Newbie from Denver. How long to get used to a cpap machine?

Hi,
I was diagnosed in 2015 with sleep apnea. I got a resmed airsense 10 autoset. I tried a full face mask for 3 nights and gave up. A year or so later I tried a phillips nasal mask for a week and gave up. I'm tired of giving up and really want this thing under control for better sleep and better health. Today I got the unit out of it's bag and set everything up again with the nasal mask. My questions are:

1. How long does it take to actually get used to it because I have failed twice. And yes I agree that 3 nights isn't committing.
2. If I am failing my mask test on the machine is that usually because i don't have the headgear tight enough?
3. Should I try the nasal pillows?

I currently take ambien to sleep but the more I think about it the more I think that's a dangerous combination. Ambien with sleep apnea. I also do a lot of international flying and live in fear of snoring my ass off on a 15 hour flight. If I can just get this thing figured out once and for all I will buy a portable device that works on planes and is easy to carry. I know you probably get this type of question a lot and I actually researched a bit before I posted. Sorry if this is a very redundant post. Not sure this matters but I am 64 with very controlled diabetes. I am not overweight and to be quite honest my doctors say I'm in very good health. But this sleep apnea is probably the most dangerous thing I am facing.

Thank you in advance for your advice. I'm glad I found this forum.

It takes as long as it takes and finding the right mask is the hardest part of the journey IMHO.

Did you try on any other nasal masks before deciding on the Pico? If so, do you remember which ones?

Can you normally breathe through your nose okay during the day and night or do you have chronic nasal congestion issues that pretty much force you to need to mouth breathe to move enough air.

What was it about the Pico or the full face mask that made things difficult to tolerate?

The more information we have then the better chance of getting ideas that are more tailored to your particular needs.

A few hours after you make up your mind you will make this new life with XPAP will work for you, and get it set up correctly by using the data to do it correctly. Getting your mind correct is one of the biggest problems, other things can be overcome with effort and a little time. Jim

I just spent since Christmas getting used to my brand new Airsense 10 Autoset machine. That's after I've already been on cpap therapy for the last 20 YEARS with another machine (which was a brick, so I had no feedback other than the way I felt subjectively after using it each night).

The Autoset machine is so different to me, it's like starting over from scratch. You are probably different, and it may take more or less time than the 2 months~ it's taken me on this machine. This gives you some idea that even a person that's successfully used a machine for 20 years might have issues getting used to a newer machine.

How you start, is by downloading Sleepyhead software, making sure there's an SD card in your cpap machine, and sleep with it. Then post some charts here so people can give their advice in what needs tweaking if anything.

Goofproof wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:41 pm

A few hours after you make up your mind you will make this new life with XPAP will work for you, and get it set up correctly by using the data to do it correctly. Getting your mind correct is one of the biggest problems, other things can be overcome with effort and a little time. Jim

I will agree with that statement I bolded above 110%! It's by far the ONE thing that will determine whether you will be successful or not. You MUST stick with it as long as it takes.

Hi and thanks for the quick responses.
Pugsy to answer your questions:

I never tried any other nasal mask. I chose the Pico because at the time it had a decent rating on amazon so I just ordered it. No other logic than that.
I can breath through my nose fine. No nasal congestion. But when I sleep I must be breathing through my mouth.
The full face mask was tough because getting a good seal was difficult and it was dripping water. I corrected the dripping issue but struggled with the seal.
The pico is a bit easier but I have a very difficult time actually sleeping with all this stuff on. And I totally understand I have never tried it for 30 days. That's on me. Tonight I'm going to try the nasal mask and back off a bit on the pressure or set max pressure to 6. I'm determined to do at least 30 days this time. I just hope it's not 30 days of pure hell.

Goofproof thank you for your encouragement. I'm actually delaying a trip to Australia right now because I fear that I am going to be snoring on the way. I remember last year when I went to Australia the FA was serving me breakfast and said I must feel great because I was totally out of it during the flight. I instantly thought I must have been snoring and it drove me nuts to hear that. I wish I would have just asked.

Let me know tomorrow how it goes with the Pico again tonight and try to isolate the things that are troubling to you.
It's easier to try to fix a problem if we can first identify the problem.

I have some ideas about a different mask...the Pico would be probably my last choice for a nasal cushion mask if it were me.
But then I have lots of experience with lots of masks and I can rely on what I have figured out might be my own personal preferences and needs.

If your nose is normally clear...you can try either the nasal cushion or nasal pillow masks. I prefer the pillows myself because I find that the more "stuff" that I have on my face and head then the more it annoys me and messes with my sleep. Gotta get the sleep first...then worry about the other stuff.

