Reasons Needed for S9 VPAP?

[Peter_C]

Just wanted to add that both before and after nose surgery - wearing my mask *helps* me to breathe through my nose, and if it is that bad, time to switch to your backup Full face mask.

Sleeping without the mask is not an option - the sooner you get that firmly into your brain, the better life will be.

I (once) checked my dream machine, and of course it was lost. I did not leave the airport for the one hour drive home until my luggage arrived some 7hrs later. I simply was not going to sleep without my mask - period. I do not nap, or lie down without my mask - period. It's not some of the time, or even most of the time, it is 100% of the time.

Yes, everyone is different, and everyone's OSA (degree of) is different. But your brain is black or white - no shades of grey. The sooner you create a concrete habit, the sooner your body will accept it, and start improving from it. No offense meant, but you gotta stop dancing here.

[Sleepster]

I wanted the name of some sinus rinse that Zonk was talking bout although I don't see a name mentioned.

NeilMed Sinus Rinse Kit, available for about $10 in any decent drug store. Don't be fooled by the marketing scheme variants, just get the basic kit. You mix up a saline solution and squirt it up your nose while standing over the sink. Some people don't like it.

An alternative is the simple nasal saline sprays in either a squeeze bottle or aerosol can. I like the aerosol can. One shot in each nostril, blow nose, and you're done.

If my nose is full of mucous I use the NeilMed to flush it out. If I'm congested due to swelling instead of due to mucous the NeilMed doesn't help much.

I think you should try the nasal pillows instead of the nasal mask. It may help a lot.

[PaytonA]

Diamount, are you talking about the VPAP Auto or the VPAP Adapt?

On the VPAP Auto can you set max IPAP and min EPAP to the same number, which I guess would force you to set PS to zero?

Can you put the VPAP Auto in CPAP mode?

I realize I could find the answers out myself by fiddling with my machine but right now it's so new to me that I'm having a hard enough time figuring out how to make it do my bidding. I don't want to mess around with the settings until I get things set up the way I want and feel comfortable with getting some good data. ResScan is new to me, and I'm kind of waiting on the SH v0.9.6 release, too.

With your VPAP Auto I do not know why you would want to set min EPAP and max IPAP to the same number. You would be creating a constant pressure CPAP. All you have to do with your VPAP Auto is change the mode to CPAP. I guess that answers your second question. If you want to do without the auto pressure but want to retain the adjustable PS, put your VPAP Auto in Spont(aneous) mode where it will act like a bilevel CPAP

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[Sleepster]

With your VPAP Auto I do not know why you would want to set min EPAP and max IPAP to the same number.

It was just a curiosity about the machine's capability. Although if someone were trying to wean themselves off of bilevel therapy in preparation for switching to a new machine this feature might be nice.

On the PRS1 BiPAP you can do that and still take advantage of the Bi-Flex feature. When you switch it to CPAP mode it switches the exhalation pressure relief from Bi-Flex to C-Flex.

Like I said, we were just discussing it more as a curiosity than as something I was planning on doing.

I'm weird that way.

[ShelaghDB]

You take the mask off but you have no memory of doing it?
I can't see how a change of machine is going to help you with that.
I don't understand what this has to do with congestion. Are you just guessing that congestion is the reason you're taking the mask off in your sleep?

I was tired last night or I would have answered that correctly.

No, this is NOT a conscious decision.
There are two ways I am going about this in my sleep.
Why on earth one cannot see that this is related to congestion is absolutely beyond me.

If I say I am congested and cannot breathe at night and have said this not once but several times now, I would think that someone should believe me when I say that this is the problem i am dealing with.

1) I am developing congestion in my sleep. Half the time I am in a deep sleep but suddenly I assume i cannot breathe and develop the feeling of suffocation.
With a FF mask I opened my mouth I suppose but then it remained open all night so that really wasn't working.
Now I am using a nasal mask, if I open my mouth to breathe for some reason I develop this feeling of gulping in air and panic and have to get the mask off quickly. Perhaps THAT is happening, although i don't think its quite that bad, or I think I would be awakened further, as in a panic, and i am not.
I believe as i have stated several times, that I become congested and because i am, theres no room in my nostrils to get in the air, hence, I suffocate.
I can't speak for you but i personally tend to find the feeling of suffocation a tad on the uncomfortable side. Hence, I take off my mask.
I am however not aware of my doing this at the time.
It is amusing only in the fact that even in the dead of sleep, one finds themselves very neatly placing the mask and hose on top of my chest. Why I am concerned with it being neat while in such a deep sleep is beyond me but laughable nevertheless, at least to me.

