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Need Advice -- Having A Lot of Issues - Printable Version

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Need Advice -- Having A Lot of Issues - npolite - 09-13-2024

Hi All,

I've had my APAP machine since July and have been struggling with it. At first it was due to something in my throat a sort of pop that would wake me up just as I was getting to sleep. This popping was happening while I was awake but I only noticed it a few times per hour. In any case I am living with it and found sleeping on my side seems to get me to sleep.

I had initially the P30i mask but found it to be suffocating me so I moved to a N30i. I've been using this up until two weeks ago after increasing the min pressure from 5 to 6 (initial setting was 5-15). I found my mouth opening with the N30i so I bought a chin strap. I think it is not tight enough and is getting in the way of doing the job because of the mask. I feel the air at times restricted. I did buy a F&P Solo mask and still felt the suffocating with it. Ended up opening the hole a little which helped. I think this mask may work but also tried a full face F30i. This one I believe might be a size too small for me as I am getting leaks when the pressure ramps up.

My main issues right now are:
Most masks are causing the feeling of suffocating (possibly sinus issues/I had auto temp auto humidity before it broke)
Leaking
Waking up 4-5 times a night

On top of all of this my heated hose stopped working (a new one is on the way) so things are just compounding right now. My APAP machine is no longer shutting off when I use the quick disconnect. I don't know if I did something messing with the settings or that drop this week from the nightstand (2 feet drop to carpet) did it.

I'm really sorry for all of this in one post, if someone has time could you review some of my older data this month and let me know what I can do to fix this? https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/d0ca8330-8cb1-4630-b40d-8a0b4741b9ae

I will also be reaching out to me DME to actually send this back. They of course never gave me what the full cost would be if my deductible was not met and I have a bill for $400. They charged me $186.12 for the Humidifier for S10 Airsense, S10 Auto CPAP $57.59 and the reset was the tubing, filters and head gear. If I need to keep it for a year I'll end up paying close to $4000 for this as it will be between two years of insurance deductibles. Should I go with the Airsense 10 or 11?

I am trying to get this to work for me but it is a very hard time adjusting. Also the nurse practitioner that I see for this mentioned to leave the settings as is for now and that everything looked good. What she told me when I said I didn't notice any difference was that some people just won't see a difference but will get the benefits of not having a heart attack or stroke. I'm not buying this BS.

Thanks for your time

RE: Need Advice -- Having A Lot of Issues - Nightynite - 09-13-2024

I don’t have much advice for your settings but I will tell you this, It took me around 4 or 5 months before I really started feeling and sleeping better. I probably had sleep apnea a long time and came to the understanding that it’s probably going to take a long time for the therapy to pay off.
I stuck with it and now at over 6 yrs I’m so thankful that I stayed with it.

This board is all about Oscar software and there’s many knowledgeable people on here that can help you once you commit to downloading the software and posting your chart.

Spend some time reading the wiki article on the correct way to format and post, that’s the best way to get good advice. So many times people post up incorrect charts and they tend to get passed over. So take some time , educate and then post. People on this site don’t really care or respond to sleephq. They’re not familiar with it. Stay the course and be patient.

RE: Need Advice -- Having A Lot of Issues - Phaleronic - 09-13-2024

Hi npolite and welcome to the forum Smile

I see that they have it set to 6cm minimum pressure with EPR on 3, this is part of the reason why you're not sleeping well and having arousals, it's much too low of pressure so please raise min pressure to 8cm for now, you can leave EPR on at 3 but this should help your sleeping issues right away.

RE: Need Advice -- Having A Lot of Issues - npolite - 09-13-2024

(09-13-2024, 01:15 PM)Phaleronic Wrote: Hi npolite and welcome to the forum Smile

I see that they have it set to 6cm minimum pressure with EPR on 3, this is part of the reason why you're not sleeping well and having arousals, it's much too low of pressure so please raise min pressure to 8cm for now, you can leave EPR on at 3 but this should help your sleeping issues right away.

Thank you, I'll slowly try 7 first and then move it to 8. Just don't want to take big steps and have other issues falling asleep. I am a really light sleeper, maybe CPAP will change that Smile

I really amazes me that the so called specialists just throw a default value to people and call it a day.