Sierra

Welcome to the forum. First with your basic question. Is CPAP dangerous, I would suggest no. There can be some adverse effects but they are usually temporary and in the minor irritation category, not dangerous. From the AirSense manual there are some listed Adverse effects.'

*Adverse effects

Patients should report unusual chest pain, severe headache, or increased breathlessness to their prescribing physician. An acute upper respiratory tract infection may require temporary discontinuation of treatment.

The following side effects may arise during the course of therapy with the device:

• drying of the nose, mouth, or throat
• nosebleed
• bloating
• ear or sinus discomfort
• eye irritation
• skin rashes*

I am not a medical professional and can't give you medical advice. However one of the things I have learned from others is that your diagnosis symptoms could indicate you have Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (URAS). Those signs would be your age, weight, almost no obstructive apnea, and higher hypopnea and RERA events. CPAP can be an effective treatment for this. If you have the standard AutoSet machine, and are not locked into it, you may want to ask your sleep clinic if you could instead use the AutoSet For Her version. It may do a better and more comfortable job of treating UARS. If it doesn't then it can be set back to the standard mode without switching the machine.

On your fear of using the device, I would suggest you do a few things. Try using it while watching TV or reading a book until you get used to it. There are some comfort settings on the AirSense 10 that are very helpful if they have not been set up for you. If you are interested in what they are, post back, and I can tell you more about it.

Hope that helps some. Post back for more help.

I recently stumbled on this paper from ResMed which does a deep dive into the differences in the For Her algorithm in their AutoSet For Her model. Interestingly it is optimized for those who may suffer more from UARS and less from obstructive apnea, and may be quite effective for UARS regardless of sex. The mode is optional and you can still set the machine to standard AutoSet mode.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Women: Specific Issues and Interventions

I recently stumbled onto a ResMed paper on their AutoSet for Her algorithm. Interestingly it has been designed to address a number of factors including that women typically suffer less from obstructive apnea, and more from upper airway resistance. As a result this mode has been optimized for those differences. It would seem to me if you go down the APAP road this model could offer some significant benefits for someone suffering from UARS, regardless of sex. The machine still has the standard AutoSet mode available for use, it you find out the For Her mode does not work for you, or you eventually need more pressure. The only permanent downside to the For Her version might be the appearance of the box, if that bothers you.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Women: Specific Issues and Interventions

Yes, that is my interpretation too. You either set the machine to the AutoSet mode and it behave like a standard AutoSet machine, or you set it to AutoSet For Her, and it uses the special For Her algorithm. I recently discovered that there is another mode available on both machines, that is not described in the Clinical Manual. It is a response setting that can be set to normal or to soft. The soft setting is not the For Her algorithm, but only slows the pressure response to events.

If you want to do a deeper dive into how the For Her algorithm differs from the standard one here is a link to a paper written by ResMed. While it focuses on differences between men and women, I still think that men can have some of the same issues, and the mode may be beneficial to them too, if their pressure requirements are not too high. For example Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome can be an issue in men too, and this mode may provide benefits for UARS sufferers male of female.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Women: Specific Issues and Interventions

Welcome to the forum.

The invasive test you talk about may be called Esophageal Pressure Measurement. On a quick check I think it is essentially putting a pressure measurement device down you airway so they can measure the pressure drop in the airway (airway resistance). Sounds a bit rough, and for that reason very few labs do it.

Here is a link to an article that proposes an alternate way to diagnose UARS. It is quite simple. They just use a standard CPAP titration test. That is the test that is normally done when you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and they want to find out what pressure your CPAP needs to be set at. It is quite necessary for a fixed pressure CPAP, and not so necessary for an auto machine. Their postulation was that if the auto titration came back with a pressure of no more than 4 cm, then you do not have UARS. It it is higher then you have it, and you also know what pressure is needed to treat it. Not real hi tech, but it sounds like it works. In the study group they tried it on, which was already pre screened to be candidates that most likely had UARS and no apnea, the average pressure from titration was 7 cm.

The practical problem remains however that unless you are diagnosed with apnea (AHI >5) from the sleep test, they are not going to want to pay for a titration test. Catch 22. And if you are forced to pay for the test, then it is probably cheaper to just by the CPAP machine and test yourself...

I have tried two different nasal pillow masks, the ResMed P10, and the F&P Brevida. They both caused irritation of my nose. What I learned is that discomfort seems to be minimized if you use the largest cushion size that does not leak. You want to have the mask seal on the bottom of the nose, not inside the nose. Cushions that are too small go too far into the nose. That said they initially still cause irritation. I have found that when getting used to a new mask I can expedite the "break-in" process by putting some over the counter 1% hydrocortisone cream in the morning on the exterior surface of the nose where the irritation is. The cream should not be used long term, and just long enough to get the nose used to the mask.

I would be suspicious if you are hearing P10 mask noise over the machine noise. I cannot hear mine (using the Large cushion size). Depending on my head/hand position I can feel the air flow especially on my hands and that does bug me sometimes, but never by the noise.

I was aware of this, and considering I bought and paid for my own machine, I find it an invasion of privacy that anyone would steal my CPAP data for any reason. To that end I did a bit of research on how to disable this feature on the ResMed AirSense 10 machines. There is a simple method, but with an ongoing annoyance factor. Simply go to the User Setup Menu and set Airplane Mode to On. But, then the machine will keep bugging you to turn the airplane mode off. If that does not bother you, then you have a solution.

There is a more permanent hardware hack that I found with a Google search. However, it requires digging into the machine to a degree I was not comfortable with for warranty purposes.

In the end I rationalized that since I don't have an insurance company, and I have not signed up for MyAir, I really could care less that they get my data. My suspicion is that they are swamped with data, and have no idea what to do with it. Today I am much more concerned about our Canadian government that thinks it is perfectly fine to hack into my bank account and credit card data and effectively steal my personal financial information without my permission. That does have negative impacts on my blood pressure!!!

Welcome to the forum. I do not know anything about these devices, but I have been able to address my insomnia issues using many of the tips provided on the website link below. One of my main issues was trying to sleep too long. Now I try to restrict sleep to 7-8 hours a night. If I can't sleep I get out of bed, and really try to avoid being in bed if I am not sleeping. I also really try to avoid napping during the day. I do not try to sleep longer one night to "catch up" for sleep lost the previous night. I focus on recovering by improving sleep quality not by sleeping longer.

In any case this site was established by a Canadian pharmacist and university professor. His view was that there were too many detrimental health effects in using medication to treat insomnia, especially in seniors, and he advocates non medical methods like CBTi to treat insomnia. From what I can see he has nothing to sell, but does recommend some books and apps. At least one of the apps is free.

SleepWell - It is No Dream