Sierra

As BUG said, is there any chance there is moisture collecting in the hose? It is probably not a good idea to have a loop in the hose so that water cannot drain out of it. A heated hose usually prevents any moisture build up. The only time I got significant moisture in the tube was when I moved the machine when the humidifier was full of water and some must have leaked into the hose. That was a bit of an experience!

There is a filter on the machine that is to be changed periodically, but that is not a likely cause.

Yes, I had forgotten about that. There is a short time window that antiviral drugs can be given.

That would be ugly! I am just hoping my shingles vaccination works...

My thoughts are that weight loss may be the only possible route to reduce obstructive sleep apnea. However, if the issue is central apnea there are a few things that may be causing it. Weight would not likely be one of them. And I noted that you said weight was not an issue. The first step would be to find out what your relative amounts of obstructive and central apnea is. OSCAR can do that, but you may be able to get it from your machine as well. What machine do you have?

On masks I have gone from a ResMed AirFit P10 nasal pillow, to a Mirage Quattro full face, to a ResMed AirFit F20 full face, to a F&P Brevida nasal pillow, to a ResMed Swift FX nasal pillow, and now finally settled on where I started with a P10 nasal pillow. I also suffered from opening my mouth when sleeping, and tried every kind of chin strap that is made. Some did work to a degree, but I found them too uncomfortable to sleep well with. My final solution was to use mouth taping to keep my mouth shut. Have a look at this video by a dentist about the benefits of mouth taping. It really works well for me. No chinstraps to annoy me, and I can use the very comfortable P10 nasal pillow mask. I just could not get the full face masks to seal for me and the leaks kept waking me up.

Mouth Taping for a Better Sleep

I see in an older post you talked about using SleepyHead. Did you ever do it? The current version is now OSCAR. It really does give you the best idea what is going on when you are sleeping.

No personal experience, but here is what the Mayo Clinic has to say about it.

Have you used SleepyHead, now OSCAR to track your detailed data? It can be very helpful in determining if there are improvement opportunities in the machine pressure setup. The software is free, but it needs a PC or MAC with a SD card reader to transfer the data.

OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter

Yes, the ResMed machine does not make it easy to do a restart of the ramp. However it does have some nice features that I find convenient and comfortable. Here is a link to a more technical manual that the basic user guide.

AirSense 10 Technical Manual

Here is how I set my machine for comfort and convenience. If you refer to page 14 on how to get into the Settings Menu, and then page 15 for the settings menu table. I will assume for an example your minimum pressure is 9 and the max is 15 cm. Go down to the comfort section.

Ramp Time - I set it to Auto. This will hold the initial pressure until you fall asleep instead of ramping it up over a fixed time period. I find that to me more comfortable.

Start Pressure - I would set it to 7 cm. If you feel short of air, then set it a little higher, but you can't set it higher than your minimum pressure.

EPR - I would turn it on. This will reduce pressure on exhale.

EPR Type - I find that to minimize pressure during the treatment part of the night, I set it to Ramp Only. This reduced pressure on exhale only during the ramp period for comfort. Also the EPR reduces the effectiveness of the treatment pressure, so the overall pressure is likely to be less when it is turned off during treatment.

EPR Level - I set at 3 cm. If the Start Pressure is 7 cm then it will cut back to 4 on exhale during the ramp.

Climate Control - should default to Auto if you have a heated hose.

Tube Temp - Set to 27 C or 81 F.

When I am starting to get ready for bed, I scroll down the user menu and turn on the prewarm function. It warms up the water and is more comfortable going to sleep.

Hope that helps some. Any questions just ask.

Michelle, the quick answer is that you have to shut the machine off with the button on the top, and take the mask off for about a minute to get it to go into start mode again. I will give you a more detailed answer in a bit.

Normally obstructive apnea is corrected or stopped with the EPAP pressure. It looks to me that your 95% level for EPAP is just 6.28 cm. That is very low. The higher IPAP pressure can help you breath in, but really will not stop obstructive apnea. The issue is that it can cause CA events.