Hi, My mom (around 70) is using the ResMed Airsense 10 autoset for Her for 4 months. i have set the humidity level to 8, ramp time is auto, full face mask, but she still has problem with nose congestion in the morning, her average usage hour per night is 5.5 hours. I also purchased the over the counter nasal spray wash and let her use before treatment. Please let me know any suggestion. The supplier recommended to change to the heated tube (ClimateLineAir heated air tubing), is it helpful?
Also she is still not used to wear the mask all night, take off when woke up around 2-3 am. Any suggestion? thanks a lot
The heated tube is probably worth a shot. It makes the humidifier more efficient by preventing rain out (condensation due the air cooling as it passes along the tube from the machine to the mask). A quick browse online tells me that it is expensive. If your supplier wants more than $70 I'd think about getting it online as I saw prices for around $50 - $70. Just make sure it's the ClimateLineAir for the AirSense 10 (stuipid ResMed capitalisation), beyond that you just plug it in. Bear in mind that at 70 years of age, 5.5 hours/night after only just 4 months is pretty good. A whole night would obviously be better, but that will still significantly benefit her health. Also, check for mask leaks as they tend to reduce the effectiveness of humidification.
Hi sleeptech, when you said "7- years of age, 5.5 hours/night after only just 4 months is pretty good. ", from you experience, what is the average usage hour is this group of people for initial use, and how long do normally take the patient to get used to , or they may never be able to. I am trying to understand how is the progress. thanks again
You may note I corrected my previous entry fro m"7-" to "70". Typing is not my strongest suit.
I couldn't really say what a typical level of usage for a 70 year old is because it's so individual. The reason I say that 5.5 hours/night is "pretty good" is that I have seen so many people of that age do a lot worse. Older people can be, somewhat unsurprisingly, more challenging to get used to therapy. 5.5 hours/night should be enough for her to receive some benefit to her health. If she remained at that level, overall I'd still call it a win. Hopefully she will gradually get more used to it over time. This can take many months for some people (just look at this site for some examples). Be encouraged that you are doing a good job so far. The best thing you can do is focus the areas she is struggling with and do your best to address them. Because every person is different there is no one magical cure-all for CPAP compliance (again, see the rest of this site). It's also worth remembering that, all other factors aside, your biological need for sleep decreases with time. At 70 it is probably something like 7 hours per night roughly speaking, possibly less.