean the mask parts and the hose with water and vinegar (I'm sorry but don't remember how many parts water to one part vinegar-maybe somone can help us out on that). In the meanwhile, just steam it out in the shower with you in the morning and I'm sure that's fine for now.
Let me know how you like the Swift when you get it. I think it may end up being THE mask for me. I did like the Activa, but had to use some mole skin to keep leaks away and was up virtually every night adjusting it a few times to stop the leaks anyway. The mole skin did help, though; just hurt to pull off in the morning.
Congratulations on your new machine and best of luck. Keep us posted!

Chuck:

Order the Silverlining software and don't forget to order the serial cable that mates your 420E to your computer. There are specific instructions that come with the software regarding proper connection between the 420E and the computer... I'd encourage you to follow them closely so as to not screw up the RS232 port on the 420E. If your computer does not have a serial port, you will need to get a port replicator that plugs into a USB port on your computer.

The software is excellent and gives lots of data. Also, you can tweak the 420E if needed. I'd suggest that you not tweak it until you have had some time with it to see if the default settings take care of you; in most cases, the defaults are best left alone.

Another suggestion:
Don't be changing masks every night. Give each mask several nights so that you can truly assess its comfort, fit, leak, etc. Also, keep a record of which mask you used per night and, if you had any alcohol or medication that might have relaxed your muscles during the evening. Booze and muscle-relaxants can have a significant effect on your airway --> the 420E will compensate for this but, it is worth keeping track of the information so that you can learn how your airway reacts to booze, medications, etc., and how the 420E responds, and, how the different masks work at different pressures.

Good luck!

Will,

Cool. I have the cable and the software, I just didn't have time to play with all that last night. Is the 420e backward-compatible with Jack & Coke? I'll run a regression test tonight and let you know in the morning. As far as the RS232c stuff goes, I'm okay with that (I'm in the biz). In fact, the first thing that occurred to me was to hook it to a Xyplex and have the first IP-addressable 420e (if someone's already done this, let me know).

Anyway, its 10:54am and I feel pretty good. I yawned once about a half-hour ago but it was toward the end of a boring-@$$ meeting.

Chuck

CharlesJ wrote:I'm in the biz

OK, I've gotta ask; what do you do?

I'm VP Research (software) at a company that designs and builds inspection equipment for point-of-manufacture quality control for the glass industry and the metal and plastic closure industries. These are cameras (with sophisticated optics packages) hooked up to computers sitting on manufacturing lines.

We do look at pharmaceutical closures of various sorts as well as every syringe of Diprivan (a general anesthetic) made in the US.

Prior to this I was Senior Design at QNX Software Systems for 13 years. They make the QNX operating system: a real-time Unix-like networked OS.

Sorry to hijack this thread.

Hi Bill,

I noticed your profile from your earlier posts. I used to live near the intersection of Sunset Pt. & Highland. I worked for Paradyne for 10 years back in the AT&T days. I also worked for Timeplex down there somewhere off of Roosevelt I think. Moved up here in '96 and am now working for Norfolk Southern (freight transportation). I've development and support for a dozen or so accounting and transportation applications.

I love it here in the Atlanta area and so I'm not going back down there any time soon. My brother lives in Palm Harbour and my folks have a place in the retirement trailer park slums up there off 19. So I get down once in a while. You may know some of my best friends: Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Vinny Prospal, Nikolai Khabibulin, Ruslan Fedotenko, John Torterella, etc. Know those guys?

Chuck

Some of those names sound familiar, but I'm so sleep deprived that my memory is like swiss cheese (kinda like that character on "Quantum Leap" years ago).

Tempting to play Six Degrees of Seperation.

BTW, my son and I are in the local model railroad club. He has a good looking NS (Norfolk Southern) loco in his collection. (Yet another connection.)

If you make it down here sometime, visiting family or whatever, give me a shout. I live a bit east and north of your old digs near Enterprise and McMullen-Booth.

Atta Boy, Chuck!

Welcome to life on CPAP. Another "Hosehead-in-training". I'm sure you'll notice a BIG difference....give it a little time.

I can see you're the highly technical, IT-type......"gizmo", "hummadinger", "watchamacallit". Yup!.....you're one of us.....

Take care,

Den