Sierra

Thank you for the suggestions. I will consider the Swift FX mask. On a quick look, the mask part seems quite similar to the P10 with the dual wall nasal extensions. It has the air exhaust on the hose like the Brevida, while it is built into the mask on the P10. I suspect I could tolerate it, and the headgear does look to be better. What I would like to do is just buy the headgear and fit it to the P10, but that looks pretty difficult. Perhaps when it is time for a mask change I will buy the whole thing. It is a shame that the mask manufacturers at least within their own brand would not standardize on how they attach the headgear to the mask. Each mask seems to have a unique attachment method.

I am a bit burned out on trying new masks at this point, and I think I will take a break from the new mask merry go round for a while. So far I have tried the Mirage Quattro, and even with the help of a good blog titled something like Taming the Mirage Quattro, I couldn't make it stop leaking. It just seemed to walk around on my face. I tried my wife's Mirage FX, and while it was better I couldn't stop the leaks and the rude noises the leaks make. They wake me up. Next I tried the AirFit F20 full face. It is probably better than the Quattro and Mirage FX, but still leaks, and when I finally gave up, it was causing a blister on the bridge of my nose. My sleep quality was bad, because I kept waking up. The latest purchase was the F&P Brevida, and while I think I could get to the point of tolerating it, the batwings part seem to stick out and make it easier to push out of place when side sleeping. I get more leaks with it than I do with the P10. The Brevida also irritates my nose more, but that I suspect would go away over time. I will keep it as a spare, but doubt I will ever use it regularly.

I would have thought with the popularity of the P10 and the poor quality of the headgear that someone would have come up with a new and improved after market version. Doesn't seem to be so...

I find it very helpful to have a Clinical Guide Manual for the AirSense 10 AutoSet as well as the user manual. While many are not comfortable making their own adjustments to their machine, others do. And, even if you have no interest in making changes, ResMed includes a lot more detail in the Clinical Guide as to how the machine actually works and what the various features are about. If nothing else the first dozen pages or so are a good read. The only issue is that the guide is kind of hard to come by. I just stumbled on a link that has a copy of the guide (see below). I would suggest downloading it and saving it as a PDF for future reference. The other thing the guide does is explain the difference in how the For Her version works compared to the standard version. The interesting part is that the For Her is just another option in your Mode selection, so you can buy the For Her version, and make it operate like the standard version. I was not aware of that when I bought my standard AirSense 10. If I had known I would have bought the For Her version, even though I am male. And now I know how it works, and what my needs are, I would probably operate it in the For Her mode instead of the standard mode.

ResMed AirSense 10 - Clinical Guide

NiyaNiya, if you are still checking in, can you explain how you posted a graphic image? I have tried, and can't figure it out...

The Essentials tab is in the Clinician Menu. Hold down both the round knob and the Home key at the bottom for 3 seconds minimum at the same time. That will put you in the Clinician Menu. Scroll down to the Essentials item under Options, then push the round button and select Plus instead of On. You may have to rotate the round knob to switch from one option to the other, then push it to select it. When you return to the standard patient menu you should now be able to see the additional sleep report details. You will also get access to a few extra settings from the Patient Menu.

"by enabling Essentials Plus you can allow highly engaged patients to access additional features for control over more of their therapy settings, including changing their mask type, EPR (if available), SmartStart and Run Warmup (if water tub available)."

If the municipal water supplier is doing their job, there will be no bacteria in the water. They typically chlorinate it to kill all bacteria, and then leave a residual chloramine in the water to prevent any bacteria growth. Bottled water is probably nearly as good, but the risk might be slightly higher, because bottled water suppliers often filter out the chlorine and chloramine with activated carbon filters. They USUALLY replace the chorines with ozone to prevent bacterial contamination, but not always. Tap water from a reliable municipal water supplier is almost always the safest. There is no good reason to use bottled water over tap water, but if you do, check the label to ensure they have ozone, chlorine, or chloramine in it to prevent contamination.

