[CPAP] Waking up at nights (pressure problem?)

[SleepApnea84]

Hi,

i have been using CPAP now aprox 10 years. I have been using many models, but most of my years i used P10 nasal mask. Lately it dryed (i have been also on laser eye surgery, which made my eyes very dry) my eyes so bad and i kept waking all night when mask moved off, so i had to change it to different model. About last 6 months i have been using airtouch N20 mask. That mask fits kinda good, but im still getting several problems.

First, i cant sleep mouth closed without jaw strap or mouth tape. 
Second, no matter what i do, i still wake up few times at night and when i watch pressure, its usually on its peak. 
I have resmed 10 cpap machine and pressure is between 6-11.

So, is there something what i could do with this problem? I have tried to raise max pressure to 12 and it actually made everything worse.

Thanks for help already!

[Old Steve]

It appears that you need to raise your minimum pressure to eliminate some of your apneas, I would suggest 8cm minimum pressure as your average is over this now.  You may also find that it would be helpful to turn on the EPR full time.  I would start at 1cm or 2cm on the EPR.  You may also be having a little Positional Apnea as you are having some small clusters of apneas.  If you sleep on your back try sleeping on your side, use a shorter pillow, or if all else fails try a soft cervical collar.  Pressure alone will not help Positional Apnea.  See on the page below for a link on Positional Apnea.  As to your moth leaks, I have found over many years, that for me anyway, it is either a full face mask or mouth tape when using my N20 or any nasal mask.

Try the new settings for a few nights then post some more charts.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your treatment.

[SleepApnea84]

Thank you very much for your advices, much appreciated. 
I changed min pressure to 8 and EPR at 1 for at start. Have to search again, what was the role of EPR. Im also thinking to go back to mouth taping, as its so much easier when you dont have so much stuff over your head.

About sleeping position, yes its worse when im laying on my back. I have tried about 10 different pillows, also to raise head of bed and even few different beds without any perfect solution. Now i would say situation is about ok and i usually fall a sleeping on my side.

I will go trough threads you mentioned and come back with my results with new settings in a few days.

[Old Steve]

EPR will lower your exhale pressure.  As an example if you are at a minimum inhale pressure of 8cm and using full time EPR your exhale pressure will be 7cm, if the EPR is set at 2cm your exhale will be at 6cm and if set at 3cm your exhale will be 5cm.  It will lower your flow limits and be more comfortable.  Tape is the only thing that will work for me, I think I tried everything else and nothing worked when using nasal mask.  The chin strap kept my jaw closed, but not my lips...

As I said you may have some Positional Apnea, if so it is not terrible right now, but I would keep an eye on it.

Good luck.