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Sleep apnea never let's me sleep and cpap not working can someone please help

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becca17 +0 points · over 1 year ago Original Poster

Hi I really hope someone can help My sleep apnea causes me to jerk awake every single time I fall asleep. I haven't slept more than 4 hours a night for months. I have an auto cpap machine and it doesn't work?? I still just jerk awake, either seemingly from an apnea, or a few times it's been from the burst of air from the machine. I've also tried turning it to the cpap setting and every time I jerked awake I would turn the pressure up until it was at the absolute highest and still didn't seem to stop the apnea. I am really losing hope. I dont know what my pressure is as I bought the machine. I've done a sleep study on NHS but they won't give me the results and are saying it will be months. So I'm hoping someone who knows more about cpap might know or has been through the same thing? I worry that auto just isn't for me but I don't know what to set it to. I also saw that it could be due to the comfort setting? I turned it to 3 as I found the cpap really over whelming to wear at first. Sorry for the long story but I just wanted to try and be clear. I would be so grateful if anyone had any advice. I am so low because of this I just never sleep at all Thank you

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Sierra +0 points · over 1 year ago Sleep Patron

It sounds like you have a ResMed AutoSet 10 or 11? Is that correct? . If so one of the best things you can do is download OSCAR and view the detailed data collected by the machine. You will need a PC or Mac and a SD card reader. Once you have some data you can post the daily report here for comments.

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becca17 +0 points · over 1 year ago Original Poster

Ok I will look into this, yeah I have a resmed auto 10 I know my machine has an sd card but couldn't figure out how to use it I was trying to fit it into my laptop! So you need an actual reader? Thank you so much for replying I greatly appreciate it!

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Sierra +0 points · over 1 year ago Sleep Patron

The SD card is the standard HC, not the tiny micro or mini one. If you have a card reader that takes the standard HC card in your laptop it should work. If you don't have a SD card reader in your laptop or computer you can buy a small portable reader that fits into your USB port for $10 or less. As long as you have had the card in your machine all the data since you started using it (up to about a year) should be still on it.

This is the kind of information you can get from it. This shows the period of time while going to sleep. There is a short apnea event which was not flagged, and then a longer one that is flagged as an OA or Obstructive Apnea even. The first step would be to find out if you are having apnea events, and if so what type they are.

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raysmith45 +0 points · over 1 year ago

I also have a ResMed Auto 10, I use nose pillows. I struggled with it at first as the Rx I had (10-13 cmH2O) was too high and I kept getting 'blow-by' (air blowing out my mouth). Do you have a Rx from your Doctor? As I said my Rx was too high and I ended up experimenting with CPAP settings until I finally found a comfortable setting for me 6.4cmH2O. I use Speepy Head software which is very similar to Oscar which provided me with valuable feedback on my sleep sessions.

https://www.resmed.com/en-us/healthcare-professional/products-and-support/devices/airsense-10-autoset/#support

Try to find your Rx, and input that into your machine. Google 'How to set Pressure on the ResMed Auto Set 10'. I wish you success, Good Luck.

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Sierra +1 point · over 1 year ago Sleep Patron

In general it is good to use as low a pressure as possible as long as the AHI targets are being met. I have also found that a fixed CPAP pressure is more effective for me than running my AirSense 10 AutoSet in Automatic mode. At some point however, less pressure can be less comfortable than a higher pressure, so it is kind of a balance. Also when having issues, if they are obstructive, while going to sleep a higher ramp start pressure can be effective.

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raysmith45 +0 points · over 1 year ago

One thing that helped me immensely was raising my head and shoulders for sleeping. One of the causes for sleep interruption is the tongue dropping and blocking the air passage. I slept with a 'tower' of 4 pillows and that helped, I eventually got a foam wedge which I placed under my pillow and that worked. Sleeping in a recliner or an adjustable bed works also in raising the head. I hope you have success in resolving this problem.

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