07-05-2025, 12:53 PM
Newbie with mask/seal questions
Hi friends! I am a newb on day 10 of CPAP therapy.
My sleep study showed 110 AHI, and I'm currently using a Resmed Airsense 11 Auto with a heated hose and a Phillips Dreamwear nasal pillow mask. My pressure is set at 14-20. I just started using mouth tape; I was grinding my teeth and having jaw pain (I think trying to keep my mouth shut) but it's much better with the mouth tape as support. I am a side sleeper and I have to turn over because my hips hurt if I stay too long on one side.
I just got an SD card so I don't have OSCAR data yet. MyAir says that my AHI is under 5 every night, I'm wearing the mask all night (7-11 hours so far), and my leaks are well under the 24 threshold (like 2-8). So it seems to be going pretty well!
I'm having a couple of problems that seem to be related.
-I hate the ramp; I feel like I'm not getting enough air. I'm yawning a lot at the beginning of the night and I think that might be related.
-I'm also having trouble with the mask seal when I turn over, especially later in the night when I've done a few turns. The mask gets out of place, and I can't reseal it with the pressure going. So I turn the machine off, and the ramp starts again, which fixes the seal problem but makes me feel I'm not getting enough air.
-I turned the ramp off last night, but having that much pressure right off the bat made it hard to seal the mask (predictable in hindsight). I ended up turning ramp back on but for a shorter period, and then I could seal the mask, but it felt hard to breathe. And then I lost the seal again later in the night.
-What I often end up doing later in the night is propping up the arms of the mask on my cheekbones to lift up the pillows, which fixes the seal, but then my cheekbones hurt in the morning. And the upward pressure on my nose (from the lift) is causing pain and minor swelling at the bridge of my nose.
-In general I'm having face pressure/pain every day. It tends to be worse later in the day, but when I've had a bad night and propped the mask on my cheekbones, it's an all day thing. Taking ibuprofen helps and I've been doing that daily. It's almost like my facial muscles are tired? Since I started therapy, being around people and making expressions makes my face really sore until I consciously relax my facial muscles.
-I'm definitely more pain/pressure sensitive than most people and this might just be me getting used to things. I'm not sure how long to wait to decide if it's me or the equipment.
I've adjusted the straps so they are as loose as possible to keep the mask in place, but maybe they are too loose. When I have a seal problem, I check my headgear and sometimes the back has crept up, but fixing that doesn't seem to fix the seal at high pressure. I still have to turn the machine off and start over. I'm hesitant to tighten too much, but maybe I need to tighten more.
This is the first mask I've tried and I like it pretty well. I'm not sure why the sealing issue gets worse throughout the night. Is the mask the wrong size? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
My sleep study showed 110 AHI, and I'm currently using a Resmed Airsense 11 Auto with a heated hose and a Phillips Dreamwear nasal pillow mask. My pressure is set at 14-20. I just started using mouth tape; I was grinding my teeth and having jaw pain (I think trying to keep my mouth shut) but it's much better with the mouth tape as support. I am a side sleeper and I have to turn over because my hips hurt if I stay too long on one side.
I just got an SD card so I don't have OSCAR data yet. MyAir says that my AHI is under 5 every night, I'm wearing the mask all night (7-11 hours so far), and my leaks are well under the 24 threshold (like 2-8). So it seems to be going pretty well!
I'm having a couple of problems that seem to be related.
-I hate the ramp; I feel like I'm not getting enough air. I'm yawning a lot at the beginning of the night and I think that might be related.
-I'm also having trouble with the mask seal when I turn over, especially later in the night when I've done a few turns. The mask gets out of place, and I can't reseal it with the pressure going. So I turn the machine off, and the ramp starts again, which fixes the seal problem but makes me feel I'm not getting enough air.
-I turned the ramp off last night, but having that much pressure right off the bat made it hard to seal the mask (predictable in hindsight). I ended up turning ramp back on but for a shorter period, and then I could seal the mask, but it felt hard to breathe. And then I lost the seal again later in the night.
-What I often end up doing later in the night is propping up the arms of the mask on my cheekbones to lift up the pillows, which fixes the seal, but then my cheekbones hurt in the morning. And the upward pressure on my nose (from the lift) is causing pain and minor swelling at the bridge of my nose.
-In general I'm having face pressure/pain every day. It tends to be worse later in the day, but when I've had a bad night and propped the mask on my cheekbones, it's an all day thing. Taking ibuprofen helps and I've been doing that daily. It's almost like my facial muscles are tired? Since I started therapy, being around people and making expressions makes my face really sore until I consciously relax my facial muscles.
-I'm definitely more pain/pressure sensitive than most people and this might just be me getting used to things. I'm not sure how long to wait to decide if it's me or the equipment.
I've adjusted the straps so they are as loose as possible to keep the mask in place, but maybe they are too loose. When I have a seal problem, I check my headgear and sometimes the back has crept up, but fixing that doesn't seem to fix the seal at high pressure. I still have to turn the machine off and start over. I'm hesitant to tighten too much, but maybe I need to tighten more.
This is the first mask I've tried and I like it pretty well. I'm not sure why the sealing issue gets worse throughout the night. Is the mask the wrong size? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
