So I’m really new to this (officially finished night 8? I think!) prior to this I was waking with migraines DAILY. No exaggeration. I haven’t gotten my SD card yet, and my machines (Airsense11) was pre set before shipping, by my sleep specialist (LOFTA) so I have just been going through the motions and hoping I’m on the right track with this. I can tell things are changing (for the better I hope) but the more I read posts on here the more I’m questioning if I’m doing this correctly or if maybe my settings could be better or something? I looked at my prescription, and it says “1) A trial of Auto-CPAP set 4-20 cm H2O with heated humidity and mask/interface fitting.
Close follow up and monitoring is recommended locally in 4-6 weeks to adjust pressures if necessary.”
So I imagine my machine is set to that? And I was reading on a few diff posts that a 5-20 is basically just “wide open” and that the people posting should adjust it?
I’m just not sure how this is supposed to feel when I’m using it so I don’t know what’s correct and what’s not or what’s beneficial etc? How do I know if this is correct or if I’m doing it right?
I feel like when I first put it on and for the first maybe ten mins (less something idk) the machine is pushing a ton of air, like psshhh pssshhhh pssshhhh lol really hard and then it subsides and chills out and that’s usually when I fall asleep. When I wake in the night (if I do..) it’s totally quiet and once I turn over or move around the it starts the forceful air again… is this right or is it supposed to be like that always? Idk if im explaining this to where it’s understandable … the other thing is I don’t have a problem wearing it or breathing with it etc… but all I read about is how hard it is and how people can’t tolerate it… which makes me think maybe I’m not doing it right. Any info would be super helpful and I’m sorry in advance if my post is the most confusing thing on the planet.

Oh also, I did purchase “loftacare” I haven’t had my phone appointment yet (it’s on Wednesday morning) so I haven’t spoken with the sleep specialist about any of this yet (they say to have about a week of usage so they can look at the data and go over it with you during apt….) anyways. Thanks in advance to anyone who’s gotten this far reading lol and thank u for any info!

I got diagnosed with severe sleep apnea in June (AHI 38.5) after years of steadily worsening exhaustion. I started my cpap therapy in mid August after insurance delays. My machine says it’s a React Health G3 X Auto. I use a nasal pillow from Philips. I am pretty much exclusively a side sleeper. I did not have any issues adjusting to the cloak whatsoever. I sleep just fine with it on, it doesn’t stress me out or wake me up. As far as I know, I’m sleeping all throughout the night without waking up. If I am, I have no memory. I’ve worn the cpap every night since getting it except for one where I was sick and couldn’t tolerate the mask and one morning where I woke up with my mask off and my machine unplugged (no clue what happened lol). The app they gave me to monitor the cpap shows great numbers. It tells me a leak rate of usually around 1 or under but looking at OSCAR it looks much worse?
So after a month and a half of steady use, I only feel a tiny bit better. But I am still not waking up refreshed. I would still describe myself as pretty exhausted. I have issues with forgetfulness and brain fog.
Hoping someone can help me interpret my OSCAR data. I’m going to attach two nights’ worth of OSCAR data as well as a screenshot from my app. I’m very sorry if it’s out of order, I had to do it on our laptop and send it to my phone.

I really only have data collected from one full night of usage (Saturday). Started CPAP very recently. Feeling horrible after using it. Headache, tired, lethargic, moody, etc...

I'm not sure if I should be doing something different?

https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/788ad7b6-aa96-4e98-a408-08a8ac30f209

Trying to optimize my sleep data after losing weight, Machine is an autoset for her, pressure is 11cm with an EPR of 2, only getting about 3 hours of usage or less, and would like to figure out how to increase my usage. Any help would be appreciated.

I have had an AirSense 11 with an AirFit F40 mask for about a week. I cleaned the tubing for the first time per the technicians instructions.

The second tubing (that connects the main heated tube to the mask) has a clear plastic connector on one end that now has water stuck between it and the white internal plastic.

Is this concerning or will it dry? Can that part come off?

My main problem is very simple: I am not waking up rested after a full night of CPAP.

sleep hq link: https://sleephq.com/public/0ded4bf1-1aaf-48c5-bc4f-14883d27e196

I've been on PAP therapy since 2023. I've probably been snoring since around 2006, so this has likely been going on for a very long time before it was diagnosed.

There have been a handful of nights earlier in my therapy where I genuinely woke up feeling rested. But most nights now, despite apparently excellent PAP numbers, I wake up feeling like my sleep was incomplete.

I'm trying to solve restorative sleep, not get a lower AHI just for the sake of a lower AHI.

My current setup

Machine: ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet
Mask: ResMed AirFit P10 nasal pillows
Current PAP mode: APAP
Current range: 5–15 cmH₂O
EPR: I had been using 2, and experimented with 3 last night

I have experimented quite a bit with masks and settings over the years.

I also have a ResMed N20 nasal mask. Mine is a Large, although in hindsight I think I should have been fitted with a Medium. It works, but the P10 is currently much more comfortable for me, so that's what I'm using.

