Adjusting to Nasal Pillow Mask

[DenKen31]

Hi there!
Thank you'll for the help in the last thread.
I would like to asks some questions:

1. How do I know what pressure to start with my CPAP machine? Should I try the highest pressure that does not hurt or feel uncomfortable? Moreover, what range should I use when using APAP?
2. Can someome explain to me how APAP works? I do not see any change or pressure in the first minutes but after sometime pressure changes. How much time does it take to the machine to calculate new pressures, and how does it know what pressure suits me best? Does it know only when apnea appears?
3. Should I try to get used to nasal pillows mask if I once put it and felt that my nose got really dry and got hurt, and sneezed a lot the next day? Moreover, I tried to play with the pressure of my machine, and saw that the air pressure that came out of my mouth while opening it didn't change, which I think mean that my nose is kinda stuffy. By the way, I tried mouse+nose mask also, which wasn't comfortable too.
4. What can I do with the fact that all of my mouth, throat, nose, etc feel really dry after using CPAP/APAP? 
5. How can I tilt and change sleep postures while using mask? Isn't that impossible? I mean I think I do it even unconsciously while sleeping, how can the mask stay on me?


Thanks again.

[silverdr]

You need to provide more information and many of these questions should be answered by your prescriber.
Brand and model of your cpap machine, possible results of your sleep study.
The machine needs to be set up for you and after you evaluate a few nights data, these questions can be answered.
You need to be able to download the data and evaluate with software like OSCAR.
Also you probably should visit SleepHQ Web site and view Uncle Nicks tube videos.

[OpalRose]

That's alot of questions.     Let's start with you filling out your profile so that we have some idea what you are using.  

Here's a shortcut link to get you there:

https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/usercp...on=profile

If you are using an OSCAR supported machine, download the OSCAR software and set up your profile.

Also, be sure you have an SD card in your cpap while sleeping.

Read some of the links in my signature line below, then you will be prepared when we ask you to download some data.  

Yep, we ask a lot of new members, but you seriously won't find the kind of help you can receive here anywhere else.  My opinion.  

[DenKen31]

Thank You!
I think I've updated my profile. I'm currently trying PRISMA SMART, I'm pretty sure it has a memory card, because a technician should check if the machine got good result for me and then I can decide if I wanna buy it. I will soon learn how to use OSCAR, but how could I know if my machine was used when sleeping or while I was with it just to try to adjust to it (Yeah I basically sat with it with my laptop sometimes) plus I dont know which nights I used nasal pillow masks and which if at all used mouth+nose mask.

[OpalRose]

....how could I know if my machine was used when sleeping or while I was with it just to try to adjust to it (Yeah I basically sat with it with my laptop sometimes) plus I don't know which nights I used nasal pillow masks and which if at all used mouth+nose mask....

If looking at the flow rate, sometimes it will look more erratic when awake than when sleeping.  The machine really cannot tell if you're awake or asleep.

The Prisma line is not currently supported by OSCAR, but the OSCAR team is working hard, hopefully for the next release.

Is the ResMed AirSense 10 or 11 AutoSet available in your area?

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...d_machines

[DenKen31]

I don't know, I need to check. Soon will answer

[DenKen31]

So I checked and Prisma Smart will cost me about 130$ (with a humidifier) because of a subsidization I get,
while ResMed ™AirSense™ 10 AutoSet will cost something about 1130$
I guess I"ll stay with the Prisma

---

Btw, someone said that Prisma works with the current beta version of OSCAR, so I guess I can use the software?

[OpalRose]

It's currently in beta testing.

[G. Szabo]

I suppose we should use the Nasla Pillow mask selection on Aircuve 10 when using a Nasal Cushion and not the Nasal Mask selection. Right?

[MaskedOne]

DenKen312. Can someome explain to me how APAP works? I do not see any change or pressure in the first minutes but after sometime pressure changes. How much time does it take to the machine to calculate new pressures, and how does it know what pressure suits me best? Does it know only when apnea appears?


Allow me to try and explain how APAP works.  Your APAP machine (A)utomatically adjusts the positive air pressure (PAP) in your airways based on how you are breathing. It is actually a little marvel of a machine with a complex algorithm coded into it.  It senses air pressure & air flow volume in fractions of a second and can adjust pressure just as fast.  It "knows" when you are breathing in and when you are breathing out - and it compensates with each breath cycle.
It starts with the minimum pressure that you set the machine at and would stay at that positive air pressure all night if your airways stayed open and flowing. 
Once it detects that breathing is being obstructed, it raises the air pressure in steady amounts towards the maximum pressure set for the machine,  pushing your airways open, until the breathing cycle returns to normal and then it eases off the pressure until it reaches the minimum set for the machine.
It has a way of detecting when breathing is about to stop, again working in fractions of a second, and it surges air pressure into your airways, but never going over the maximums set for your machine.  Somehow this avoids a stoppage of breathing, most of the time.  
The APAP machine does not record heart rate, oxygen, eye movement, muscle movement, noise or whether you are a side sleeper or not.  It doesn't know if you are a awake, asleep or somewhere in between.  It doesn't know which pressures it should be set at that are best for you.  It only knows air pressure and how you are breathing, and will in a split second react to help you breath better.

Working with the experts on this forum (not me), you will fine tune the pressures that suit you best.