2) I am sometimes taking the mask off, I assume for the very same reason as above but at these times, I am not as fully asleep. I am a bit more aware of what i am doing and i remember telling myself that my mask has to come off for a few minutes until i can breathe and then I will put it back on again. Or, a couple of other times, I remember telling myself that I was getting up in about 5 minutes anyhow, that it was 7:30 am so it didn't matter if I lay here for the next 2-3 minutes before getting up waking up. Unfortunately at these times, it is NOT 7:30 am but about 90 minutes after going to sleep but somehow I seem to think its morning so as you can see, I am still asleep but just a bit more awake so I am a bit more aware of things but still, I am not capable of rational thought at this time.

I think you should try the nasal pillows instead of the nasal mask. It may help a lot.

A thought I have been considering myself. I plan to call my DME this week about getting one. If by any chance there is a general consensus about one make of nasal pillow over any others, anyone with a suggesting, please feel free to chime in and offer a name and brand ( smallish face, smallish features etc if that helps )

If my nose is full of mucous I use the NeilMed to flush it out.

Yes the only type of congestion I suffer from and never KNEW i suffered from it until wearing these masks so this is all new to me. I have never even used a sinus spray or anything at all, never having been aware of congestion until recently

NeilMed Sinus Rinse Kit, available for about $10 in any decent drug store. Don't be fooled by the marketing scheme variants, just get the basic kit. You mix up a saline solution and squirt it up your nose while standing over the sink. Some people don't like it.

Yes, I found the name a bit later but thats the one. Thank you. I will pick some up in the morning. I may not like it either but I prefer the thought of sleeping all the way though the night as I used to do perfectly before being diagnosed with SA and will do whats necessary if it can beat this very annoying congestion problem.

Sleeping without the mask is not an option - the sooner you get that firmly into your brain, the better life will be.

/sighs

Silly me! Apparently I am rather intellectually challenged and unable to grasp such common sense when I am dead to the world asleep.

No offense meant, but you gotta stop dancing here.

No offense intended but you gotta stop assuming that I am dancing here. I can assure you I have far more enjoyable ways to spend my evenings than reading forums about Sleep Apnea trying to discover HOW TO FIX congestion problems.

Remarkably this silly little brain of mine does seem to recall on several occasions reading that congestion problems are the number #1 reason people walk away permanently from their CPAP machines.

Perhaps they just need you to tell them "to stop dancing" and to get it "firmly through their brain" that they need to wear those masks. Perhaps you should just suggest that they suffocate themselves to death instead?

No offense intended, of course

[Sleepster]

Alright, let's see if I'm understanding you.

No, this is NOT a conscious decision.

Then you are waking up and finding that the mask is lying neatly on your chest. Your machine should have an alarm that will sound letting you know that your mask has been removed.

1) I am developing congestion in my sleep. Half the time I am in a deep sleep but suddenly I assume i cannot breathe and develop the feeling of suffocation.

I don't understand how you can make an assumption when you're in a deep sleep. To me a deep sleep is a state of unconsciousness, and to make an assumption I have to be conscious.

With a FF mask I opened my mouth I suppose but then it remained open all night so that really wasn't working.

Why's that? If your nose is plugged up you have to open your mouth to breathe. This is called mouth-breathing, it happens to everyone at one time or another, and it happens with or without a CPAP machine.

Why on earth one cannot see that this is related to congestion is absolutely beyond me.

Because if you're congested you cannot breathe through your nose. At least that's what it means to me. If that happens when you're wearing a CPAP mask, then you can't breathe through your nose. If it happens when you're not wearing a mask then you can't breathe through your nose.

Do you see how the CPAP mask makes no difference either way? There are four possibilities:

1. Congested with mask.
2. Congested without mask.
3. Not congested with mask.
4. Not congested without mask.

You seem to be saying that only 1 is happening. Which means that 2, 3, and 4 are not happening to you. That makes no sense. There's only one reason why a mask would cause congestion. Congestion is internal to your body, the mask is external to your body.

