[Equipment] Newbie Adjustment Help - please......

[sautee]

Good afternoon, I am yet another newbie, trying (quite valiantly, I think) to adjust to using my Airsense 10 & Wisp mask. I really feel that I cannot breathe with the mask on, especially on exhale. I have the ramp time set at "auto". I briefly tried the Nuance nose pillows at the respiratory therapist initial "fitting", but opted for the Wisp - one at a time, I guess. I would not mind purchasing something else, but how many $100 guesses should one make?
Just a little frustrated. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[trish6hundred]

Hi sautee,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
The mask is the hardest part of this whole thing, so you might have to try quite a few of them, 'till you find one that is right for you. I know this can be frustrating, but just stick with it and don't give up.
Hang in there for more suggestions and much success to you with your CPAP therapy and good luck finding the mask that will work for you.

[justMongo]

Let's get a little more info on your specific machine type.
Bottom right where the machine says Airsense 10 will be a word or two in smaller letters...
CPAP, Autoset, VPAP ????

There is a setting called Expiratory Pressure Relief (EPR.) That can be set to lower the pressure you exhale against by up to 3 cm-water.
That setting may provide the relief you are looking for.

I suggest you 1) Find your exact model. 2) Request the clinician's guide by email: here
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual
Scroll to nearly the bottom of the page.

That will allow you to find what your EPR is set to -- it may be set to "off."

[sautee]

Thank you! I have requested the guide.

---

Thank you - looking forward to learning here!

[sautee]

Let's get a little more info on your specific machine type.
Bottom right where the machine says Airsense 10 will be a word or two in smaller letters...
CPAP, Autoset, VPAP ????

There is a setting called Expiratory Pressure Relief (EPR.) That can be set to lower the pressure you exhale against by up to 3 cm-water.
That setting may provide the relief you are looking for.

I suggest you 1) Find your exact model. 2) Request the clinician's guide by email: here

Scroll to nearly the bottom of the page.

That will allow you to find what your EPR is set to -- it may be set to "off."

I received the clinician's guide. (Many thanks!) The EPR was "On", type was "full time" and the level was "3". So it might be a mask issue????

[PoolQ]

I also had problems exhaling into pressure. A full face mask helped even though I did not mouth breathe too much. If you still need more pressure relief you can do what I did n=and move to a BiLevel that's lets you get even more "EPR" type of settings, mine is at 4 and other settings on my machine have helped a lot also. Check your humidity settings and don't assume that default is what you like, humidity can feel like congestion.

Is your machine in Auto mode or CPAP mode, Auto should have two pressures like 8-12.

With ramp there will be another pressure setting that it starts with and then ramps up to the minimum therapy setting, many times this is left at a default of 4 and for me this was way too low, I needed 5.8 as a minimum to not feel starved for air.

Oh and don't expect the health system to make all of these "comfort" settings for you, this is a trial and error thing, small adjustments and try it for a while, keep a journal of what the settings are and how you felt. By the time you have gone through them all you will forget what was good.

[sautee]

I also had problems exhaling into pressure. A full face mask helped even though I did not mouth breathe too much. If you still need more pressure relief you can do what I did n=and move to a BiLevel that's lets you get even more "EPR" type of settings, mine is at 4 and other settings on my machine have helped a lot also. Check your humidity settings and don't assume that default is what you like, humidity can feel like congestion.

Is your machine in Auto mode or CPAP mode, Auto should have two pressures like 8-12.

With ramp there will be another pressure setting that it starts with and then ramps up to the minimum therapy setting, many times this is left at a default of 4 and for me this was way too low, I needed 5.8 as a minimum to not feel starved for air.

Oh and don't expect the health system to make all of these "comfort" settings for you, this is a trial and error thing, small adjustments and try it for a while, keep a journal of what the settings are and how you felt. By the time you have gone through them all you will forget what was good.

Thanks for all the great info! Wow!! So much to learn. Interesting that a full face mask helped - I don't think I would have even considered that. I was told that I needed to "fail" on my CPAP before a BiPAP could be prescribed.

I have probably had the humidity setting too high - I will lower it and try that. My machine is Auto - the ramp minimum pressure is 6, and that seems okay for me. I'm thinking the max pressure (12) is a bit high - but I certainly cannot rationalize changing it at this time.

It didn't take me long to determine that the health system will not be a helpful partner.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my post. I really appreciate it!