Difficulty getting started

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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Jas_williams
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Jas_williams » Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:15 pm

Atom wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:01 pm
I have replaced the SD card with a clean one.

I have question. When I'm sleeping or tying to, I try to keep my mouth closed and sealed off from my airway. I can breath through my mouth and nose if I want, but I'd rather just breath through my nose. If my mouth is open, it gets very dry and the CPAP pressure expands my cheeks which is somewhat uncomfortable. I've tried a chinstrap to keep my mouth closed, but it tends to pull backwards on my jaw, which I do not want.

How do people deal with this? Duct tape?
Soft cervical collar to gently lift your jaw, tape maybe not Duct tape :D or time you’ll get used to it and learn to keep your mouth shut

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zonker
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by zonker » Sat Apr 18, 2020 4:34 pm

Atom wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:01 pm
I have replaced the SD card with a clean one.

I have question. When I'm sleeping or tying to, I try to keep my mouth closed and sealed off from my airway. I can breath through my mouth and nose if I want, but I'd rather just breath through my nose. If my mouth is open, it gets very dry and the CPAP pressure expands my cheeks which is somewhat uncomfortable. I've tried a chinstrap to keep my mouth closed, but it tends to pull backwards on my jaw, which I do not want.

How do people deal with this? Duct tape?
as jas said, firm foam cervical collar. can be had at your local drugstore. it's in the elder care section or home health. where they keep the canes and such. around fifteen bucks.

be advised that the cervical collar will start to lose it's shape and need to be replaced around 2-3 months after first use.

i use this in conjunction with scuncis both of which have helped tremendously. please see this link-

viewtopic/p1089718/viewtopic.php?f=1&t= ... s#p1086296

i've modified it, but it's the same basic rig.
people say i'm self absorbed.
but that's enough about them.
Oscar-Win
https://www.apneaboard.com/OSCAR/OSCAR-1.5.1-Win64.exe
Oscar-Mac
https://www.apneaboard.com/OSCAR/OSCAR-1.5.1.dmg

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DreamDiver
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by DreamDiver » Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:01 pm

Atom wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:01 pm
I have replaced the SD card with a clean one.

I have question. When I'm sleeping or tying to, I try to keep my mouth closed and sealed off from my airway. I can breath through my mouth and nose if I want, but I'd rather just breath through my nose. If my mouth is open, it gets very dry and the CPAP pressure expands my cheeks which is somewhat uncomfortable. I've tried a chinstrap to keep my mouth closed, but it tends to pull backwards on my jaw, which I do not want.

How do people deal with this? Duct tape?
From what I understand, the card cannot be an SDHC card. It has to be a straight SD card, which is becoming increasingly hard to find. This may have changed with the Airsense 10, but that's what I read on the various websites.

If your Airsense 10 is still reverting, even with changing the card and verifying that your settings are correct, it's possible your DME is trying to control your settings via the 4G connection. If this is the case, you may have to put the machine into airplane mode so it cannot communicate via 4G. If this is not a problem, disregard the suggestion.

As for the chipmunk cheeks, I've tried everything, and the only thing I could find that truly resolves large leak through the lips/cheeks is the papcap. The band is just wide enough and sits just over the cheeks at the right tension to stop chipmunk cheeks.

I hope next night shows that your settings have not yet again changed without your approval. Good luck!

Chris

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Jas_williams
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Jas_williams » Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:56 pm

DreamDiver wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:01 pm
Atom wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:01 pm
I have replaced the SD card with a clean one.
From what I understand, the card cannot be an SDHC card. It has to be a straight SD card, which is becoming increasingly hard to find. This may have changed with the Airsense 10, but that's what I read on the various websites.

If your Airsense 10 is still reverting, even with changing the card and verifying that your settings are correct, it's possible your DME is trying to control your settings via the 4G connection. If this is the case, you may have to put the machine into airplane mode so it cannot communicate via 4G. If this is not a problem, disregard the suggestion.
There is no problem using an SDHC card in either the Resmed S9 or the later machines, as long as the card is 32Gb or less (larger cards may work in certain instances but not needed) the many websites including Resmed are wrong.

_________________
Mask: Bleep DreamPort CPAP Mask Solution
Additional Comments: Using sleepyhead and a pressure of 6 - 21 Resmed S9 Adapt SV with a Bleep Sleep Mask

Atom
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Atom » Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:14 am

I checked the machine this morning after replacing the chip, and the settings are the same as yesterday.
I did not try to use it last night because I was tired and hoping to get a better night's sleep. It worked!
But, I would still like to be able to sleep on my back, which is a no-no without CPAP.

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DreamDiver
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by DreamDiver » Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:19 am

Jas_williams wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:56 pm
There is no problem using an SDHC card in either the Resmed S9 or the later machines, as long as the card is 32Gb or less (larger cards may work in certain instances but not needed) the many websites including Resmed are wrong.
It's possible you're correct for newer S9's, but maybe not for S9's from the first batch. They may have no longer been able to find straight SD-only slots somewhere along the timeline when S9's were still being made, so they had to start using the SDHC-capable slots. I still have an old USB SD-only card reader in my pile of card readers. Today, you can no longer buy an SD-only card reader because nearly everyone is using SDHC or SDXC. When I tried any SDHC card in mine a few months into owning it, it simply would not recognize it SDHC cards. It would only recognize SD cards, usually 1 or 2GB only. I suspect the same reason why perhaps some newer S9's can accept 32GB but not 64GB cards, some older S9's can accept SD cards (1 or 2GB) but not SDHC cards (4GB to 32GB).

