hot air in mask

They put cool air on car seats I don't think its to much to get cool air in my face if I've to wear this mask, have tried a nasal mask and nasal pillows don't work us my mouth to much. I'll never wear very long damn near sweating around my nose and mouth. I've tried wear before bed to get use to it but doesn't help. Do that most nites. Thanks.

Three fans ceiling on high, 12inch on nitestand on high, high volume fan beside bed on high with both vents pointed straight toward head. Thanks

Kolsen,

I'm aware that your main comfort problem is the hot air in your mask. But I want to point something out and ask for clarification.

You write:

kolsen0767 wrote:West Texas, hot here, vents air from front mask so dont think blocked, machine is auto 13 2 15 on pressure, they turned it up to start at 10 so that helped a bit, ahi is 20 2 30 most nites

Do you mean that the machine reported AHI is running between 20 and 30 most nights? Are you getting this information off the machine's LCD each morning?

If so, that's something that must be reported to your sleep doc because it indicates the PAP machine is not yet doing its job in managing your sleep apnea: Your machine reported AHI is still in the range for moderate to moderate/severe OSA. It's critically important for the sleep doc to look at the detailed data gathered by your machine at your next appointment. If you are interested in seeing the full data yourself, you should download SleepyHead and use it to analyze the data on your machine's SD card.

Leak was down too. Normally around 40 on leaks.

Again we need some clarification about what you mean here. What machine are you using? And where is this number coming from? The machine's LCD?

Whether a "40" on leaks is good, bad, or indifferent depends strongly on what machine you are using and where that number is coming from.

Now back to your main problem:

when I breath out it gets hot from my breath and then just keeps heat. Last ahi was 4 and had it on for about 4 hrs straight. ....going to stick with ice cubes and add a blue ice pack on a plate rt by air intake hope will last longer.

You've tried a number of different things for the "air is too hot" problem with no luck. And you say that your face is very sweaty.

Have you tried a cloth liner for your mask? That may help some with the sweating, although it won't help with the hot air itself.

And are you a dedicated mouth breather? Or is mouth breathing only a "sometimes" thing? It is worth trying a nasal mask or a nasal pillows mask since they cover less of your face. In particular, a nasal pillows mask blows the air directly into your nostrils and not on your face. So it may feel much cooler than the full face mask you are currently using.

It's also worth looking at where you have the machine placed. If it is possible to put the machine so that the air intake is very near one of the AC vents, that might help. Also make sure the machine has plenty of room around it and in particular make sure there's plenty of room around the air intake for the machine.

As silly as it sounds, double check to make sure that you are NOT using a heated hose. And make sure the humidifier is really off. If you don't need the extra humidity, you might try disconnecting the humdifier altogether and hooking the hose directly to the blower unit.

You might also try rerouting the hose so that the exhaust flow blows on your chest or arms if possible. Even now after 4 years of PAPing, if my exhaust vent is blowing directly on me, that will make me very cold.

Can't believe they don't have a cold air option on this dumb machine.

Cooling air is more complicated than heating air.

And the vast majority of PAPers traditionally complain of the air being too cold for their nose and airway's comfort: Physiologically one of the things the nose does is pre-warm and humidify the inhaled air from room temperature up closer to body temperature before the air enters the lungs. For many PAPers, the pressurized air makes this task much harder for the nose to do, and that leads to severe problems with drying of the nasal mucus membraines and upper airway and generalized discomfort. Heated, humidified PAP air usually helps the nose do its job of pre-warming and humidifying the inhaled air so that the whole respiratory system is happier.

But you're not "most people" and so the design that has been implemented to fit "most people" is badly backfiring on you right now and leading to more discomfort. So do report this problem to your sleep doc and continue to post here so that we can try to come up with additional ideas on how to increase your comfort when you are using the machine.

Well no sleep at all legs back neck killed me all nite, yes numbers off machine each morning, gotta check to get my four hour min or i get in trouble lmao. rem star pro cflex plus, ahi numbers at sleep test was like 114 or 117, they asked how I felt I slept at test and I said average to a little above and then said I only slept 1.1 hours, I get one average nite of sleep a week, gettiing drunk at taking a few PM's is the only way I sleep more than 4 hours, since wreck I wake up 3 or 4 times a nite from moving wrong and now if it ain't that its this machine. Sleep Dr on 14th so maybe he can do something. Thanks.

I used two small Vornado fans (one on table, one taped to a place mat on the bed between our pillows) when I was trying to get my temp down in a FFM (Central TX June). Helped a bit

have one blowing under the sheet.

