BrightSpringbudSandpiper5105

I found that scentless baby wipes to wipe the cushion and the inside of the mask out are easier than daily washing, then wash weekly. I also use the same baby wipe after wiping the mask and cushion and head rest (just before going to bed) on my face around the places where the cushion and head rest makes contact (a little bit like how my wife cleans off the makeup daily before she goes to sleep). One baby wipe each night and the packet of 80 lasts nearly 3 months. Cheap and easy.

Seems to make my face and mask contact feel cleaner as I go to bed.

Doesn't seem to affect the cushion. Think I learnt the trick at one of the machine suppliers, she cleaned my mask one time in front of me before connecting it to my face. It never occurred to me to use a baby wipe and isn't mentioned on forums but it is simple and effective. Up until that time I always did it the hard way.

My doctors said not in the early days. I rarely see a doctor about it and only once in the last 5 years.

I have always believed that my APAP machine is dealing with the apneas whatever the numbers that happen and that if I stopped I would revert to my natural severe apnea. I stopped thinking about it for many years. If the machine is working then the impacts of the apnea itself should be being dealt with as needed. To me an APAP is doing all the monitoring and adjusting for you.

I review my stats now only every couple of years and/or if I have a really bad week to see what was happening. It seems to be more under control these days and I have been at it for 10 years. If you have daytime sleepiness after 8 months then may be worth keeping in touch with doctor. I tend to think that APAPs are better than doctors, as the machine reacts as necessary. (could be deluding myself there of course) If you are CPAP try APAP and see if it works better. Doctors seem to only echo try whatever makes you feel better.

My brother swears by CPAP but I prefer Auto PAP. If you need higher settings it does it. The fact that it runs at the lowest setting that is doing what is needed is what I like about APAP. At the moment I am good, it runs low and very quietly. But if for any reason that changes APAP ramps it up as is needed.

Not gluten related but if I experience heartburn (which I used to alot because of a chronic condition called Barretts esophagus) I do think I have more apneas. I have only anecdotal experience. I've always taken it for granted that anything that makes sleeping physically worse (including back pain) can lead to more apneas. May be a figment of my imagination.

CPAP/APAP is the more likely suggested solution in Australia but it seems to me that whether it is CPAP or APAP depends on the individual themselves.

I don't recall the specialists having a view about APAP or CPAP. Most APAP's can be set like a CPAP if you find the auto settings don't actually work well for you so my suggestion would be try APAP as I reckon it has to be better for your partner (less noise). Not sure which is more common one but I have always used APAP and one of my older brothers has always used CPAP and the other APAP. We never discussed apnea with each other we just set ourselves up independently after a sleep study. I think the Brother that is CPAP has higher settings 13 and maybe his doctor advised CPAP, he refuses to try my older APAP. Habit and personal preference seem to be the main driver. Once you are used to whatever you use it seems you will find it hard to change. Like Wiscrman I use it even when I nap (which is fairly rare)

I find that my APAP sits most of the night at the minimum 4 and only kicks in up to about 9 to 10 nearly 2 to 3 hours into sleep. My new Autosense 10 and its ramp up features seem to be the best I have experienced and my wife swears it is much quieter than the S9.

You deal with it as best you can so make hay while the sun shines. No use worrying about something you can't influence.

Whilst Australia has Medicare (a much more comprehensive form of universal healthcare than anything Obamacare promised, which by the way is not at all controversial here in Australia), and those who can afford it also have private insurance which gives more flexibility, the insurers don't really cover apnea here in Oz. Machines cost twice as much as they do in the USA and insurers only cover about 25% of the machines (every 3 years) and nothing towards masks etc. Whereas you guys change masks and the cushions regularly because they are covered by insurance we make them last because they are not. I change cushions about every 6 months and whole masks about every 2 years unless they truly wear out beforehand.

So being an apnea sufferer is more or less self funded in Australia.

