Newbie : 1st trial with Resmed S9 Auto

[dodgyblue]

Hi

Just found this forum. I've been diagnosed with moderate OSA : 30-ish incidents per hour so I've decided to sign up for a trial period with a Resmed S9 Auto.

Received the machine yesterday and mask fitting (Full Face as I'm a mouth breather).

Tried it last night and had it on for 3 hours before I took it off. It wasn't very restful - I think I dozed a bit and was awake at other times. Seemed like there was a lot of pressure and occasional leakages (probably because I toss and turn frequently).

Using the machine seems to cause my nose to get stuffy and block. If I remove the mask, my nose clears up and I can breathe through it. Any ideas? Is it because humidity or temperature is set wrongly? I have humidity set to 3 and the temperature to 27 degrees Celsius.

The other thing is that it seems there were times when the machine seem to think that while I am swallowing I have an apnea event and starts pumping lots of air. I'm not sure if its my imagination...

I'm going to try to get into clinician's view to see what the settings are.

Thanks for any comments/responses

Ray

[oak]

Hang in there and be persistant in solving problems and issues like the stuffiness. You will get there.......

[Tez62]

dodgyblue, welcome, the humidity is really a personal comfort thing, there is no correct temperature as everyones climate and humidity is different.
You need to adjust it up or down, probably in this case down a couple of Celcius until it feels right for you.
I think the second point is more like you getting used to the pressures, it normally only goes up if it sense that you have stopped breathing, it take a while to get used to your new toy, stick with it.

[trish6hundred]

Hi dodgyblue,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Just stick with it; CPAP therapy can take some time to get used to.
You might turn your humidity up a notch and see how that works for you.
Hang tight for more suggestions and best of luck.

[DreamDiver]

... Using the machine seems to cause my nose to get stuffy and block. If I remove the mask, my nose clears up and I can breathe through it. Any ideas? Is it because humidity or temperature is set wrongly? I have humidity set to 3 and the temperature to 27 degrees Celsius.

The other thing is that it seems there were times when the machine seem to think that while I am swallowing I have an apnea event and starts pumping lots of air. I'm not sure if its my imagination...

Ray,
Welcome!

First, it's not uncommon for noses to get stuffy with too much humidity. It seems you've got your humidity settings on manual while using a climateline hose. I say this because you say the tank is set to 3 and the hose is set to 27C. When you have it set to auto, you only see the degrees setting, not the tank warming setting (1 through 6). It might be better to put the humidty on auto and dial your auto setting for humidity down to something around 68F (20C?). Alternatively you could dial your humidity all the way down to OFF. When the humidifier is off but connected, it's called 'passover' mode. The water doesn't get heated up and is less likely to clog sinuses. If that's too dry, it's just a matter of finding a setting between OFF and 27C that works for you.

While there is the possibility that you could be someone who needs even more humidity, this is fairly rare. Many find that less humidity or at least less heat work better to unstuff our noses while using CPAP.

Second, unless you swallow and hold your breath at the same time for more than 10 seconds at a time, it's unlikely that your swallowing is seen as an apnea by the S9. Perhaps there is something else happening that's causing apneas? Also--if I remember correctly--if you are awake while you stop breathing, technically you are not having an apnea.

Third, it will help us help you if you'll fill out your equipment profile with the actual make and model of your mask, machine and humidifier, along with pressure settings in the additional comments. (See image below)

[dodgyblue]

Hi DreamDiver

Thanks for your response. I will try out what you have said. My therapist is kinda a control freak and doesn't want me touching all the other settings but then I'm also an official certified geek so I tend to do whatever I want anyway. I will try it with the humidity off and a lower temperature. I'm in Melbourne Australia and the current temperature at home at night is probably around 17C and I'm ok with that so not sure why I need to set Climateline to a higher temperture.

Will fill out the my equipment profile & thanks for the help so far!

Ray

[Shastzi]

hmm. A therapist with a Napoleonic complex. How refreshing. (not)
....
If you never change things you'll never learn how to optimize your own therapy.
There is no rocket science involved or everyone here would be a physicist.
...and we're not.
(though there are a few MD's here, bless their hearts!)

(You'd best learn to take care of yourself, in case no one else does!)
That being said, I highly recomend getting a copy of sleepyhead and start your own data
collection regimen.
From that you can start looking at what's going on *with yourself* at night and
get your questions answered here.

If anything is going wrong YOU need to be the first one to know about it.

Go forth now and conquer!

[SuperSleeper]

I second the "take control of your own therapy" idea. That's what Apnea Board exists for, really: Patient Empowerment.

Patients who take a more active role in their own therapy tend to have much better results overall. I wish all medical professionals would realize this, but unfortunately a few of them have a condescending attitude towards their patients. Don't let that stop you from taking an active role in your own therapy. Since you described yourself as a "certified geek", I suspect that you'll enjoy getting into the data that the ResScan or SleepyHead software provides.

That doesn't mean that we ignore the advice of the health care professionals - it only means that we educate ourselves as best we can to understand our condition and treatment options as much as possible to maximize effectiveness & comfort.

Also, not sure how it works in Australia, but here in the U.S., during an insurance or Medicare "trial" period of CPAP, you generally must use it an average of at least 4 hours each night for compliance purposes, otherwise they could take it away from you. Do your best to average well over that 4 hour period each night. Even lay in bed with the mask & machine on awake for a period of time if you have to.

Good luck and welcome to Apnea Board!

[RonWessels]

Of course, there is an alternative to you learning to configure the machine appropriately. Get your therapist's home phone number so you can call them whenever you have a problem. Day or night.

[dodgyblue]

Well. . Still can't wear the mask past midnight. Been going to bed earlier at about 9.30pm to try and get used. I have downloaded the resscan software and retrieved info for the 1st night (usage of 4.5 hrs) and the ahi was 17.5... maybe that's why half the time I felt the machine was blowing enough air to puff my cheeks out. . Besides I found out she programmed the s9 to have min pressure of 6 and max of 20. I changed that to 5.4 and 10. So last night felt a lot better.. I still managed only 2.5 hours only but ahi was 4.5.

I've thing i want to ask is. . The minimum pressure shouldn't really be set too to the extent it feels like air is being forced into lungs doing normal breathing. I tend to take long deep breaths and long exhalations when sleeping and a few times while still awake it seemed to me the machine is trying to force me to breath faster. Is there a setting to affect that? The only thing I can think off is setting the min pressure lower.

Btw.. setting humidifier to off with the reservoir filled worked. No stuffy nose. Also setting the temp to 25C May have helped. Will have to download data tonight and see.

Thanks for comments so far