Hi - first don't overtighten anything because it's counterproductive (the silicone needs to inflate) and it may just mean you have either the wrong mask entirely, or it's not fitted well by whoever did it, or it's the wrong size. But... go to Cpap.com and look at other masks - tons of them with pix, reviews (honest ones) and lots more... you are not relegated to what you have by any means.

Second - leave your max pressure setting high - 15 to 20, as it's also not good to 'cap' it low til you know what else is happening and it's not the setting that makes a big diff. to your apnea. The low setting (usually 4 is the default machine low) may be too low to inhale at comfortably and almost everyone who starts out there raises it by at least 2-3 cm and possibly more over time.

If you need a FF mask, then you do, but you can certainly get more comfortable than you are now whatever one you use.

And... when you travel, do not ever pack your machine with your 'big' suitcase, but take it as a carry-on in it's case - it should be free (along with your regular carry-on) on almost all airlines (and won't get lost in who knows where).

Ok I will check out other masks and cpap.com. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll also increase max pressure before going to bed tonight.
I never travel with my cpap because I've never been successful wearing it and it's way too big. I've lived on airplanes most of my career and even when I go to overseas I only have carry on luggage. I never check luggage. I'm open to ANY mask as long as I can sleep. Also I downloaded and installed the sleepyhead software. Appreciate all the suggestions.

Two other questions:
1. Is it ok if I have a goatee?

2. If I normally snore through my mouth will a nasal mask even help?

Thanks

milehigh5280 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 04, 2018 4:52 pm

2. If I normally snore through my mouth will a nasal mask even help?

Sure...it will help. I used to mouth breathe (from gasping for air because of the apnea events) and snore so bad the windows rattled (per hubby) but all that resolved with nasal pillow mask. Once the apnea events were prevented I no longer needed to add more air by taking deep breaths. Sore throat from snoring and mouth breathing totally went away.

As long as you normally can breathe just fine through your nose there's no reason that a nasal interface mask won't work.
Now if your nose is so chronically congested that you simply can't move enough air and you have to mouth breathe then a full face mask is the best thing to use because if you do much mouth breathing that air goes right out your mouth and not down the airway to hold it open.

And yes...you could have a goatee and use any of the masks out there.
Take a look at the link in my equipment profile to see the one I use. There's not much to it and it's pretty much silent.
The vented air you can't even feel unless your hand is about an inch away from the holes.
There's a lot "better" masks out there than the Pico.

If you think you might want to try a full face mask...hold on for just a bit. I just got my hands on a new soon to be released model that I think people are going to really like. I am not a full face mask fan but I can see where this mask might just be the cat's meow.
I am a tiny woman...so the only issue I have is the frame isn't small enough but that's not the mask's fault. For most people of average size that little hiccup isn't going to be a problem. I plan to continue to work with it to see if I can make it stay put better.
See this thread. It's not widely available just yet but I suspect it will be within the next 2 to 3 weeks.
It would also likely do well with a beard. The silicone cushion part is so soft I think it would squish into the hairs pretty good.
viewtopic/t158844/Respironics-DreamWear ... eview.html

Last night I used my cpap for the first time in a very long time. I had it on almost 10 hours. I thought I had set max pressure to 15 but I see it was 10. I've now adjusted that. Here are two reports from sleepyhead and I welcome any feedback. Also I created a imgur account but everytime I try to upload anything it says upload failed. I see that's a common problem there. So hopefully you can read this. I slept from 11pm to just after 3 pm quite heavily (ambien). After that I tossed and turned and half slept till about 5 am then I woke up around 7:30 am. I feel a bit tired but I can tell I didn't snore nearly as much as I normally do. Also I'm starting to realize that it's not that bad to use if I just keep my mouth shut. If I open my mouth all this air goes flowing through my nose to my throat. Shut my mouth and I can barely feel any air. Guess I'm a slow learner.
Thanks again for your help.

Next time you do the detailed graph image can you include the stuff on the left (minus the calendar and pie chart)
See this thread for example and how to turn off pie chart instructions.
viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html
There's no need to redo this one though. Let's see what happens with the change from 10 max to 15 max...and you do seem need more max. I don't know if you need 15 but not to worry...the machine won't use it unless it feels like it needs to.

ok I have it cleaned up. But somehow my event flags are non existent. User error I'm sure. Also you can see I used it for 5 hrs 49 min turned it off (bathroom break) turned on and used for 3 hrs 55 min. Not sure how to handle bathroom breaks.

You accidentally turned off the Event flags.

Not sure which one but on the detailed SleepyHead page look down at the bottom of the graphs for 2 little drop down menu options...little arrows that you click on to expand the menu...
One of the left side and one on the right side. Click on both and look for something that is red and not green.
Red means turned off and won't show.
Double click (or maybe single click) to change it from red to green and it should show up.
I am thinking the one on the left but you might need to check both.