RESMED s9 not working?

Hi,

So last August I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and decided to test a resmed s9 for a month. It was like night and day...I was thrilled. I gave back the machine after the trial to do a compare and contrast and to make sure I wasn't getting a placebo affect. I traveled a lot/holidays/drank too much until January 1st when I stopped drinking and began perfect protocol with the machine again. Only this time, it's been almost two months and I don't notice a real difference. I still wake up feeling tired.

I look at my numbers in sleepyhead and my AHI is 1-2 like before and the machine seems to be working the same with the same settings.

I'm not sure what to think...

I doubt the machine is defective as my sleepyhead numbers are good and I feel the air. I have the same mask, same machine, same settings. My only differences are that when I opened my mouth in August, I felt like I couldn't talk at all, now I feel like its less intensive. My suspicion on that though is I've just learn how to hold my breath and/or talk for a few seconds with machine on.

Anyone else have a situation where all seems well with the machine but in the end, it wasn't working?

Thank you for input/help, looking forward to better results again.

One does get used to the pressure. A simple hand wave can confirm the exhaust stream.
We do learn how to speak with the machine running--often by surprise.
Keep using your machine.
I will not scold you for waiting so long to resume therapy, but I just had to go into
the bedroom and reassure my poor, frightened machine. She is so sensitive.

I'm looking more for insight as to if its possible my machine is broken but appears to be working fine...

How many hours of sleep are you getting on an average?
Are those hours pretty much solid without awakenings or do you wake up much?
How is leak?
Do you take any meds (even OTC) of any kind? If so, what and when?

I doubt that there's anything wrong with your machine.
It's common for us to adjust to the pressure with time...what first seemed like a hurricane now is just a gentle breeze.
And yes, even talking. When I first started therapy I couldn't open my mouth at all without air going everywhere and now I can talk, yawn, stick my tongue out or whatever and never have air enter my mouth while going down the airway.

Where do you live?
If you are in one of the northern climates with a true winter you might want to try some Vitamin D. I used to struggle in the winter months with what I thought was inadequacy in my therapy and would tinker and tinker becoming more and more frustrated. My wife finally convinced me to try Vit D and I don't go into the winter months without it on board and I no longer struggle with the morning sleepy feeling.

That is great insight, I was thinking maybe the winter was a factor. I'm in Canada so the winters get long and dark here.
What kind of Vit D dosing are you doing ?
How long before you noticed a difference?

Thanks again

Thought you were looking for insight into whether your machine was working or not.

I am but I'm open minded also...so maybe its just the winter and lacking vitamin D.

Do you have any insight as to whether my machine might have a problem?

Pugsy wrote:How many hours of sleep are you getting on an average?
Are those hours pretty much solid without awakenings or do you wake up much?
How is leak?
Do you take any meds (even OTC) of any kind? If so, what and when?

I doubt that there's anything wrong with your machine.
It's common for us to adjust to the pressure with time...what first seemed like a hurricane now is just a gentle breeze.
And yes, even talking. When I first started therapy I couldn't open my mouth at all without air going everywhere and now I can talk, yawn, stick my tongue out or whatever and never have air enter my mouth while going down the airway.

I somehow missed this post.

Hours: 8+
No wake ups
Leaks..start at about 4am and oscillate between zero and 25
Meds: nothing

Maybe its the leaks? I took a screenshot of a typical night but can't attach...

Hi,

So I checked my results from last summer to this current months for leaks and my average last summer was 3-4 leaks/min whereas now its closer to 8-9...logically I would assume that could be a factor but from what I've read, under 10 is considered good.

When I did my sleep study, I saw a huge difference. I went from years of having bad nights and not realizing how bad they were to having a great night. Night and day.

But after I got my machine, The difference wasn't as noticeable. I do have lots of great improvements, and if I have an awesome night 7+ hours straight, I can really feel the difference. But most of the time, I notice the bad nights (lack of a good night) more than the good nights. The machine is working awesome. It's just that I am now used to good nights, so the difference isn't so big now.

reiddar wrote:Maybe its the leaks? I took a screenshot of a typical night but can't attach..

How to insert images of our reports discussed here in this thread with examples.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81072&p=737779#p737779

Unless leaks are waking someone up...as long as they are below 24 L/min using the Resmed S9....the machine can compensate for any leaks and I doubt the leaks are a culprit in your not feeling as great as you wish.
Now if leaks (even tiny) cause a lot of waking and fiddling with the mask then we want to fix them but because they are messing with sleep quality and not so much actual therapy effectiveness.

You know we often get people who either don't feel as good as their reports say they should or they say that they felt great for a couple of weeks and seemed to back slide...the honeymoon was over.

Go ahead and post an image of your entire detailed report. Maybe something will stand out. Pick a typical night.
Sometimes we have daytime fatigue and as much as we want to blame OSA for it so that the machine will fix it...it just isn't because of OSA.
If your sleep hygiene is good, hours of sleep is good, not many awakenings, no meds to cause residual daytime symptoms...then that pretty much rules out sleep/OSA related issues and the machine can't fix problems not related to OSA.