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Here is an update now that I have been using an APAP for nearly a month. FANTASTIC IMPROVEMENT! Despite someone implying I was a fool for doing it myself, it couldn't be easier and has helped tremendously. Versus a fixed factory setting of 15, my range is now set 4 to 15. My typical actual pressure range is 4 to 6 or 8 high with 10 being the absolute highest for an entire week. Events down to about one/hour, leaks way down and I can keep my mask much loser due to lower pressure so comfort is way up. Also, I no longer need to put tape over my mouth or use a chin strap to keep my mouth closed. ANYONE WHO CAN USE A COMPUTER HAS THE CAPABILITY TO DO THIS THEMSELVES IF YOU DON'T HAVE COMPLEX OR RISKY ISSUES! The APAP and sleepyhead software would let you know after one night if you were headed in the wrong direction.
Google how to go into clinical settings on your machine. It is incredibly easy as are the adjustments. I just got my Resmed Airsense 10 autoset APAP and found I can run far lower pressure than my sleep test with less leakage, mask not painfully tight and events down to one per hour. The notion that many people cannot do this for yourself and that you even need a prescription to replace a mask is great disservice by the medical community designed to bring in revenue. It is not rocket science. I have to be suspicious why my doc didn't recommend the APAP vs CPAP initially. If your results are fantastic, that speaks for itself and you don't need the doc to tell you 1 event per hour is great. I highly recommend the free sleepyhead data interpretation software. It tells you very clearly how you are doing and what might need to be adjusted.
Last night was even better. 1.25 events per hour with range lowered to 8-15.2. Max pressure only 11.1 and average 9.27. Not rocket science to see this working very well at much lower pressure than my sleep study indicated. How many studies, trips to sleep doc, money, time wasted, months going by, etc. would it take to figure this out? A whole lot of people must have low or no deductibles to not want to self manage where it is possible and so easy. One of the reasons health care is insanely expensive for those of us who pay the bill. I think some healthy people would have someone come in to brush their teeth if Medicare paid for it. I can understand for the old or people with complex issues.
Thanks for the info. Very helpful forum!
I just replied to sleeptech within the following thread "Switching from CPAP to APAP without sleep doctor-Starting settings?". Does he get an alert to my reply. Otherwise, since it posts in the middle of a thread it seems as if everyone who had previously read the thread would just go to the end and not notice the new post. What actually happens?
Thanks Sleeptech-I just picked up my new Air sense 10 Autoset and met with a very knowledgeable tech. He thought a range of about 8 around my study number was good and he agreed with the settings I had my GP prescribe range 10-18 vs. my study of 15. He said he was very surprised my number was 15 since i am not overweight and said he would have guessed 9 or 10. I just got my first night's results. Min pressure 10, Max 14.8, 90% was 12.36 and ave was only 10.94. My daily graph shows only 2 brief spikes with the great majority of the time spent below 12. AHI of 1.97 which is what I had been experiencing with the CPAP. If these results continue, I should probably try a range of 8 to 16 to see if less than 10 may be necessary. Mask tightness is an issue for me.
I am a very analytical person and kind of a do it yourselfer and will be monitoring the results closely. None of this looks very much like rocket science. I was not impressed that after my sleep study, the doctor could not give me separate results for the time I spent sleeping on my back versus on my side where I may or may not have events. This forum has been full of posts by people who have been totally unsatisfied with the professional assistance they receive as well as those who go into the provider settings and then monitor the results. I don't feel like I am going out on a limb very far going to an APAP range which surrounds the CPAP setting which has worked for me. I am trying the APAP partially so I can find out if lower pressures are effective for me since a relatively high pressure of 15 requires the mask to be pretty tight which is somewhat problematic. We also know that people's need for pressure can vary from night to night for a variety of reasons so it seems silly to take one night's test as a definitive indication of needed pressure.
I did this a couple years ago, so am a little fuzzy on the details. My CPAP was originally set at 15. I felt I was fighting the machine to breathe out. I found out how to go into the settings and lowered the pressure for the exhale by several pounds which solved the problem. I assume that the throat closure is an issue on inhaling but not on exhaling. Is that assumption correct and is there any downside to the adjustment I made and why are they not all set that way?
I will be switching to a Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset. My CPAP setting was 15 CM H20. I plan to be pretty much a do it yourself-er to avoid more sleep studies or unnecessarily going back to my sleep doctor. I will have my regular doctor prescribe the APAP. What range would people recommend I have the machine set to initially?
Just talked to my brother in law who recently started CPAP and it changed his life. I have used mine for three years and won't go a night without it although it didn't solve all my issues but I believe it helps. Never had daytime falling asleep etc
