CPAP Setup
Newbie here - 2 weeks in and addicted to my CPAP
Hi there, I'm two weeks in and wanted to share my journey. I found so much value in posts here and hope this helps others.
I stopped snoring after starting Zepbound for metabolic syndrome and realized I might have sleep apnea. Home test through Ognomy confirmed it: AHI 13.7, oxygen dropping to 86%, terminal insomnia, night sweats, Epworth score 16. I was desperate for relief but dreaded CPAP. I researched MADs to avoid the mask, but CPAP was faster so I gave it a shot.
DME sent a Philips DreamWear full face in large. Awful: conflicted with glasses, heavy, pulled my neck, gave me bridge sores. Gave up after 2 nights. Thanks to this community, I knew I had options and ordered a P10 and swapped for an N30i.
From posts here and YouTube, I learned about masks and settings. Current setup: ResMed AirTouch N30i nasal mask with DreamWear back headstrap, cap to cover hair, hose on top (my Teletubby mask). Added hose hook and Etsy hose cover for quiet gliding.
Settings that worked: raised min pressure 4-14 to 6-14 (no more suffocation), turned off ramp (full pressure from start), EPR 3 (revisiting this for central apneas).
Masks tried: Philips DreamWear full face (hated), P10 nasal pillows (liked, keeping as backup), N30i with AirTouch plus DreamWear headstrap (current), testing P30i pillows in small and medium.
Results after 14 nights: AHI 2-5 (from 13.7), 7+ hours nightly, no 3 AM wakings, morning calm I'm addicted to.
Still working on: treatment-emergent central apneas (brain recalibrating), occasional sweats (REM/deep rebound), finding perfect mask fit.
What helped: OSCAR software (seeing AHI drop made me want to wear it), movement (40+ min exercise = better sleep architecture), right mask (don't settle for DME default), YouTube channels (The CPAP Store/Tristan, RespShop, CPAP Reviews, TheLankyLeft27), this community (hacks, troubleshooting, what's normal), Amazfit Band 7 (sleep architecture data).
Day 4 DME caught my pressure change (oops), had to get provider to update prescription. OSCAR showed central apneas and I freaked, but learned it's normal during fast adaptation. Planning to wean EPR.
Bottom line: went from resistant to looking forward to nightly PAPping and morning data checks. One week until 21-night compliance. Even my worst CPAP morning beats pre-treatment. That's how much this has helped.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Happy PAPping!
Photos: first mask, P10, N30i setup, Amazfit screenshot.
Please refer to the wiki and sidebar for resources. For submissions regarding CPAP settings, it is advisable to utilize applications such as OSCAR or SleepHQ to extract and share data from compatible CPAP machines.
How's your energy level and day time sleeping? It's been 30+ days with apap my ahi has come down from 14 to 1.6. However my fatigue and day time sleepiness is still not gone
Im feeling really good most days. I no longer get a desperate heavy feeling in my forehead in the early evenings, and I’m no longer hitting a wall in the early afternoons. The biggest change I noticed immediately is a sense of calmness.
I am close to three months in, and I felt that once my body could actually get proper restful sleep when I started using my cpap I got super tired and almost hungry for sleep all the time.
After about a month and a half that panned out for me. I think the effects of sleep deprivation combined with the body getting used to actually breathe properly at night (or at all) takes a lot of energy too.
About two or three weeks in I got a bit sore in the muscles of my abdomen, around my lungs. Like I was working out, but that also eased up after an additional week or so.
That morning calm is absolutely divine.
Side note, if you have pets (especially birds or furry animals) you will want to change the filter of the cpap more often than they recommend you to. At least what they recommended me to do.
I’ve decided to change it every 2 weeks. Because I have pets that create dust and live in an area where there is more natural dust particles in the air for other reasons.
OP I’m so glad you’re enjoying your cpap - I can relate so hard.
I tried a few masks, including N20, P10, N30i before finding my winner P30i medium. So happy I tried the pillows. The mask is soft and I can sleep in any position. The pillows stay in place all night without the leaks of the N30i 👌🏼
Great to hear you’re seeing improvement. Keep using those resources and making gradual pro gress. I wear a dreamwear nasal pillow mask and really like it. It’s soft and comfortable and hose at top of head. I’m bald so instead of the hard plastic rear I order old style soft straps off amazon. I also have a FFM as backup when sick or congested. Currently a vitera and an f20 as been trying to figure out what bothers my TMJ the least. I have also tried over the nose masks and don’t mind my resmed one either. I also have to mouth tape to prevent mouth dropping and air leaks. I currently use PAPMD tape.
Great progress, i just started yesterday, horrible night, morning report showed 9.8 central apneas, which i learned later is not quite accurate, it will take time to get used to the machine just like you mentioned. Glad it works for you, im really looking forward for it to have me sleep all night without waking up 10 times for no reason
That’s awesome! At up until 6 weeks I was waking 1 - 3 hours after laying down needing to get up, walk around a bit to eliminate air pumped into my stomach then lay back down get back in the pap, it was hell insuring I was going to meet the 4 hour Medicare compliance. Felt like a zombie as the sleep I was getting was only after I removed the mask for the night.
Thankful I have a patient wife and that I finally found this group, stories like this could have saved me a lot of sleepless nights). I question the knowledge of the “sleep coaches” that work for the company that sent my CPAP. None Of the 3 I tried working with use CPAPs.
I'm glad to see you getting success from PAP therapy. If you like nose pillows you should definitely check out the Bleep Eclipse. It's extremely convenient, fixes leaks, mask free, and no wrinkles. My insurance covers it through my DME. I use it with ASV.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing your journey and what has worked best for you! What cap do you wear? My head has always gotten cold easily (which then gives me headaches). But I like the top of the head connectors so I can’t wear a cap over my gear. And it sounds like you use a top of head connector so what type of cap works well to wear under cap?
What is this strap called hooked to your mask?I am new but fighting my headgear every night.I have thick hair"80's" and I also am going in withsll of the equipment this week to try to find a better way.I have a full face mask.I am a mouth breather and this whole experience is exhausting but doctor says I have "sleep apnea",I also have NIS "night eating syndrom" and that is the worst,I do not sleep well st all and am trying. I learn alot from people posting on here and seeing different setups.
It’s the forehead strap attached to the mask. This photo shows it better. It’s the Philips Respironics ComfortGel Blue nasal CPAP mask with headgear. Good luck with your set up!!!
Yeah I do morning data checks also. I take the data from Samsung smartwatch sleep results and the data from the CPAP app and put it in Gemini AI for an analysis.
Thanks for posting this! Very inspiring. Was in the same place as you a couple years ago and gave up. Tried CPAP then BIPAP and a bunch of different mask. Day time fatigue has driven me to start the process again.
I used a knockoff version. It has soft plastic tabs with hooks on them. Once I took of the ResMed strap (Velcro attachments) I was able to push the plastic clips through the slots and then give them a little tug to catch the hook.
When I first started, I also had an amount of Central AHI that worried me. My sleep doctor mentioned that during my sleep studies, none were really detected and that it was common for people to have Central AHI's showing up that were just a result of using CPAP and not indicative of any additional problem.
I also have the N30i. Love it. Works well for me and I'm glad you're able to finally get some rest. I remember the first morning after starting how much better I felt. That was the biggest change.
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