AHI HIGHER RECENTLY. AS MUCH AS DOUBLE MY NORM???

[Neicy]

It sounds like your doctors are about as knowledgeable as my third one is - clueless.  Thank God for these forums.

I use the Amara View and it does have to be tight to get rid of the face farts.  I found it took a few days of use to get it to fit well.  The headgear is probably needing to stretch out some.  I started with the small cushion but the medium fits me much better. 

The Quattro was leaky around the top for me.  I think I am right between size small and extra-small and have a very narrow nose bridge.  The width is the same on all sizes but the x-sm has less leaks for me.

Also if the cushion is not wiped at least every other night it will start to leak on me.

When I got my new Bipap last week I got an AirTouch 20 that the DME recommended.  He said it is supposed to sit higher than the others.  The medium he gave me does seal well but every time I opened my eyes I could see this "thing" between my eyes.  It felt huge and I think I may have liked it better in a small.  It did feel nice.

With my pressures I really do have to strap those suckers down though.  Trial and error.....

[dizzy1]

Yes thank god for these forums. Thanks for your reply NEICY. It has helped and encouraged me to persevere with sorting out tonight's therapy.

I have been thinking of buying another mask and I was interested in the Amara View. How do you find it? Where is it leaking/farting for you?
By looking at the pictures of the Amara View I am worried there is not enough room for my mouth to open as I am a mouth breather. 
Maybe I should look into a mouth strap to stop my mouth from opening wide during sleep.

I've not heard of the Airtouch F20. Until  i looked it up I thought you had made a mistake and you meant to say the Airfit F20.
The Airtouch F20 looks very interesting having memory foam. How do you find it?

[Neicy]

I really like the feel of the Airtouch F20 with the memory foam.  But it felt sooooooooo big on my face that it felt like I was wearing a hat on my face if that makes any sense at all.  I really think it is too big even though it seems I measure for a medium in that mask according to the template the DME used and tossed into the box.  

I find the Amara View much less confining since it stops at the nose.  Inflated it puffs up against the bottom of the nose to make a seal.  I also mouth breathe after I fall asleep but have had no problem with my mouth going outside the mask.  If I smile with it on it does leak so I have to adjust it after lying down on my back.  I can then turn on my side to go to sleep (unless my shoulder is too sore) and it's fine because it does not protrude as much as most FFM's do.  I use a latex foam pillow if that matters also.  The vent IS more noisy than most, but I'll take the trade-off if it lets me stay asleep.

To figure what the leak limit should be in Sleepyhead it's good to know that it is set to 24 by default.  That is fine if you are using a Resmed machine because that manufacturer takes the vent leak into consideration when calculating the amount of excess leak.  However the Respironics machines include the normal vent leak in the leak amount/rate reported, so it was suggested to me that I change the default leak limit in Sleepyhead fom 24 lpm (liters per minute) to about 60 lpm to be more accurate with Respironics machines.  

To do this in Sleepyhead click on file, preferences, choose the CPAP tab, and over on the right where it says "Flag leaks over threshold" change it from 24 to 60 and click OK.  It will then recalculate your leaks to be more accurate on Respironics machines.  I can't remember if I had to close and re-open to get it to take effect or not. 

Keep on truckin,