PutSleepApneatoBed

I just checked. They sued for defamation Oct 21st, alleging that Philips was making SoClean a scapegoat for their own defective machines.

In the first instance, anyone can file a complaint in court about anything. It will then be challenged with a motion to dismiss which may or may not prevail. But in matters where cross litigation is anticipated, and choice of venue may be important, strange things are sometimes done to gain strategic advantage. I haven’t reviewed the pleadings, so don’t know the (alledged) basis for the suit.

I’d have to check, but I think I saw that SoClean sued Philips, presumably preemptively—possibly as an exercise in forum shopping.

The SoClean commercials are horribly misleading. They make it sound as though the manufacturers are recommending the use of So-Clean, when, in reality, the opposite is true; it invalidates the warranty. I use a cleaning process similar to that described by Sierra, above.

Cyrus: Do you think that years of treatment for obstructives, or perhaps just the aging process itself, eventually leads to the creation of centrals? I’ve been concerned about that, because I watched my Dad develop both centrals and CHF after which he wasn’t able to use PAP and there weren’t any really effective alternative treatments at that time. (Early aughts.)

There was a study being done recently by a combination of Sleep docs and cardiologists evaluating the use of O2 for patients with a combination of CHF and centrals, because there are still no good treatments for that population. Unfortunately, the study was terminated by the NIH before it could reach any useful conclusions.

When I was participating in a hospital-based support group in CT some years ago, there was a generally pro-RESMED machine attitude/preference based on the ability of the RESMED algorithm to detect the need for higher pressures and provide them within three breaths. But not having used the non-REMED machines, I can’t provide a comparison.

Also, my apneas are almost exclusively obstructive, rather than central. If treating centrals, or mixed Apnea, I would really try to find a practitioner who is very experienced in dealing with the challenging issues presented by centrals.

I have seen people with centrals treated by experts with a fixed pressure on CPAP, but getting to the optimal pressure setting can be tricky.

Having used only RESMED machines, I wasn’t aware of that difference in reporting of AHIs between the two brands. But I think it’s extremely interesting and bears further exploration.

It would be very interesting to know the specifics of the different “counting” of apneas as between the two brands of machines. Presumably, they both have chips working on algos, but have chosen different algos.

Also, is this entirely about the residual apneas or or does it extend beyond that?

Sierra, I assume you mean a residual AHI of 0.8?
When I moved from a RESMED gen 8 to gen 10 Airsense for Her, my residual AHI went from 3.0 to 0.3 and I felt an immediate significant improvement. But had I been presenting at diagnosis with an AHI of 3.0, I would never had been treated. But here’s the rub: at diagnosis i had an overall AHI of 19, but during REM it was 83 (when I could STAY in REM, which wasn’t often….)
Which leads me to wonder what theREM AHI of a lot of people with an overall AHI of 4 might be? It could be 20 to 30, or more, but they won’t get treated….

Sorry, I just assumed that with centrals you’d be on an ASV, rather than a CPAP or APAP. Centrals require some form of VPAP.