Overwhelming exhale resistance - is this normal ?

[Fox66]

Yes, i hope EPR was off, everything went so fast, and i was in a bad mental state, so blurry. I know i do things in wrong order, but this forum have already taught me a lot of the technical stuff. I will just have to recover a bit mentally, then "unpack" the mashinge, fix my bedroom (have new bed, all kinds of ergonomic stuff etc.), try out things a bit awake. The nurse showed me the advanced setting, and they had no problem with me tinkering with it. I have a past with way more advanced machinery/medical instruments, but ironically i guess, due to life stuff, mu mental state and a lot of things have kind of devolved my skills a bit, but all that, Oscar etc i will figure out. I'm just very highly over sensitive, and have a lot of other stuff very anti conducive for the CPAP journey i have to battle.

[LuminousOne]

You are normal! Unfortunately, you were not given adequate training/support. 
I picked mine up for the first time less than two hours ago, so I'm very new to this myself. 
This board will help you succeed! I find that pressure set at 4-6 is definitely feels suffocating. Pressure less than 7 is said on this forum to be appropriate for children, not adults. Can you set your minimum pressure to 7? I won't say more as I think one of the experts here should advise you-they will get you sorted out.
Don't be discouraged, you are experiencing a normal and common reaction and this will be solved.

[Fox66]

Nice to hear from a fellow "beginner". I got the Resmed 11, and where i am from they don't seem to care if you change any settings, so i will be able to set everything. All i got was start at 6 -15, nothing else, then we see you in 10 weeks. I guess i'm a big kid (at 270 pounds, 6.2) ;-) but as other have commented, i guess we will see, i will have to wait to start all this another couple of days, but then i will hopefully be able to experiment more and se, but i also felt very hard especially to exhale, already at 4. Looking forward and wishing you well in your journey here. The hyper experienced guys, the "Oscar chart needed" is extremely appreciated, but for me, as a newbie, it´s so great to hear from others not gurus on every setting and equipment. Thanks so much for the encouragement, really needed here.

[LuminousOne]

I have a ResMed Airsense 11 also and have been experimenting with it since I got home. It's not that bad, especially with the exhale relief option. I'm surprised because my lab titration study was not exactly comfortable.

Best wishes for an easy transition.

[Fox66]

Cool maybe we can support each other then :-), or more likely, i will trail you (I will need like two weeks, max, or so, to fix dentistry, and all kinds of stuff that have dropped in my lap). I will, with no anticipation, as soon as possible buy a nose pillow mask, and test awake with the relief settings. It's funny, many in the world seem to think Seden is a sophisticated country, and it was, 20-30 years ago, but now... At least one full year waiting line for a in home sleep test (in the countryside it can be more than two years), the when result, 2 - 3 month at least to some ear nose throat doctor, that just asked do you want a CPAP ? I said who wants that but i have no choice, she said well, you can skip it, it's only risk of illness, not guaranteed (I know, bizarre). No questions about allergies, 4 seconds looking in nose and throat etc. pointless. Then a month more to a nurse (no doctors do CPAP here, outsourced to nurses), that just said here is the on button, you don't have to do nothing, set to 5-15, the frantic mask on, 30 seconds, next mask etc., then se you in two month. Ridiculous, no wonder so many just don't pick up their machines, never get the necessity etc. I can count at least 15 things that had been said, completely contradicting all the experienced guys here, which is pretty crazy. 

I was so stressed also, i really have huge problems with doctors offices, so hopefully in my home, with correct settings, it will be a bit better also for me.


Well, very interested following your journey, as well as getting to the point with Oscar etc. to get the experts help.

[LuminousOne]

What you said describes so much of what we experience in the US also. The sleep medicine/treatment industry is so underdeveloped and demonstrates such a lack of urgency in providing services in a timely manner that we, the patients, struggle to obtain the care we need.

But so many rise above it and so will we! You will be able to handle all of this and know what to do in no time.

[SarcasticDave94]

Make certain to take the time to get a great mask. This is by far the number one thing. It's not one strike though, however try getting this right. Get a mask large enough to breathe easy enough but so it can seal well fairly easy. Do not go too small.

