First post, question on ResMed setup

[JRS11]

Hello all, I have tried CPAP some years ago and always ripped the mask off in the middle of the night. I did not have good support for a good fit, but that was about 10 years ago or so.

My apnea is mild, almost none existent when sleeping on my side. I also have a dental devise but this does not stop my snoring when sleeping on my back and I do have apnea when sleeping on my back. I try to sleep on my side as much as possible but do roll over (I have just gotten a yoga bolster to see if this will help more than a regular pillow)

I did not do well with the P10 nasal pillows in medium and large, my nose would hurt. Last night I tried for the first time a Sleepweaver, it was comfortable enough but the intensity of the air flow (like I had previously years back) was so intense that I took the mask off after 3 hours. I do not see anyway to adjust the amount of air coming out of the mask, I think the it is set on from 4-15 or so. It is just too much for me and if I cannot turn it down I will just not use the machine. I can call my doctors office but I am not enamored with the Respiratory therapists there. Any suggestions on how to lower the high side of the air flow?

Thanks

JRS

[DeepBreathing]

G'day JRS - welcome to the forum.

If you change from nasal pillows to a full face mask you need to change the setting on your machine so that it knows how much venting (intentional leak) to allow for. This might be enough to fix your problem. If not, you can get into the clinician menu by pressing the small Setup button and the big push dial together for three seconds. From there you can navigate yourself around and find the pressure settings. I suggest you get hold of the clinician manual - go here and request it: http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...plier-List You need to specify exactly what model machine you have (eg Resmed S9 Autoset).

Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.

[JRS11]

Thanks DeepBreathing, printing the manual right now.

I have changed the mask type to nasal and I have changed the maximum pressure to 12 from 16. I know if it stays at 16 I will just end up returning this devise. Maybe the pillows would be ok with this but I will try to stay with the sleepweaver as it does have an added degree of comfort overall.

Thank you again.

[retired_guy]

Do what our mate from the land of Perth has suggested. Spend some time and get comfortable with the process. THEN, make a decision. You tried cpap some years ago, and you're trying it again? It would seem there must be good reasons for this over and above being inconvenienced by having to sleep on your side. So are those reasons that important enough to you to work through the beginning days of therapy? If not, then there will be a continuing stream of "issues" pop up as to why this cannot work for you.

Already you're using a dental device but apparently that hasn't proven sufficient.

So what are the reasons you are trying this again?

"Mild apnea" doesn't really say much. I could say I have mild apnea. When sleeping on my side at my 1:30 minute sleep test my ahi was only somewhere between 5 and 10. So that's mild. And yes, sleeping on my back my apnea was through the roof, so I never did that. (but I sure do now!)

Yet, in spite of having "mild apnea," I had progressed to the point where I was sleeping as far away from my wife in our house as possible. Any further and I would have been outside. That would have occurred too except we kept getting complaints from our neighbors and all the dogs in the neighborhood barked at me all the time. So in spite of having "mild apnea," snoring was a big issue in my life.

Then there was the falling asleep behind the wheel thing. I did that quite a lot. I have heard that sleeping while driving can be harmful to your health, and even to the health of others. So that was a big issue.

Then there were the more subtle issues such as damage to my heart or other internal parts from lack of oxygen and inadequate restorative sleep. But we can't see those things so as long as the apnea is mild we can ignore them.

In the end, I made the decision to embrace this therapy. I firmly believe that unless that is done, the therapy has little chance of success. I have been "compliant" since day 1, even though "compliance" was nothing required by anyone other than myself.

Are you at a point in your life where you are ready to make that commitment? I hope you do. Because once you do that, and get past the various issues of early use, you will really enjoy the quality of life that awaits you. For me now, "bedtime" is a treat not a punishment. "Good retired_guy" says my wife.... "You finished your broccoli so now you can go to bed." That's living in the fast lane!

[JRS11]

Thanks retired_guy

You hit the nail correctly. My snoring is an issue for my wife who just is a very light sleeper and I do not like keeping her up and she likes to sleep beside me. Also I did have a heart attack a year plus ago, so even though my muscle has come back 100% I certainly do not want to put more pressure on it. Also, my back is shall we say in shambles, 2 surgeries and while it is better I think back sleeping would offer better support. So those are my reasons in a nutshell. I hope turning the max pressure down will help, it was too intense last time and the therapist was ill equipped to handle it, the new therapist I will call once I see how I sleep tonight and tomorrow with the lower pressure, maybe the pillows would even prove ok with the pressure reduced, hard to say yet. Thank you

[retired_guy]

Well, stay in touch JRS, we'll help you get to that sweet spot with the cpap. It's all about attitude, and wanting the wife to get a good nights sleep is an important part of that!

I don't know if I ever slept on my back or not, but I do know I had not in recent memory. I always thought it would be a good thing. Now, I flop on my side, then my back then back on my side, etc... I'm loving it. There is nothing cooler than laying in bed early in the morning stretched out flat on your back and just breathing.............. I think I'll go back to bed now.

[trish6hundred]

Hi JRS11,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I hope you stick with CPAP therapy this time around, I know it can take some getting used to but just keep trying.
Hang in there for more suggestions and best of luck to you with sticking to your CPAP therapy and working through its challenges.

[Bama Rambler]

I'm late to this thread, but I hope you come back and check this.

It would be great if you could tell us exactly which machine you have. It sounds like you have either the AutoSet or the Escape Auto. I really hope that it's the AutoSet.

Also if you could explain better what you mean "intensity of the air flow was so intense". Was it leaking around the sides or the vent or something else causing the problem? A lot of people complain about having leak issues with the Sleepweaver mask.

Finding the right mask is by far the biggest issue for the majority of folks on CPAP. For your health's sake, you have to keep trying until you find one.

Now on to the airflow problem. If it's leaks that causing your issues lowering the pressure may not help much. The machine will flow the same volume of air trying maintain the set pressure trying to overcome a leak whether it's trying to maintain 4 cmH2O or 20 cmH2O, so the perceived amount of air flow may not change unless lowering the pressure also lowers the leaking.

Having said all that I don't recommend changing the set pressure until we have some numbers to look at. If your machine is the AutoSet you can give us some average numbers we can see what's going on and make recommendations from there.

[jaycee]

If you are considering giving up on therapy, I would consider lowering your pressures. While the lower pressure may not stop all the apneas, if it at least stops the snoring then your spouse will be happy.

A patient using PAP therapy at a pressure of 7 is better than one not using it with a pressure of 15. Then, once you get used to everything, increase the pressures as tolerated.