Hello all. My apologies for the length of this first post, but I’m dealing with some odd issues that have caused me to not get a decent night’s sleep in about a week, and I’m approaching desperation here. I’ve been on CPAP therapy for over 15 years, and currently using an Airsense 10 machine and an AirFit P10 (pillows) mask. Traditionally, I’ve never used the humidifier option – never felt the need.
In the past few weeks, I’ve experienced two issues and not sure if they’re related:
1) Condensation in my mask. I keep my bedroom fairly cold, so have always used a “sock” for my tubing. Heretofore, never had much of an issue. But in the past few weeks, I’m noticing a pattern where I first get some whistling/wheezing from (I think) the screen filter, which then turns into a “gurgling” sound, and then I get condensation dropping from the pillows, into my nose, etc. Feels like I’m being waterboarded.
2) I’ve never had breathing issues with using masks or pillows of any type, but when this other issue started I found myself having problems (again, I think) breathing out. My intake seemed OK, but I felt like I really had to push to exhale, to a point where I’ve been opening my mouth and sucking in a big gulp of air two or three times every few minutes.
So I had an appointment with my hardware tech folks, and was given a new heated tube (it has a copper wire throughout the length, and allows you to adjust the temp on the machine options). I was told that the tubing was more effective than the sock, BUT that I had to use the humidifier option. I didn’t quite understand the reasoning, but put a small amount of water in the reservoir, and set the humidity at 1.
After one night, the whistle-wheeze-gurgle-waterboard and breathing issues were still present, but less of a problem.
So I wonder:
1) If the screen filter on my mask in fine enough to capture water droplets and cause the breathing issue. (I clean the mask on a regular basis with warm water and soap.)
2) What harm could be done of if I used the copper tubing without putting water in the reservoir.
Any help/advice is appreciated, and again, sorry for the lengthy first post.
