humidifier help

I am a long time user of a cpap machine and every winter I run into some humidifier problems. I now have a new machine ( ResMed S8 Escape) and am having problems getting the settings right. Too much humidity and there is gurgling all night long, not enough and I don't sleep well. lately my hubby has said I am having some apnea episodes. The only thing I can think of is that I need more humidity, but then I get gurgling. Anyone have a new ideas for me?
We live in a cold climate, and we turn the heat down to about 62 at night.
I do not have a covering on my hose and am wondering if it really does help? I can easily sew one if that is an issue.
I did have a sleep study about 8 months ago and they adjusted the pressure up one notch and said it was otherwise picture perfect.

Yes, a hose cover would probably help. I made one out of lightweight polar fleece, which comes in all colors and pattern. I made a rainbow one. It's just a long tube, and you can attach some velcro at each end, or just use hair scrunchies. For a 2 meter hose, I made it 78 inches long, to allow bending of the hose.

The other thing I have done is added a room humidifier. I bought this one:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... d=10261752

It is one more than to fill, empty, clean, etc., but I have been sleeping much better with it. My room humidity is about 26% normally, and with the humidifier on low, it gets up to 35%. It does add a few degrees of heat to the room also.

ETA to correct from 2 foot hose to 2 meter hose.

I sometimes have the same problem esp in the colder months. While I don' have a hose cover, I usually just tuck a part of the tubing under the covers, that seems to do the trick.

nicodan wrote:...ResMed S8 Escape...

You do realize that your machine is not capable of reporting the data about your sleep session? It only reports how long it was turned on. We recommend that all users have a full data capable machine. In that case, if your Escape is the old one with no EPR or the newer one with EPR, then the next up machine is the Elite II. If your Escape is the Autotitrating CPAP, then the upgrade is to the AutoSet II. If you are within the first 30 dyas, you should be able to swap it out. Having data allows you to review your leak, AHI, AI, HI and on the APAP (autoCPAP) your 95thcentile pressure -- all of which allows you to review for long-term trends and optimize your therapy. An autotritrating CPAPA machine can be used to deliver a single pressure (CPAP) or a settable range of pressures as needed to abort apneas or hypopneas based on the preceding breaths and certain breathing-related phenomena.

We also set temp to 60 at night and experienced same problem. So I rely entirely on a room humidifier. Vornado has a model that sells for about $75 via amazon.com, it is excellent, and super super quiet. Problem solved for me.

I had problems with rainout, and a fleece hose cover did not help enough. Fortunately, I was a new CPAP user, so my DME swapped out my machine for a PR System One Auto and I no longer have rainout (I hope I didn't just jinx myself, as this is one of the few CPAP problems that's actually been solved!).

A light fleece cover is a good investment. Anything real thick makes it heavy which pulls on the mask causing leaks.

Can't suggest anything on dealing with the room temperature/humidity because I keep my house at 68 degrees and use whole house humidifier. Found out lowering the temperature lower than 68 causes more health problems/costly doctors visits so it is not worth saving some money on my heating bill even in subzero weather.

When I turned our heat down that low ....I got rainout every time. The only thing that worked for me was the heated hose from http://www.sleepzone.com.au/
I would turn your heat up in your room and your humidifier down this will help with your rainout or get the heated hose.

thanks for your suggestions. I just called my DME supplier and he is going to set me up with a complete data machine for a week, and then we will probably swap out my machine for a more complete one.
He said he was surprised he sold me the one he did, as he usually didn't sell those..'must have been all I had in that week.'

ACK!