newbie help - humidifier and leakage

Hello,

I've had my equipment for about a month and have yet to be able to get a full night out of my equipment, Usually I can't fall asleep with the equipment on at all. But before I get in to trying to get help with just getting use to the mask and the darth vader noise, I want to solve two main problems.

1. Mask leakage. Sometimes it seems there are no leaks, other times it seems as though there are one or two leaks in various areas and no matter what I do I can't stop the leaks. I try adjusting the mask and also jiggle the seal trying to get it to seal better but nothing works.

2. The larger issue, but may be related, is dry mouth. I have a humidifier but my mouth still gets extremely dry. I am a mouth breather at night, and I don't think that will change as I don't know how to move from a habit of mouth breathing to nose breathing. The metal plate which the instructions say not to touch is only warm, even at it's highest temperature setting. It's definitely not anywhere near hot enough to burn a finger when touching it, but definitely warmer than room temperature. Is it possibly broken or is it only suppose to get warm? As I haven't been able to get anywhere near a full night's sleep, there's not enough time to determine if water is decreasing in the chamber.

Any tips for me?

My equipment is the DeVilbiss IntelliPAP AutoAdjust Travel CPAP Machine with SmartFlex with humidifier and the Mirage Quattro™ Full Face CPAP Mask with Headgear. I have also tried the Hybernite Heated Hose at cpap.com's suggestion but that has not helped.

Unfortunately even with a fully functioning humidifier cranking out max humidity..sometimes that isn't enough to rehydrate the mouth when mouth breathing is involved. The humidifier just can't compensate for the drying effects in the mouth...the mouth is just too big and some people just dry out too much.

I am not familiar with the Devilbiss humidifier so I don't know what or how the maximum humidity is delivered and/or does the ambient room humidity factor into whatever it delivers.

The machine that delivers the greatest amount of humidity that is documented is the PR System One 60 series machine as it allows for 90% humidity delivery. It stands the greatest chance for helping reduce dry mouth using known controls...and even it doesn't totally eliminate dry mouth for some people. Some people just dry out more than others for whatever reason.

Big leaks don't help either..they dry the mouth out more in addition to be annoying because they wake you up.
Have you tried a different mask? Have you tried a mask liner with existing mask?
What pressure settings are you using? In Auto mode? Sometimes when using auto adjusting mode we fit the mask to the minimum pressure and it works well until the machine increases the pressure and if the increase is substantial then the mask fit for the lower pressure doesn't work so great at the higher pressure.
Did you get the module so you could use some software to see where your pressures may be going?

The Hybernite heated hose doesn't do anything to increase the humidity that gets delivered..it just helps prevent condensation in the hose or mask when higher humidity is used.
I am thinking that the Devilbiss uses straight heat for humidity delivery...and the max setting is all that is available for you to choose. No, it doesn't get extremely warm (none of the machines ever have a hot warmer plate) to the touch.

I use an Intellipap with heated humidifier and find that it delivers plenty of water vapor-I normally use the humidifier setting of 8. I suggest measuring how much water the machine uses in a night of 6 to 8 hours. Just use a measuring cup to see how much water it takes to bring it back to the fill line. My typical usage is about 10 ounces a night at a pressure setting of 9 cm. CPAP, and heat setting of 8.
And regarding mouth breathing , a chin strap usually helps. The best form of chin strap I have found is the "Pap-Cap" brand works best for me. And as another reply noted, a CPAP pressure of 8 cm is really not very high at all.

TheDuke

cpap-boy wrote:Hello,

I've had my equipment for about a month and have yet to be able to get a full night out of my equipment, Usually I can't fall asleep with the equipment on at all. But before I get in to trying to get help with just getting use to the mask and the darth vader noise, I want to solve two main problems.

1. Mask leakage. Sometimes it seems there are no leaks, other times it seems as though there are one or two leaks in various areas and no matter what I do I can't stop the leaks. I try adjusting the mask and also jiggle the seal trying to get it to seal better but nothing works.

Any tips for me?

.

Make sure you are washing your face good at night. A clean face will help perfect the seal. Also, be sure to wipe your mask in the morning with cpap wipes or the like.

I wish you well!