I was doing good progress but suddenly can't take it anymore

[Elijah1220]

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in January and initially bought a Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset with an Airfit F20 (size Small) as my insurance wasn't expected to cover it. Initially set at 4-20cmH2O, I struggled to wear the CPAP for more than two hours at a time. After researching on this forum, I adjusted the settings to 6-20cmH2O with EPR set at 1, which improved my usage to about 4 hours on average.

A month later, I received a Resmed 11 Autoset and switched to a size Medium F20, which further increased my nightly usage to 5-6 hours, occasionally reaching 8 hours. However, starting April 3rd, I've only managed to use the machine for up to 2 hours a night for the past two weeks.
 
Suspecting the mask was the issue, I tried switching to a nasal pillows mask (the N30), but reverted to the F20 with a new cushion after two days due to discomfort. Despite this, I'm still unable to use it for more than 1-2 hours, and my symptoms have returned.

Things I tried tweaking the settings of my humidifier and Tube temp, using my other CPAP machine Airsense 10 and so different strap tightness

Thank in advance for the help and suggestions. 

   

[staceyburke]

Try a night with EPR 3 and see if that helps. You seem to really be bothered with any flow limits and EPR 3 should help that.

[Deborah K.]

I see that your median pressure is 8.02, so I suggest you do what Staceyburke said and also raise your beginning pressure to 8.  Those changes should make you more comfortable.

[Elijah1220]

Thank you soooo much for your replies, I set the min to 8 and EPR 3 and managed to get 5hrs on with the mask last night, I wanted to upload my oscar chart but I forgot to put the SD card back 
I’m excited to use my Cpap again

[Elijah1220]

This is my Oscar chart from the last 2 nights I managed to get almost 5hours total each night but I still don't know why I keep removing my mask It does start feeling a bit too tight and a bit wet, I changed the tube settings to off last night and maybe I should dial back the humidity to 4 ?

   

   

[SarcasticDave94]

A tight mask means something isn't great for you. A snug mask can be fine, but going tight into uncomfortable not a great thing. Maybe the cushion size needs looked at, maybe a nasal pillows for max minimalist.

On the humidity, you need to find a balance between Auto or manual mode, 1-8 humidity, and then the heated hose. Another area may be looking into a hose cover and a hose hanger to have the hose hanging in an inverted V. This has extra moisture running back to the CPAP and not to the mask.