Went to sleep doc said was down to 10 or 12 ahi down from 114 so said was a lot better but didn't sleep long enuff said he couldn't do anything for the need for cold air, told him all I do and things tried, he gave me trazodone cause I can't stay asleep. I did try a water jug with PVC thru it packed in ice but no luck with that, may try something like it in a different way. Hope the pills work tonite. Still using ice in water tray getting two hours then wake up with mask thrown off.

kolsen0767 wrote:Went to sleep doc said was down to 10 or 12 ahi down from 114 so said was a lot better but didn't sleep long enuff said he couldn't do anything for the need for cold air, told him all I do and things tried, he gave me trazodone cause I can't stay asleep. I did try a water jug with PVC thru it packed in ice but no luck with that, may try something like it in a different way. Hope the pills work tonite. Still using ice in water tray getting two hours then wake up with mask thrown off.

get one of those dorm fridges and put the machine inside it? run the hose out the door and tape up the opening and just leave a couple inches open so more air can get in to be cooled down?

palerider wrote:get one of those dorm fridges and put the machine inside it? run the hose out the door and tape up the opening and just leave a couple inches open so more air can get in to be cooled down?

Just one of many unhelpful and sarcastic posts from pr today. Apparently, he doesn't realize when he is doing it.

anonymous coward niterider wrote:

palerider wrote:get one of those dorm fridges and put the machine inside it? run the hose out the door and tape up the opening and just leave a couple inches open so more air can get in to be cooled down?

Just one of many unhelpful and sarcastic posts from pr today. Apparently, he doesn't realize when he is doing it.

and your comment is helpful how?

what's your suggestion to get the guy some cool air?

You could try one of the hybrid mask. It won't be "AS" bad as a full face mask. At least your nose will be out from under the full face. It might help teach you to breath through your nose, so that your mouth area won't feel as hot. And a lot less of your face is covered!

Need to find out what OPs bedroom temp is but as rs has indicated need to get ahi down, Body is prob still suffering from nite sweats from the high ahi.

The one key information that I have not seen here is what the temp and possibly humidity is in the room where he sleeps. That can say a lot about comfort. With all those fans, also you can end up getting used to having dry skin which when you get away from fans can make you feel hot.

The hot in the mask is basically him breathing, but it sounds like he is over breathing, so what is his heart rate when he is lying down? Normally, the outflow of the mask would quickly clear the exhale before the next inhale. Temp of the air in the mask would be slightly higher than the ambient temp in the room.

As a reference, I live in AZ where it gets quite hot, humidity this time of year is higher though a lot less than in most of the country. Indoor humidity sits typically between 30% - 45% and the room that I sleep in is between 78F - 83F. If it gets more than 83F it starts to feel hot. Over 87F you can start to sweat in the mask (FFM). Right this second, the room is 79F w/ 43% humidity. Outside is only 83F but 60% Humidity (and rising temp quickly). Should be over 105F today. The high temp in the room last night was 80F.

The ac is on 72°, I'll have to check that temp, humidity I don't no but its not bad here compared with other places I've lived. I tried two other nasal only masks one nite got over 4 hrs then like normal I took mask off after 2 hrs and before 3 hrs. Going to see if I can get a hybrid mask for equipment supplier. Took trazodone last nite sleep great but thru mask off like normal between 2 & 3 hrs. Sleep for 7.5 hours straight moved a few times but didnt get out of bed or really wake up nice its been 15 months since I've done that. The numbers off machine was best yet no leaks under five on ahi. Did have mask on tight as hell and that sucked it wouldn't quit leaking til I cranked it down very tight. May try dorm fridge thing as last resort. Thanks for trying to help.

kolsen0767 wrote: May try dorm fridge thing as last resort. Thanks for trying to help.

one of my anonymous coward critics of course used it to make fun of me, without offering a suggestion, but... as weird as it seems, I was serious, if you can get cold air going into the machine, you should get colder air out of it... I checked the specs on the PR Sys1 series, and the operating temperature is listed as +41f to +95f (+5C to +35C), so, in *theory* it could work to get you cold air.

cooling air is a lot harder to do than warming it up. easy to add heat, hard to take it away.

another though (which I'm sure some idiot will use to poke fun at me) is, evaporative cooling in the humidifier chamber, if you put some cotton balls or something like that, some loose mesh filter material stuff that would stick up a bit over the water level, then fill it with cold water, the air blowing over the cotton ball like stuff *may* have a small evaporative cooling effect, think like a swamp cooler. it would increase the humidity a bit, but it could lower the temp a bit too.

of course, with all these things, make sure the heat in the humidifier is turned off... (might be easy to overlook)

also, as rubysue suggested, try making a cloth mask liner out of an old t-shirt. cut a shape a little larger than your mask, and cut a hole in the middle for your nose ... the feeling of cloth against my face is much more comfortable to me than the feeling of the silicone, plus it helps to make the leaks less of a problem...