4 to 20 CM air pressure

OK, I filled out my profile and hopefully someone can tell me what to do. I started using my ResMed machine in late February. Nothing but problems since then with so much noise blowing out under my mask. Just last week I contacted BayState Med not far from here and 2 days ago someone came and fitted me with a large size mask. I asked her why is it necessary to have so much presuure? It starts out at 4 CM then in about an hour or so increases to 20 CM which seems like an awlful lot of air which puffs out my cheeks and makes those frightening noises blowing underneath the mask. Of course my night is ruined by then and no matter how I try to refit the mask the next night, it does the same thing. My wife says it is worse than when I snore and I have to get up and sleep on the sofa. About 3 months ago when I attended 2 overnight sleep sessions, the noise didn't occur and I slept reasonably good both nights a week apart but was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea.
My machine has an antenna and an SD Memory card and thought perhaps it needs programmed by the sleep center? Thanks

That is not a resmed machine that you show in your profile.
Depending on whether you got taken to the cleaners or not you need to look at your detailed data to see what is happening.

If your leaks are very big, yes the machine will go to the max trying to keep your airways open.

The setting 4-20cm is not recommended in general because it takes to long to get up to the required pressure. What was your titrated pressure?

When using an ever increasing pressure you need to adjust your mask for the highest pressure force on the straps. You will find everything here to you need to be successful if you want to. You only need to invest the time to read. Learn to use the "Advanced Search" feature located directly under the "New Users" icon at the top of each forum page. Search those results again to drill down to more accurate results.

Start a notebook with your questions (so you don't forget) and leave room under each Q for the answer. Do the same for your machine settings. ALWAYS write down your setting before making any changes.

Good Luck

k3roj wrote:OK, I filled out my profile and hopefully someone can tell me what to do. I started using my ResMed machine in late February. Nothing but problems since then with so much noise blowing out under my mask. Just last week I contacted BayState Med not far from here and 2 days ago someone came and fitted me with a large size mask. I asked her why is it necessary to have so much presuure? It starts out at 4 CM then in about an hour or so increases to 20 CM which seems like an awlful lot of air which puffs out my cheeks and makes those frightening noises blowing underneath the mask. Of course my night is ruined by then and no matter how I try to refit the mask the next night, it does the same thing. My wife says it is worse than when I snore and I have to get up and sleep on the sofa. About 3 months ago when I attended 2 overnight sleep sessions, the noise didn't occur and I slept reasonably good both nights a week apart but was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea.
My machine has an antenna and an SD Memory card and thought perhaps it needs programmed by the sleep center? Thanks

Your machine does not necessarily increase the pressure to 20....That is the maximum setting. The pressure will only go high enough to stop an apnea from occuring. If you can read the data on your machine, it should tell you what your average pressure is. What was the pressure from your sleep study titration? Check again and see that you have entered the correct machine on your profile.

LSAT wrote:Your machine does not necessarily increase the pressure to 20....That is the maximum setting. The pressure will only go high enough to stop an apnea from occuring.

While true, if I set my ResMed S9 AutoSet to a max of 20, it will go there. No doubt, and probably more than once per night. For me the experience is far from therapeutic. I swallow air, the mask squeals, levitates off my face, my eyes are bothered, my ears jam up, I feel like an inflated weather balloon, etc... It may be chasing a few wily obstructive apneas but for me it's better to have the apneas than the "Interesting 3AM Experience". I found if I lower my max a wee bit my AHI rises a little and I sleep MUCH better, my Zeo sleep scores go into the 90's while obliterating more than 90% of my apneas.

In my opinion, a 4-20 setting is a shotgun approach.