I think not. I am a 10 year user but I mostly use a nasal mask now but for my first 3 years it was mostly a full face mask. The next few I used a full mask for 4 days out of every week because my nasal passages got too blocked up and I needed to breath through my mouth. I have never experienced a pop when I open my mouth with the full face mask. I only experience pops when either my nasal or full face mask is pushed aside whilst sleeping on my side and sometimes when I open my mouth whilst lying on my back (which I now do sometimes)

I tried a chin strap for a while 2 or 3 years ago because my wife said I was now opening my mouth and the air was coming out of my mouth. It didn't work for me so I reverted to a full face mask which solves that problem.

I am also mostly a side sleeper and sometimes it shifts the mask when I roll over on my left and I get woken up. Maybe not so much a popping as a fluttering sound.

I have always used Autoset (APAP) starting with an s8. I now have a S10. I am suspicious that having the upper limit at 20 is a problem when you accidentally move the mask with your head buried into the pillow it forces air out at high pressure and cause a bit of a pop. It seems to me it even "blows" you mouth open if the pressure comes on too high. If your sleep study doesn't require such a high setting as 20 dial it down just above what your study said you need say to 15 for instance. I think the pops and blow outs reduce when you displace the mask at the lower setting and you may not wake. With the Autosense 10 on all auto settings I also think it will sense when there is a big leak. But they all blast to the max if there is a leak and its harder to keep the seal at the higher pressure. My wife says it even forces the air out through your lips.

I also suspect that if you have a nasal mask and open your mouth APAP may suddenly blast up to the much higher setting (treating it as a leak) and this is likely to cause a popping sensation too, so dialing down the upper limit may reduce the popping.

My view of APAP is that you need to adjust occasionally and even mix it up because just when you have conquered one bad habit you develop another. In the middle years I found swapping between a nasal and a full face mask every 3 to 4 days solved some problems.

I like the auto ramp on the Autosense 10 and whilst it is default 4 start try slightly higher starting pressure (5 instead of 4 or even 6 and see if that works). I used 5 on my S8 and a longer ramp up as the slightly higher start pressure built the habit of closing the nasal passage into the mouth. If it doesn't work then change back to 4.

I also had to train myself to sleep more side on (instead of burying my face in the pillow which was my natural side on) I shoved a pillow between my knees for a few months and it kept me straighter reducing the mask shifting and popping stuff.

Experiment until you find the best variants.

John

I uploaded my SD card from my Airsense 10 yesterday (Feb 2017) and it works fine with Sleepyhead, as did my S9 and even my S8. Gives much greater detail than what you get from the auto uploaded reports to "myair"

I bought my Resmed Airsense 10 in the USA 4 weeks ago. I was using my older s8 whilst travelling. The S10 model worked fine with the USA CDMA phone system and fed the info back to "MYAir" which seems to me useful for early users who need some feedback and motivation. Gives good tips and encouragement. You could get cynical about big brother but many people need feedback to know that it is working. The s10 machine is better than the s9 and the s8. It brings back the auto start feature which I had in the s8 and for some reason they ditched from the s9. The automatic ramp feature and the more automated features of the S10 are fantastic. The s10 is also quieter (= more quiet). I suspect that the auto function on the humidifier is also better than the s9 so I rate the s10 as a great improvement.

Whilst I need a "Wi Fi" version to use myair in Australia I couldn't care less, I am not worried about "big brother" aspects of it auto connecting, but if I was I wouldn't have to worry here in Australia as it can't. Even if you have the wifi model you have to connect it through your home wifi (not the telephone system) so it won't auto connect over here. Myair gave pretty basic info and Sleepyhead is much better.

See my other post, when uploading my info I found out my apnea was better whilst in the USA by a long way. I lost 45pounds 2 years ago and expected to see an improvement in my apnea; not so, not one jot of a difference so for me weight it not the cause or part of the solution. When I had my sleep study I was in the severe category, not mild or moderate. So to see my stats from the USA was a huge surprise.

