Sierra

I have the ResMed AirSense A10 AutoSet. I started out in Auto mode, and after I found out what pressure works best for me, I switched it to fixed pressure mode. My wife has a S9 and still runs it in Auto mode. I think for people who have significant central apnea a fixed pressure may work better than an auto pressure machine. The auto pressure can get carried away and take the pressure too high which causes even more central apnea. I suffer from central apnea, but my wife does not.

The one nice feature of the A10 is the AutoRamp. It holds a fixed pressure until you go to sleep instead of actually ramping it up slowly for a fixed length of time.

Not sure where you are, but in Canada ResMed just increased prices drastically. The price of an A10 has gone from about $800 to $1200. Not sure about the price change in the US. It used to be after exchange the US prices were more than in Canada.

Not getting a good sleep when first getting used to a CPAP is somewhat normal. Very few just put the mask on and go right to getting a restful sleep each night.

As far as the machine goes, here are a few tips that I have found helpful:

1. Use the heated hose and leave humidly control in auto with the temperature set at 27 C.
2. About 15 minutes before bed scroll down to near the bottom of the menu and put the machine in Warm Up mode. It warms the water so you will get good humidity right away.
3. Make sure your ramp start pressure is high enough. I would suggest a minimum of about 7 cm. If the pressure is too low it can be somewhat suffocating.
4. Use the Auto Ramp feature so the pressure stays constant until you go to sleep.
5. Set the EPR at 3 and for Ramp Only. That will reduce pressure on exhale by 3 cm. So if you set your minimum pressure at 7 cm, it will cycle between 7 cm on inhale (more pressure on inhale makes breathing easier), and 4 cm on exhale (less pressure is easier). The reason for Ramp Only is that reducing pressure on exhale reduces the effectiveness of the machine, and it is best to use it just for comfort when going to sleep. After you go to sleep you will not notice that extra pressure on exhale.

Hope that helps some. It takes some time to get used to a CPAP. Not sure of the specific impact on REM sleep as I don't monitor that. You can get a lot of help if you download SleepyHead and monitor your sleep data with a PC or Mac. You need a SD card reader to transfer the data from your machine to your computer.

The Swift FX mask has fabric strap covers that you can buy as an option to fit over the mask straps. As I mentioned in the other thread 1% OTC hydrocortisone cream can help too when used for a short time.

SoClean uses ozone to do the cleaning. It is a pretty active oxidizer and will attack a lot of stuff, but I would think silicone is very resistant to it. It may be some oxide that forms when the ozone combines with something. I would try going without using the SoClean for a week or two. I find 1% hydrocortisone cream to be quite effective in clearing up mask irritation. You should not use it for more than a week or so though. And, I put it on in the morning, not at night before putting on the mask.

Yes, with that AHI and those oxygen numbers you do need to seek treatment on a priority basis.

I have used the P10 and while I find that my scalp can become itchy during the night with the mask on, I have never noticed it the next day. I normally take a shower and shampoo right after getting up, and use conditioner.

My main problem with the P10 was keeping it on my head and tight enough. I finally replaced the headgear part on with one from a Swift FX. It is much more secure, but the back strap still does slip up occasionally during the night. I probably need a further modification. Here is a post I made on the headgear modification.

As I said I do not use MyAir, and am guessing a bit. From what I see in SleepyHead I am thinking it is just a session count. If you look at the screenshot below I took from my wife's data when she was having some issues with her mask hose coming apart, you can see the session data in the bottom left. It lists the start and stop time of each "session" during the night. SleepyHead gives you the option with the little switch to the left of each session to turn it on (green) or off (red). This is helpful if you have the mask on for testing the seal or something and don't want to display that part in the graphs. For that night of my wife's she had 4 sessions, each with a start and end time. I take it if those results were displayed in MyAir it would show 4 on-off events. Quite crude compared to SleepyHead, but I guess it does remind you how many times you either got up for a P or had mask issues...

I responded in your other thread.

I use a ResMed AirSense 10 machine, but do not use the MyAir feature. However this would be my guess as to what it is reporting.

The first Events reading shown as 2.4 events per hour (AHI) in this example is the total obstructive apneas, obstructive apneas, and hypopneas divided by the number of hours the machine was on. The general goal is to be under 5 AHI.

The second Events I think just shows how many sleep sessions there were during the night. The machine records each sleep session separately and totals the events for the AHI reading. I am assuming one on off event would be if you just put the machine on, slept through the night, and took it off in the morning. In the example above it shows 2 events, which would suggest the machine was off once during the night, so there are two sleep sessions.

My preference is to use SleepyHead to display the detailed data. It gives you much more information than MyAir does.

The AirSense 10 machine also can also display a more detailed report if it is set up to do so. If you are interested, I can tell you how to set it up.

I presume you are using the humidifier and the heated hose with the settings in Auto? If you are not using the heated hose, you might gain some comfort by using one.

The dry mouth makes me wonder if you are opening your mouth during the night allowing air to leak out? The best way to determine that is to download SleepyHead and view your detailed data on a computer. Areas where the leakage flow is high with a flat top indicates mouth leakage. Some of us use mouth taping to stop the mouth leak issue.