Intro, new to CPAP

[type85]

Howdy friends,
I've been reading up on this forum for about a week, so I think I'm ready to do an intro, here's my deal:
Dreamstation auto DSX500
F&P simplus mask
Initial pressure settings 4-10
flex-2
humidity 2

I'm 53, male, overweight, 305lbs. high blood pressure (weight related, not genetic) prediabetic (same), 6ft. (I'm told I "carry it well").
I've probably had apnea for over 10 years. I first discovered it during a 2012 trip to Mammoth (elevation 7,500ft.), I woke about every 20 min. gasping for air, I knew something was wrong but when I got home, it went away, so I resumed my daily routine. I know I was in denial, at the time my attitude was: "I aint wearing that damn mask".
What I've now discovered is apnea sneaks up on you over the years, it's been a miserable slow decline for me for over a decade! It took 6 months going through several different agencies to get tested and get a machine, delays were mostly insurance related and an incompetent admin at my doctors office. I don't have my tests results with me but from what I remember is my blood ox was around 65% and I was experiencing 30+ events per hour. My doctor kept shaking his head when he was reading at the report!

Up until yesterday when I felt the 1st improvement, I was in such bad shape, I was spending about 10-12 hours a day in bed; sleeping 12 am to 9\10am, going to work really late, putting in half a day, going home by 4, getting into bed and sleeping for another hour to 2 hours. Don't even get me started on depression, my doctor had me try three different antidepressants, I hated all of them, they all had crappy side effects (serious rage episodes) or turned me into a slug where I couldn't even move.
I started using my CPAP last tuesday, and I downloaded OSCAR on Monday. 
What I initially found was as soon as I fell asleep I started snoring, this caused my mask to vibrate badly, this would wake me up constantly, I'd wear it for about three hours then take it off in the middle of the night. 
After reading many posts and finding a couple about snoring, I realized I needed more pressure (I learned how to hack into my machine), so I cranked it up to start at 7 and max at 15, the first screenshot is from Friday (I disconnected the mask and went to the bathroom @ 4:30am).
The second  is from last night, you can see the snoring is greatly reduced but not eliminated.
The main problem I'm having now is the mask is leaking with the higher pressures, I usually wake up about 5 hours into the night and fiddle with the mask then give up and take it off.
Even with about 2/3 of a night's sleep with the mask, there's been a sea change in how I feel, I have "anticipation" when I come to work, I'm in a better mood (I have horrible road rage).
I feel like I want to "get things done", I also have some very odd side effects, I do feel a little foggy as described in other posts, but here's the weird stuff; I get ravenously hungry and... without getting to graphic, I've had this huge increase in libido, has anybody else had these side effects?
I figured I need to start looking at a better fitting mask? I also figure I need to crank up the pressure even higher to get rid of the snoring?
Thanks in advance!

[DeepBreathing]

G'day type85. Welcome to Apnea Board.

First thing to do is turn off the VS2 event flag (use the event selector pop-up menu at the bottom left of the page). That will make your chart much more legible.

Second thing is that your pressure settings are too low. The Dreamstation doesn't respond very quickly to precursor events (ie those that indicate an apnea is coming) so you need to give it a head start by raising the minimum pressure. I'd suggest around 9 or 10. Also, increase the max pressure to 20 - the machine will only go as high as it needs to, but you can see how it's maxing out a lot of the time on your current settings.

The Simplus is a great mask, but it may not be for you. Everybody's face is different, so there are all different masks. Have a look at the mask primer in our wiki to get an idea on what to try. http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php/Mask_Primer

[type85]

Thanks for the info!
I'll crank up the pressure.

[Dormeo]

Just a note to say it’s great you are beginning treatment for your apnea and have a good experimental approach to optimizing it.

I have read posts from other people reporting an increase in libido with successful treatment, along with improvement in mood and cognition. So yes, that’s a thing.

Getting the right mask and the right fit can be a challenge, but when you find what works best for you, that’ll be a real plus. Do you have any way to trial different masks?