Setback in therapy

[ezdrifler]

I got my machine and nose mask last week, I was having a hard time and eventually Kaiser taught me how to fix my humidifier settings which helped a lot and got my AHI down below 5 with maybe only 2 OA, but my hypo was still high.

I follow the advice from one of your wonderful people and raised my minimum pressure from 5-6 and chopped my hypos down below 30%.

Unfortunately my nose started acting up, getting clogged and nasal rinse or vapor rub from vicks were not helping so I made the decision to buy a full face mask.

I went to sleep for the first time with a full face a couple of hours ago and when I woke up I was hoping great results since breathing was continuos now.

To my surprised my AHI flew to 11.1 and even do my hyops were at 5 , my OS came back to 6 in two hours.

Im puzzled :/

[surferdude2]

Verify that you set the machine for the proper mask type. Then be aware that you will likely need more pressure when using a FF vs. a Nasal one. It's common to see 2 ~ 3 cm H2O increase needed for a FF mask.

Dude

[trish6hundred]

Hi ezdrifler,
hang in there, I know it is discouraging, trying so many different things, but don’t give up.
I notice that, according to your profile, you are using SleepyHead.
You might post some of your graphs and someone will help you interpret them if you are having trouble with that.
Good luck to you and again, just hang in there.

[ezdrifler]

Verify that you set the machine for the proper mask type.

I dont have a setting for mask type, only pressure, is that what you are talking about?

Then be aware that you will likely need more pressure when using a FF vs. a Nasal one. It's common to see 2 ~ 3 cm H2O increase needed for a FF mask.

Dude

My understanding is that I should be free to adjust the minimum pressure since is mostly for comfort, but not the max pressure, do you suggest I go trough the sleep clinic for advice and presciption?

[surferdude2]

Check with Kaiser to see if they have any objections or if they would prefer to do it. If not, there isn't any reason that you can't do your own titration as well as they can, especially with all the good guidance from this forum. This doesn't require another sleep lab session, it's very common for users to do their own adjustments once they own the machine.

Start by calling them and telling them what you think you need to do based on what I told you earlier.

Dude

[49er]

Verify that you set the machine for the proper mask type. Then be aware that you will likely need more pressure when using a FF vs. a Nasal one. It's common to see 2 ~ 3 cm H2O increase needed for a FF mask.

Dude

That has definitely been my experience. When I have used the Simplus Mask instead of the Elan, I had to raise my pressure from 14.2/9.8 to 14.6/10.2.

49er

[MitchS]

Do you keep a sleep log. I had a sudden increase in OAs a few weeks ago. When I went over my sleep log I noticed I was waking up on my back more often. It turned out my mask was resting on my pillow too much and I was rolling onto my back to relieve the pressure on the mask. I started sleeping further down on the pillow so my mask was off of the pillow and I stopped waking up on my back. My OAs went back down also. My sleep log has helped me a lot since I started keeping it.

[ezdrifler]

Hi guys,

I called Kaiser and they want two weeks of data prior to making any prescription adjustments.

I slept last night on my side and it dropped back down to below 5 AHI, I still had events but I guess I can fine tune them as I go.

I "think" my problem was sleeping face up.

Ill try again tonight sleeping on my side and see what happens.

One thing I noticed, my throat was extremely dry, It almost feels as if the humidifier turns off after a few minutes or couple of hours, or maybe is just so cold at night it feels this way.