UARS and Autoset?????

I was diagnosed with UARS in 2012 and started cpap treatment right away. The insurance did not accept UARS as sleep apnea so I paid for everything out of pocket. I remember the very smart doctor told me I couldn’t get an autopap because it wouldn’t recognize the UARS (RERAs?). I have used cpap successfully for 13 years. This year I wanted a new sleep study to see if apnea got worse. It had and now I have a small amount of obscructive. Insurance paid for new machine and mask. This new sleep doctor says autoset pap will work for UARS. After 4 months I feel more tired, less able to concentrate, and less motivated. I don’t have ability to work hard at my job. Has anyone else with UARS been told not to use an autopap? I’m going back to cpap to see if I feel better. Thanks, Yvette

What machine do you have now? A ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet? There is a variation of that machine called the "For Her" version. It has an optional special algorithm which in ResMed's words:

"The AutoSet for Her algorithm has increased sensitivity to flow limitation and optimized response gain. It is driven predominantly by flow limitation and snoring rather than apneas and has an adaptive minimum pressure."

Here is an article about it. Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Women: Specific Issues and Interventions

It is supposed to respond more quickly to upper airway resistance and avoid RERA events. It is the more appropriate machine for UARS issue. However keep in mind that at the end of the day, all it is doing is increasing pressure. When a machine is in CPAP mode, pressure is manual, and it is essentially already increased. So if the manual pressure is set properly, it may simply avoid the RERA issue. And even in Auto mode if the minimum pressure is increased appropriately it can avoid the issue too.

I have the standard AutoSet machine, but I find it works better for me in manual CPAP mode. It is easy to switch between CPAP and Auto.

Have you considered using OSCAR to display the data on your SD card in the machine? It requires a PC or Mac and a SD card reader. With it you can display the pressures during the night and see how your machine is reacting and when you are having RERA events. You can compare what pressure it is using to what you used with the CPAP. The Auto machine may be keeping the pressure too low and letting you have RERA events that the CPAP was avoiding.

My thoughts would be to leave the machine in Auto mode and ask about increasing the minimum pressure. Or you could just switch it to CPAP mode and set the pressure to what it was on the CPAP machine.

Hope that helps some,

Thanks for answering. It is what I thought, and the smart first doctor said... I need a cpap not autoset. I was set up with the standard AirSense 10 not for her. I’m mad at the new doctor.