Dreamstation humidity/heat settings and other stuff

My wife is on cpap for the last 5 months. She is doing ok and some nights when she has a cold or raging allergies she can only go an hour or two but like eveyone she seems to be a journey trying to figure out the right combination of mask and hose. She doesnt really like wearing it much is starting to feel better and she got through compliance period just fine and averages about 5 hours a night with it with AHI of about 2 with the Amara View mask.

She had a few questions though so thought I would ask.

She likes warm humid air. If i preheat the humidifier for an hour or two while watch TV before bed, she says the air feels good for the first half of the night but by the middle of the night it cools off. I thought the heating plate was supposed to keep the water and air warm all night.

Related to that we got her a heated hose and a zippered hose cover. Does the heated hose help warm the air? We had the hose heat on 4 and humidity on 4 and got rainout.

I guess my question is what is the best way to keep her air humid and warm without making it feel like a too-hot sauna but also without drying out her mouth. Should we use the heated hose on a lower heat setting but maybe a high humidity setting? Or not use the heated hose at all?

Also, any tboughts on the Opti-start setting? She snores a lot during the 1st 30 minutes and I am wondering if that setting would knock out the early snoring. Would the DME get upset if they saw I enabled that setting?

Also, does anyone wake up with their machine just running wide open at 15 or 17 and mask trying to flutter off the face? Is that a mask fit issue or machine issue?

The other question is our DME carries only one brand. She is a mouth breather and didnt like when the pressure of a nose mask for a few minutes in the office but liked full face option and openness and comfort of Amara View. It doesnt leak usually but she wanted to visit a store in town that carries the the new similar Resmed F30 or some other of the Resmed FF masks have a tech fit it or see what they recommend in-person instead of guessing about fit and comfort via online order. Can you use one DME to do the machine and another to handle the masks since our DME has just a one-brand selection? Does insurance make it difficult to do that?

I am on my phone so not able to post Sleepyhead graphs right now.

Welcome to the forum.

Read this thread posts number 2 and 3 to get an idea how to manage rain out. There are several options.
viewtopic/t94035/Pugsys-Pointers-3Deali ... -road.html
If you reduce the hose air temp and increase the humidity level you will get MORE condensation. It's physics in action.
Warmer air with hold on to the moisture better than cooler air.
You need warmer air in the hose and mask to prevent condensation...I would increase the hose temp....that setting of 4 isn't very warm and its tied to the ambient room temp anyway.

The heating plate only affects the water temp and humidity being delivered...it cycles off an on all night depending on the setting chosen and the ambient humidity in the bedroom so that tries to take that ambient humidity and add just enough moisture so it delivers whatever humidity setting you have chosen.

The heated hose...only affects the air temp in the hose...doesn't affect the humidity being delivered as that is the job of the heating plate. Primary job is comfort and condensation prevention.

Don't do the Opti Start mode. That will change things over to a fixed pressure where the machine makes changes for you.
It's not nearly as great as they make it out to be.

Need to see the SleepyHead reports to get an idea what might be going on when she wakes up with the pressures in the upper teens.
Generally the machine only increases the pressure when it's trying to kill OAs or hyponeas or snores or Flow Limitations.
If she really needs that much pressure and it's causing a mask fit issue...maybe needs to fit at the higher pressures to start with.
What works great for a fitting at 7 cm pressure isn't going to work so great at 14 cm pressure.

You can use another DME for other masks and use your insurance but the second DME will need access to all the documentation supplied by your doctor to the first DME...and assuming your insurance works with them. It can be done but there's a little paperwork involved.

I should add: she is on auto setting, 4-20 h20