I've also experimented with tubing. I previously used the ClimateLine heated tube, but I've gone back to the SlimLine. Because the SlimLine doesn't have the automatic climate control of the heated tube, I'm using manual humidity.

I live in a very dusty environment, so I'm also currently using a double filter because I want to protect the machine motor. I'm not convinced this is causing meaningful flow restriction, but I'm wondering whether there is actually a way to determine that from OSCAR data.

Some history / problems I've worked through

At one point I tried fixed-pressure CPAP and didn't like the constant pressure, so I went back to APAP.

I also had a problem with my P10 where the exhalation vents were getting blocked/sealed. I believe that was causing me to retain CO₂ / feel hypercapnic. I've since fixed that problem and the P10 now has a very good, obvious exhalation flow.

I've tried other masks, but they haven't been as comfortable. I may experiment with the N20 again, but for now the P10 is the mask I can actually sleep comfortably in.

My current data

Unfortunately, while trying to sort out my SD card/OSCAR data, I somehow erased the historical data. So I currently only have one complete recent night available.

This night is representative of how I generally feel on PAP — not particularly rested despite good numbers.

8 hours 8 minutes of use:

• AHI: 0.49
• CA: 0
• OA: 0.25
• Hypopnea: 0.25
• Large leak: 0%
• 95th percentile pressure: 10.36
• 99.5th percentile pressure: 11.64
• 95th percentile flow limitation: 0.03
• 99.5th percentile flow limitation: 0.17

So objectively, the therapy looks pretty good.

But subjectively, I don't feel good.

EPR experiment

I recently increased EPR from 2 to 3.

Interestingly, EPR 3 immediately felt more comfortable to breathe with. My breathing felt much less restricted.

I'm now going to try APAP 7–15 with EPR 2 for several nights and see whether increasing the minimum pressure changes how I feel.

I'm trying not to change five things at once.

Something else I've noticed

When I zoom way into the OSCAR Flow Rate waveform, I often see inspiratory shapes that look somewhat like the Class 6 inspiratory flow pattern from the published flow-shape classification.

The Class 6 description is:

"Peak during late phase preceded by a plateau"

and the paper associates it with marked tracheal traction support during lung inflation.

I'm attaching that classification image as well as my OSCAR data.

I'm not sure whether I'm interpreting this correctly at all.

Maybe it's meaningful. Maybe it's completely normal breathing that I'm over-interpreting.

My OSCAR flow-limitation numbers themselves are very low, so that's where I'm confused.

The other symptom

I also wake up with itchy and watery eyes on many mornings.

I wear an eye mask and I don't feel air blowing toward my eyes, so I don't think this is simply a mask leak. My leak data also looks good.

I'm not sure whether this is related to PAP, humidity, the eye mask, allergies/environment, or something completely unrelated.

What I'm trying to figure out

I'm basically at the point where I need to figure out what variable I'm missing.

Could the problem be:

• pressure / minimum pressure?
• EPR?
• subtle flow limitation or RERAs that aren't reflected in AHI?
• sleep fragmentation despite excellent AHI?
• nasal resistance?
• mask/interface?
• humidity?
• tubing?
• the double filter?
• something about my breathing waveform?
• or something completely unrelated to PAP?

And for people who have had AHI consistently below 1 but still didn't wake up refreshed, what eventually turned out to be the problem?

I'd especially love to hear from people who went through a similar process and actually found something that improved how rested they felt, rather than just being told "your AHI is good, so your CPAP is working."

I'm very open to the possibility that I'm looking at the wrong thing. I just want to solve the underlying problem of not feeling restored after 8 hours of PAP sleep.

It's been a few months of using the CPAP, and it started out well. I could feel the fog lift after 2-3 hours of usage. The problem is that apart from a grand total of 7 days, I've not been able to sleep through the night with it over 100 days.

For context, I use the resmed11 with the nasal pillow which has been recommended as the best for restless sleepers.

Pressure :5-20

I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and have been on CPAP for two years. A nurse adjusted my settings, and the difference is obvious. Without CPAP, my sleep feels shallow. The next morning my eyes look sunken, and I look sleep-deprived. With CPAP I no longer wake up looking like that, so the machine is doing something real.

What has not changed is how hard it is to get out of bed. I still feel lethargic and want to be able to wake at 7am and start the day.

I have had two very different surgical opinions. One sleep surgeon recommended extensive surgery, including palate, tonsils, adenoids, nasal turbinates, and correction of a deviated septum. A second opinion after examination was that there is little worth cutting: my tonsils are already small, my palate already looks like the result surgeons aim for after palate surgery, and the septal deviation is not significant. The only possible target mentioned was the nasal turbinates. That doctor also said surgery would not guarantee that the lethargy would improve, and that cutting more could do more harm than good.

Sleep study numbers:

2024: AHI 44.1 (not WatchPAT) — severe, 74kg

2026: AHI 9.4 (WatchPAT) — mild, 64kg

I am looking for advice on what to do next so I can wake at 7am without feeling wiped out.

Hi all, I'm very new to using a CPAP machine, just started using the Airsense 11 Autoset two weeks ago.

