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I'm giving up on the heated tubing. Of course I'm not sure insurance will cover anything else just yet so I may be stuck with it for now. But it's filled with water every night no matter what setting. I'm not overfilling it, only change is maybe room temp but it's driving me crazy. Leaks are awful because of the water in the cushion. The other night I didn't feel the water coming through and I turned off the machine and started to pull the mask off and it poured out all over my head. This is with putting the machine on the floor and hooking the tube up over something also.
I didn't even check but I guess I can try and lower the humidifier setting and keep the heated tubing off so it works just like regular tubing?
I could try the cover but I hate paying OOP for stuff that may or may not be helpful or necessary in the end. I'm trying to see if insurance will at least pay for liners as I do seem to need them to help control the leakage.
Have you tried a mask liner? They are supposed to help with leaks. I couldn't do the full face mask and had a lot more leakage than with a nasal mask, but that was in large part because I can't sleep on my back. With my nasal mask I notice my skin gets oily during the night and creates more leakage. Could it be something like that? If that's the case a liner will help with that as well. For me, I take it off halfway through the night wipe my face down and wipe down the mask and then it's fine the rest of the night.
If both full face masks hurt your face though I'd probably be considering a different type of mask. I've never had that problem with my nasal masks. I'm also a mouth breather and do have to use a chin strap but it's not as bad as you'd think. I got used to it pretty quickly. Is it possible that it's adjusted too tight? I know they say leaks can occur from being too loose or too tight.
I haven't had water in the tube since switching it to automatic climate control either. I was having a bad problem with dry mouth as well, but it's been a bit better since tightening my chin strap and getting it positioned right. My mouth is closed and my teeth can even be touching but my tongue still drops and can allow a lot of air to circulate through my mouth drying it out. No amount of moisture seems to help that, so I just have to position myself and use the chin strap, etc. in a way to minimize this. I have found I definitely can't lay on my back, for example, or it gets extremely bad. It still gets a little dried out once or twice a night but I keep water next to my CPAP and take a sip and go back to sleep. Others have suggested using a mouth guard of sorts to fill in the gaps. I haven't tried it since I did have some improvement, but it sounds like a good idea.
Really? When they gave me this machine one of the only things they told me was to make sure if the humidifier is on that there is always water in it. That if it was empty the humidifier has to be turned off or it will do something to wreck the heating plate. I can't remember her exact words. Wouldn't be the first time I've had inaccurate advice from a doctor's office though. Thanks!
Have you had your machine checked out? I had one that wasn't old by any stretch but stopped providing appropriate pressure. The machine was showing it was blowing air at a certain pressure but when tested it was far below what it was reading.
I'm also having an overnight study done soon because my doctor wants to make sure my AHI readings are correct. Which would seem to indicate that it's possible the readings can be wrong. Do you feel like you are having that many apneas? I know some people don't notice even when they have severe apnea but others do. Do you feel any difference since these readings changed?
Leakage has definitely been an issue on and off, but the water usage still seems to be a lot even on the nights when my score for leaks is showing up at a perfect 20. Last night, I put it on auto climate control and I didn't see any water in the line. My throat was a tad dry but I've got a little cold so that may be why. But I had the water filled to the max line (on a Resmed Airsense 10) and after 7 1/2 hours of usage the water is below the bottom line and just barely covering the bottom of the water reservoir. My leakage rate wasn't bad at all at an 18. So unless the readings are wrong leakage doesn't seem to be the reason. Or at least not the only reason.
I'll keep using the auto control for now and see if it's enough moisture for me. Considering how much water it's using I would think it has to be.
Thanks!
Hmm, well I tried looping the tube up over something and 5 hours into sleep last night water was spraying into my mask still. I increased the temp 1 degree each of the three nights hoping that would help but no luck. I don't get it, this was recommended as a way to help increase my moisture without the rain out and it's been worse with this tubing than the non heated tubing. The room is cool, but not cold. No AC on as the temp is dropping at night but it hasn't been cold enough to need to turn the heat on or anything.
I definitely always keep the water below the max line. But it uses up a lot of water so I have to fill it pretty close or it would be empty in the morning. I use my CPAP for as much as 10 hours some nights. This is so frustrating.
I switched over to a heated tubing hoping I could increase the moisture level a little without causing rain out. Well last night was my first night and I raised the humidity level just one point and woke almost 4 hours later with a tremendous amount of water in the tubing.
I had read to set the temp 78-82 so I only had it at 78 since I hate the idea of warm air blowing on me. There is also an auto setting but I wasn't sure how well to expect that to work. Does it take some adjusting normally to figure out the right temp?
I read a tip to put the CPAP on the floor so the water doesn't come up the tubing so I may try that also.
Any other useful tips to keep me from waking with a mask and tube full of water again?
I used to have to tape my mouth closed just because even with the use of a chin strap air was still escaping and it would whistle or my lips would motorboat and both would wake me up. I guess the concern over the safety is what if your machine stops working during the night and you don't wake up. Considering how lightly I sleep and how everything wakes me up I tend to doubt that would happen to me but it made me slightly nervous.
I got a different chin strap this time that is much wider so the air escaping my mouth doesn't seem to be as bad. My AHI numbers were okay either way but my leakage rate is high so I'm not sure if that effects the accuracy. They just ordered a home study so I guess we will see. I considered trying the tape again and see if my leakage rate is better. At least then I could figure out where the leaks are happening.
I hope it continues to safely work for you.
Are you new to using a CPAP? I found I struggled with this at the start but it got better after the first few weeks. It's caused by swallowing air. Once I adjusted to the machine it seemed to mostly go away but occasionally it still happens to me. Like last night when I was stuffy with some post nasal drip it was bad again. Perhaps in part because I'm swallowing more with the post nasal drip but also I suspect from the pressure increasing because my nose was stuffy. They say a chin strap can help which I use. I also find it's worse when I sleep on my back so I try to avoid that. I also find it helps to take a GasX in the morning when it happens.