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Last edited by DreamDiver on Sun Apr 19, 2020 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DreamDiver
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by DreamDiver » Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:21 am

Atom wrote:
Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:14 am
I checked the machine this morning after replacing the chip, and the settings are the same as yesterday.
I did not try to use it last night because I was tired and hoping to get a better night's sleep. It worked!
But, I would still like to be able to sleep on my back, which is a no-no without CPAP.
Glad the machine settings stuck! I hope you get some rest tonight!

Chris

_________________
Mask: ResMed AirFit™ F20 Mask with Headgear + 2 Replacement Cushions
Additional Comments: Pressure: APAP 10.4 | 11.8 | Also Quattro FX FF, Simplus FF
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Most members of this forum are wonderful.
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Be well,
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Atom
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Atom » Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:03 pm

OSCAR Pie Chart.PNG
OSCAR Pie Chart.PNG (26.33 KiB) Viewed 18897 times
This is my chart.
Question: What would this pie chart look like when a CPAP is working about as well as it can?

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DreamDiver
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by DreamDiver » Mon Apr 20, 2020 6:54 am

Atom wrote:
Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:03 pm
OSCAR Pie Chart.PNG
This is my chart.
Question: What would this pie chart look like when a CPAP is working about as well as it can?
That's a great question. On days when there are no events whatsoever, you get no pie chart. It might have been fun to put in an Easter egg, like a happy sun graphic, but there is simply no pie graph. Statistics show right below. Incidentally, you can also set up the stats in this corner so that the pie chart remains hidden regardless. File -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Other Visual Settings (Panel) -> Show event breakdown pie chart (Uncheck).

Image

Image

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Additional Comments: Pressure: APAP 10.4 | 11.8 | Also Quattro FX FF, Simplus FF
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Most members of this forum are wonderful.
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Miss Emerita
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Miss Emerita » Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:53 am

Hello, Atom. It's really nice when the occasional 0 comes along, but really anything below 2 is very good and anything below 1 is excellent.

It has been a while since you posted a daily chart. Would you turn off the pie chart per DreamDiver's instructions and post your chart? My suspicion is that there is room for further adjustments to your settings, but the experts will need data to make further recommendations.
Oscar software is available at https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

Atom
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Atom » Mon Apr 20, 2020 10:01 am

screenshot-20200420-105659.png
screenshot-20200420-105659.png (107.57 KiB) Viewed 18874 times
This is my most recent attempt with a significant amount of time (and showing all settings).

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DreamDiver
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by DreamDiver » Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:12 am

Atom wrote:
Mon Apr 20, 2020 10:01 am
screenshot-20200420-105659.png

This is my most recent attempt with a significant amount of time (and showing all settings).
This is from April 17th, as posted before.
Others have suggested raising the minimum pressure to 9cm, so that might be a worthy consideration.

In order to make your charts show the most useful information in the least amount of space I would try these changes to the daily graphs:
  • Re-order your graphs so they're in this order from top to bottom:
    • Event Flags
    • Flow Rate
    • Pressure
    • Leak Rate
    • Flow Limitation
  • Disappear the pie chart.
  • Hide the calendar.
  • Slide the "Mask Pressure" chart down past the visible area of the screen.
  • Show the AHI (left hand details slid all the way to the top.)
You got well over 4 hours of mask time that night, so that's good. I know can be difficult, but I hope you'll try again tonight.

Chris

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Mask: ResMed AirFit™ F20 Mask with Headgear + 2 Replacement Cushions
Additional Comments: Pressure: APAP 10.4 | 11.8 | Also Quattro FX FF, Simplus FF
Last edited by DreamDiver on Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
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DreamDiver
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by DreamDiver » Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:18 am

Miss Emerita wrote:
Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:53 am
Hello, Atom. It's really nice when the occasional 0 comes along, but really anything below 2 is very good and anything below 1 is excellent.

It has been a while since you posted a daily chart. Would you turn off the pie chart per DreamDiver's instructions and post your chart? My suspicion is that there is room for further adjustments to your settings, but the experts will need data to make further recommendations.
Atom, An AHI of 0.0 only happens for me about once or twice a year, so yeah, it's sort of a celebration of the fact that it's possible more than anything. And if you're AHI is consistently under 2.0, it's not necessarily even an indicator of how well we slept. It's just an indicator that we probably didn't have major dips in oxygen for that night.

When I first started, I had months of AHI's hovering between 5 and 6. Some nights it would be double that, and large leaks were a nightmare. Since then, others who have joined the forum have had it somewhat easier, some worse. However it is for you, just remember, we're all pretty familiar with what you're going through. Getting it down below 2 is awesome, but it's not always easy. We're all taking it at our own pace, so it's good to celebrate the personal victories that come in their own time.

_________________
Mask: ResMed AirFit™ F20 Mask with Headgear + 2 Replacement Cushions
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Be well,
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Atom
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Atom » Tue Apr 21, 2020 3:44 am

screenshot-20200421-044237.png
screenshot-20200421-044237.png (93.83 KiB) Viewed 18847 times
The latest.

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Dog Slobber
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Re: Difficulty getting started

Post by Dog Slobber » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:13 am

It looks like your ramp is on for 15 minutes and slowly moves from 4 to 8.

Then as soon as Ramp completes, the pressure skyrockets from 8 (your minimum) to 16 (your maximum) and flags a whole lot of OA and Hypopnea's.

This suggests that during ramp you are also experiencing a lot more events that are going unflagged.


I would consider turning ramp off, if you can do without it, or increase ramp pressure. Perhaps set it to Auto, if you really need it.

After your initial surge, your pressure never goes below 10, that suggests 8 might be a little low as well. If it were me I would consider moving up the minimum to 9 or 10, move the maximum to 20.

One other consideration is to turn on EPR, to help with the increased pressure.