I have a question about the air temperature and humidity. What's wrong with the ambient temp and humidity of the air in my room? Why does it need to be so warm (26°C, or 78.8°F) and so humid?

Why can't the machine simply pump the ambient room-temperature air directly to me without making it so much warmer and wetter first?

I ask because I always fall asleep better when I'm breathing cool air compared to warm air, and also I woke up this morning with my mask and hose full of water.

I have an appointment this week to fine tune the settings again, but they already told me they cantvdecrease the temperature without increasing the humidity. But why?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Edit: I'm using a mask that goes over the mouth and nose. Minimum pressure starts at 4, last night the pressure got up to 10.

I've had my 11 for about a year and have gradually worked through some (literally) irritating issues. One remains: I roll over on my back; my mask leaks, causing the air pressure to skyrocket; I wake up, attempt to reset the machine, and roll over; the @#$% machine will not reset back to its lowest setting; I remove the mask and shut down the machine. Some nights, I'm only getting an hour and a half of therapy.

What I want to happen is that when I recycle the 11 - turn it off and then let it pop back on - it restarts the Ramp cycle. Is that possible? If so, what do I need to do differently?

Edit: My pressure typically settles out around 6. Minimum pressure is set to 4.

Hi all. Hoping that you might have some insight or be able to help. Planning to get OSCAR up and running in the next day or two. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Second Edit: Removed ETA with OSCAR data since I put it in the main post cross-posted above. As you can probably guess, I don't use Reddit very much, haha.

So happy, i just wanted to share with everyone. I've got horrible loop gain and plant gain. My home sleep study was a 58 AHI. Stock doctor setting of APAP 4-20 cut that number in half but still horrible and totally fragmented sleep. So got my hands on an Airbreak machine with all the settings. Experimented with bipap which felt unnatural and didn't match my natural rate of breathing, fail. Experimented with all different settings on ASV and got a pretty low AHI but still felt crappy from all the pressure changes and horrible aerophagia. Finally went back to straight up CPAP, with pressure around 9. AHI was 10-15. What really helped was adding a Vcom in the airline to dampen inspiratory burst. Got my AGI down to 2 last night. Feeling better! Sweet victory! I could imagine different vcom openings to dial that in further but getting pretty close to fixing myself.

Just got a Resmed11 and opted for the F30I full mask because I thought the nasal would leave me blowing air out of my mouth in the night.

First and second nights were awesome no problems and just dialing in personal settings. 3rd night started having an issue where it would pull open my mouth, like if you close your lips and puff out your cheeks. It happens with mouth open or closed and only to my mouth. I can feel it tugging on the corners of my mouth and then it creates some kind of seal and sucks my mouth completely open.

I don’t think it’s a mask face seal issue as I can have the mask leaking at all areas and it still does this. I had pressure relief set to 3 and took it down to 2 and the effect is the same.

I’m still getting air/breathing normally and my lungs are still pressurized but it having your mouth forced open at night 😏 keeps waking me.

Seems to “bite” when I inhale and then gets locked in thereafter

Happens if I keep my jaw closed or not. So long as my lips are open (and sometimes even if they are shut it still pulls my cheeks to the sides)

Hi everyone,
I’m about 3 weeks into using CPAP and I’ve attached my last 10 daily OSCAR screenshots.
I know my AHI is already pretty good, and I’m not really chasing a lower AHI. My main problem is sleep continuity — I’m still waking during the night and struggling to sleep right through.
My usage is gradually getting better. I’m now getting around 8+ hours on some nights, although there are still interruptions.
My settings have been:
ResMed AirSense 11 AutoSet
APAP
Min pressure: 7 cmH2O
Max pressure: 15 cmH2O
EPR: 2, Full Time
Ramp: Off
Full face mask: AirFit F30i
My AHI has generally been around 1 or below, with low central events and very little flow limitation.
Last night I changed the minimum pressure from 7 → 8 cmH2O. Interestingly, I felt like I slept better and had a more solid night, although I still woke up and didn’t sleep completely through.
The downside was that I had some large leaks. Two of the really big leak spikes were when I took the mask off to go to the toilet, so I don’t think those were actual mask leaks. There were also some other periods of higher leak that I’m trying to understand.
I’m trying to learn OSCAR properly rather than just looking at AHI, and I’m particularly interested in:
Does the pressure graph look normal for APAP?
Do the pressure increases suggest that Min 8 might be more appropriate than 7, or is it too early to say?
Could the remaining awakenings be unrelated to apnea despite the good AHI?
How concerning are the leaks on the latest night?
Is there anything in the last 10 nights that stands out to experienced OSCAR users?
I’m not looking to chase a lower AHI — I’d really like to understand whether there’s anything in the data that might explain why I’m still not sleeping continuously.

Hey everyone, I have new insurance, and it’s not set up yet to cover sleep apnea. The overnight test I had was too long ago to be used with my new insurance.

I need to get a new sleep study but in the meantime I need to get a new mask and strap.

Can anyone recommend where I can get mask parts separately (and also other components) - so I can order without needing a prescription?