Fisher & Paykel Sensawake

I am confused about the Sensawake feature on my F&P Icon+. I read that it means it will sense if you are awake and reduce the pressure so you can go to sleep. The data menu has a Sensawake item that says "5". What does that mean?

I heard that you can get used to the machine, which I am trying to do, by using it while awake and not in bed. I am using it now. Does it know I am awake? How? Should I have the feature on or off?

I did my trial on the newer F&P SleepStyle machine that had this feature. As I recall the purpose of the SenseAwake is to bring the pressure back to the ramp start pressure when it senses you are awake (perhaps 5 cm in your case). I think it starts to ramp back up again from there, or just sits there if you are not using the ramp, and only increases when the machine detects apnea events or flow limitations. If you are awake, at least in theory you should not have any events, so it should stay at that pressure.

I forgot to mention that I think the SenseAwake feature is a good one. It is about the only advantage that the F&P machine has over the ResMed AirSense 10 that I eventually bought. It can be a bit frustrating to wake up in the night with the machine at full pressure and you are trying to go back to sleep. The SenseAwake feature helps you in that respect. About the only way you can do something similar with the ResMed is to reach over and manually turn the machine off for a few seconds. When you turn it back on, it will go back to the ramp start pressure.

SenseAwake is designed to look for specific patterns in your breathing which it uses to tell when you are wake or asleep. The number 5 is the "SenseAwake pressure", or the pressure the machine will drop to if it senses that you are awake. Unlike a normal ramp it will return quite rapidly to full pressure once it has decided that your are asleep again. It can be very useful but it is also fallible. It can get confused and repeatedly drop the pressure at inappropriate times. Its use should be monitored to make sure that it is working correctly in each case.