The one and only reason that the mask itself is the cause of the congestion is air quality. Keep the hose and mask clean, properly filter and adjust the temperature and humidity of the air in the hose. That is the only solution.

If that doesn't work then I recommend you make an appointment with a good ENT surgeon who can figure out why you're congested only when you wear a CPAP mask.

2) I am sometimes taking the mask off, I assume for the very same reason as above but at these times, I am not as fully asleep. I am a bit more aware of what i am doing and i remember telling myself that my mask has to come off for a few minutes until i can breathe and then I will put it back on again.

You're either aware or you're not. If you're not then the alarm should wake you and then you'll become aware. If you are aware then you can get out of bed for awhile, wait until your congestion clears, then go back to bed and put the mask on.

When you tell yourself that you can stay in bed with the mask off without falling asleep you are lying to yourself. You have proven this to yourself repeatedly so you know it's true.

Now I am using a nasal mask, if I open my mouth to breathe for some reason I develop this feeling of gulping in air and panic and have to get the mask off quickly.

That's fear, not congestion.

Perhaps THAT is happening, although i don't think its quite that bad, or I think I would be awakened further, as in a panic, and i am not.

Perhaps?! You just said in the previous sentence that it is happening!

[Peter_C]

There are other solutions to stop the removal of your mask if you wish to use them. While for many it is quite a pain both in hassle and in cost, through trial and error you can find a full face mask that you can wear when feeling congested, and still get the primary benefit of CPAP.

I personally do not care (other in a generic way) whether you stick with CPAP or don't. I'm simply one of many people on the outside reading what you've written, and with all sincerity, I am reading more reasons for you to not wear your mask 100% of the time, than I am reading reasons why you should be wearing the mask 100% of the time. Personal knowledge along with many, many other forum threads have shown that until a person reaches 100% compliance it is a struggle for them (reasons are legion). No one, least of all I ever said it was an easy thing to do, but do it we all must.

From the high leak alarm going off (unless you are turning off your machine first while asleep), to putting some type of tape around the headgear so it pulls on your hair if you try to remove it while sleeping - lots of different stuff you can do, if you wish.

I have zero desire to upset you or anyone else. But if I do not say what *I* am reading, how can *I* help. I am sorry that my words have offended thee.

[goodonya]

Since I have started taking an interest in my own settings I am finding I am waking up because of congestion. I am using the Vpap Adapt. I have not had trouble with congestion before. I suspect it has to do with my lowered settings and my body response someway.
It is kind of mind bending all the different machines and settings and so on.
I am still upset that I spent so much money on a sleep study that used Respironics equipment which for me is the insane algorithm from Hell, when I have Resmed equipment. The two are so different that it should have been an issue upfront. I spent the big bucks and had a study that to me is totally worthless. There cannot be a next time now. I used up my next time now that I know to sort that issue out before hand.

[goodonya]

We are all so different and the environment we are most comfortable in is so individual. I have lived most of my life in a cold climate. I like to be warm when I sleep but breathing warm moist air is kind of problematic.
I found I need the reservoir of water but heating the water did not work out at all. Of course the way the treatment comes at us it is assumed that heat is good. So I used heat and struggled for a while and came slowly to the air just blowing over the water providing all the moisture I needed.
I also found that adding some salt to the water helps. Not much just a little.

[Peter_C]

We are all so different and the environment we are most comfortable in is so individual. I have lived most of my life in a cold climate. I like to be warm when I sleep but breathing warm moist air is kind of problematic.
I found I need the reservoir of water but heating the water did not work out at all. Of course the way the treatment comes at us it is assumed that heat is good. So I used heat and struggled for a while and came slowly to the air just blowing over the water providing all the moisture I needed.
I also found that adding some salt to the water helps. Not much just a little.

Go figure, my wife first turned her heat all the way down, then stopped bothering to fill her water chamber, then about 5 months ago, I took it off the machine completely and she's happy as can be. Whereas, I want it heated, and as moist as possible without drowning or running out of water during the night - everyone is different. Learning what works best for each of us is key to being happy.