It doesn't matter if your mask choice is pillows, nasal, full face or hybrid full/nasal, however again try to get a size that seems a good fit. Learn the correct mask strap adjusting procedure, and avoid going painful or uncomfortable tight.

[Fox66]

It's just that, i realize lots of videos, tips, mask reviews etc., but especially this, with fit, i had hoped to get more helt from an experienced, real, live person ("sleep doctor"), since it's one of the things så hard to "digitally" convey (like what is "normal" resistance, how "should" it feel, first times with no adjustment/experience etc.). How do not to small, to hard etc. actually FEEL like. But, i definitely appreciate that this is the key component/importance of getting this right, and not to expect this to be achieved with first try maybe, not to be fixated on certain style etc. go more of what seems to feel right, work etc. 

To be honest, i think i have some key steps that will be hard enough, or let's call the "pre steps" needed to be started, before the CPAP thing, that will be key for me, but all comments so far have given me excellent tips for the first steps, and realistic expectations (best to not have any i think, in no direction, for now). I think i already have a better view, that was kind of wrong in ways all you experienced likely have seen newbies have again and again. I will just have to marry all these tips with my own set of challenges, and get things going ASAP, for sure.

I´m just in some kind of shock right now (which i expected to some degree) but the poor sleep doctor stuff hase, fortunately been well compensated, buy all you guys on this forum, for sure. When i am able to get out of my panicky, postponing everything etc. state, i can be pretty patient, persistent etc. and it's more than clear all these kind of thing, viewing it as a marathon etc. is key here. I will have to expect a slower start than most, but.. I guess after having gone 20-30 years, the key is just starting and not stopping/giving up. I do have a very strong, frustrating, and worst in my entire life the last couple of years, thing with postponing, getting stuck, overthinking (I don't mean a bit, more like heavy psychological diagnoses) things. I do have a hard time doing thing to "take care" of myself, even simple things, due to my let's say destructively bad self image, self belief etc. I could not loose weight to be healthier, look better or anything, i had to like "invent" other stuff in my bran, so that's what i will do with this also. Well, hope to separate and talk more on other parts of the forum about mental stuff in the future, and focus more on the steps/progress, charts etc. I´m just all over the place now but helps me alot to went here. 

I will try to collect myself, set up my sleeping situation, go back in my threads and take all tips on steps and get going ASAP, and i will NOT give up.

[40plus]

As a fellow swede with the same machine who started out about 8 months ago:

Yes the machine is trying to kill you by making exhalation impossible (well no but thats how it feels like)
Full face mask is the least restrictive and easiest to breathe in and out in, get used to this before trying nasal masks.
You can change clinical settings yourself in sweden, they wont take your machine or anything like that.
You will get used to the pressure. Both inhaling and exhaling.
You are exhaling and venting out co2, but its against a little prerssure so your brain is saying your dying even though you are fine, power through it.

I had to use beta blockers like Inderal and/or sleep pills like Imovane to overcome the horror of breathing in and out in pressure. Not until now im starting to breathe fully relaxed and not be botherd.

As soon as you can you should raise the minimum pressure to about 7. Most need 8 or above, to not feel air starved as you adjust to breathing under pressure.

And please dont use Oscar yet. Its so easy to fall into the trap of chasing results too early by studying the breaths and numbers in great detail by the second every night. Take it slow, get used to the treatment and if your ahi is under 5 but sleep quality bad and the doc wont help (they wont) then come back here and start analysing with Oscar. But first adjust as well as you can.

[SarcasticDave94]

The thing is, without OSCAR charts we're not going to be able to assist in setting pressures up in an informed manner, hindering both the struggling user and Apnea Board members trying to help. We try to avoid blindly guessing at pressures, but without OSCAR that's what you'd be asking us to do.

It's not to hinder a new user that we'd want OSCAR included from the beginning but to assist better. The burden isn't on the new user to even understand the data at the beginning but to display it and let those that know what it says to interrupt and guide. As the new user learns about the suggestions and the why that corresponds with it, they'll learn to understand it themselves.