• That is: see my other post whilst in the USA my apnea was so mild as to almost have disappeared and that intrigues me. My sleepy head data was so dramatically better in the USA that I am beginning to think that there may be other factors at play. Say environmental. It was not the machine, I can say that I was so quiet in the USA that my wife is already a huge fan of the Airsense 10. What she doesn't know is that it was especially quiet because I had so very few apnea events and the machine barely kicked on except for one night in the US and still that was half the stats of the lowest day when I got back to Australia

And finally, US apnea equipment (including ResMed) and accessories are half the cost as they are in Australia (adjusted for exchange rate) which is really odd given ResMed is an Australian company. They also stop you buying ResMed from US online in Australia. Can't stop you though if you are in the USA at the time. The S10 costs USD1,500 in Australia, the masks and everything are also twice as expensive.

There are good news stories. Give it a real go.

I feel that APAP has been successful more or less from day 1 for me. I have probably used the machine nearly every day for 10 years, may have missed less than 7 days in total in all that time. Only time machine doesn't work is if I get a cold, have a severe hangover (which blocks up my nose) and hayfever. I can tell it does work.

I have been using CPAP/APAP for 10 years from early 40's. I never felt tired up until when I had my sleep test, I only went in for testing because my wife said I was stopping breathing at night and my snoring was driving her nuts. One of my brothers had been diagnosed with apnea and it was said it tends to be a genetic thing. The test showed I was at the low end of the severe end of the apnea scale (not moderate). Surprised the hell out of me. I therefore suspect apnea sometimes comes on gradually in a way that you don't realise a decrease in brain function or other symptoms. My brother had been dozing and falling asleep, it was obvious and quite serious. I never fell asleep during the day and I slept well at night (so I thought).

I had noted I slept longer and woke up a bit more tired unless I got some extra hours sleep but I wasn't falling asleep or anything. I put the needing a sleep in on the weekdend down to getting older. I used machine and within 1 to 2 weeks I noticed my brain switched on as soon as I woke up just like it had when I was younger. I used to bounce out of bed an early bird in my teens and twenties. So for me the real symptom was reduced brain function especially in the early morning and the need to go to bed earlier at night.

Other than I am getting older my brain is fully alert when I wake up each day since I used APAP. I can really tell the difference if the machine hadn't worked over night (mask pushed off face, nose totally blocked up etc). It definitely solved the snoring.

Have no idea if it helps prevent other health issues but I continue to sleep well, not snore, and consider it a successful strategy. Latest machine is also an improvement in quietness and comfort compared to the one of 10 years ago.

I am a fan, it is worth persisting with.

I have been using Autopap for 10 years. My wife and I had noticed that when I went to Lorne (Victorian Coastal town) each year my apnea seemed better we wondered if there was something in our bedroom that made it worse (eg mould spores, dust mites, or something like that). I recently had a holiday in the US, bought a new Resmed Autosense 10 whilst I was over there. Just downloaded the last 2 weeks of data and was surprised to see that AHI was 0.1 to 0.4 for a week in US and since being Back it has been around 1.1. I think my AHI has been higher in the past but have forgotten and can't find my years of usage data that I had on a computer 2 years ago. New machine is quiet and great (had a S9, but was using my older S8 whilst travelling in the US until I bought the latest one).

I do get blocked nasal passages (and use Rhinocourt which I also think is more required in Australia)

I haven't found anything online that suggests there are environmental factors for Apnea but I am beginning to think that if I am allergic to something that blocks my nasal passages that makes my apnea much worse and causes my APAP to crank up more during the night.

Has anyone heard of this or can point me to data and/or suggestions on what it could be. EG mites, dust, wool, pillow etc etc.

I haven't noticed any improvement in the bedroom despite new carpet, new bed and new pillows over the most recent years. Any thoughts or suggestions?