That is a good point. I wonder where this device was bought, and if it was setup properly. If I go into the menu, and right near the bottom under the "About" heading there is a Provider, Type, Service setting. Mine is set to Telus (a Canadian wireless provider), 3G, and 10 (no idea what that means). These machines have a communication port right below the SD card slot. I wonder if they have to be set up at a more basic level than can be done with the Clinical Menu. Perhaps it was never set up to use a Canadian wireless provider, only US...

"I'm trying to find out if the machine can only function as a BiPAP or also as a CPAP. Does anyone know for sure?"

To get back to your original question these steps should tell you for sure:

1. Plug in your machine to power it up.

2. Rotate the round knob until the Setup or wrench icon is highlighted.

3. Hold the round button down and at the same time the ramp button a little below and to the right. Hold them both for more than 5 seconds until you hear a quick double beep. The Provider screen should appear.

4. Rotate the round knob again until the Setup or wrench icon is highlighted. Press the knob to bring up the Provider Setup menu.

5. The first item on the list should be the Mode. Rotate the knob to highlight the Mode line, and take note of what mode it is in. The manual is not totally clear on how to select options, but assuming it is similar to ResMed, you would press the button while the Mode line is highlighted, and it should either rotate through the various options, or bring up a list that you can select from by rotating the knob. Check to see if one of the options is CPAP. It it is there then your basic question is answered. If you want to make it operate like a CPAP press the knob again to select it.

6. Rotate the knob to bring up the last option which should be Back which you would select to return to the Provider Menu. Rotate the know to highlight Exit, and then select that. That should take you right back out to the Patient menu. Then you can power down the machine.

Hope that works in definitely answering your question. And, like I posted before, even if you don't have the CPAP option, you should still be able to simulate that mode by using the BiLevel Mode.

There really is not all that much difference between a Bi-PAP and an CPAP in how it operates. With a Bi-PAP you are typically prescribed and set a EPAP (exhale) pressure. Then there is a Pressure Support setting. That is the amount of pressure you get extra on Inhale or IPAP. So for example if your EPAP pressure is set at 15 cm and Pressure Support at 3 cm you would have 18 cm on inhale and 15 cm on exhale. In the CPAP world (ResMed terms) you could get essentially the same thing if you set Pressure (which is really IPAP) at 18 cm, and then set the EPR at 3 cm. The end result is the same. 18 cm on inhale, and 15 cm on exhale.

The fundamental difference between a BiPAP and CPAP however is that while a CPAP is limited to 3 cm of EPR, the BiPAP can go higher in the split between EPAP and IPAP to as much as 10 cm. Also the maximum IPAP pressure that the machine is capable of is higher at 25 cm instead of the CPAP limit of 20 cm. There are also some more subtle features at least in the ResMed models which allow adjustment of how the machines decides to switch from IPAP to EPAP and back. The basic purpose of the Bi-PAP is to provide more breathing assistance than a standard CPAP can provide. That should not mean that you cannot dumb down the settings of a Bi-PAP to make it behave like a standard CPAP.

If your machine does not support a true fixed pressure CPAP mode, I'm sure it can be still set up to provide essentially the same thing. You would just set the minimum and maximum pressure limits to the same value or if forced to with a 0.2 cm difference -- which is essentially zero. I rather doubt you need a new machine. It just needs to be setup properly. That Provider Guide that I gave you a link to should allow you to do that. If you need help, post again, and I will have a closer look at the guide and let you know how I would set it up.

I don't use the ResMed software or their site, so I can't help you there.

On SleepyHead I know it is a beta version, and has a few minor bugs, but nothing I am aware of that is serious. I just helped a friend download it from the site below and it worked fine on his laptop. The 1.0.0-Beta-2 version is what I use and is the current one available for download. It should work on Windows XL. I used the Sleepfiles.com USA download mirror site.

SleepyHead Download

The symptoms you are having with getting summary data only, suggests some issues with your data card. If the CPAP cannot write to the data card it only saves summary data. Make sure the data card is fully inserted in the ResMed machine, and the card is unlocked. You should see a message on the ResMed pop up briefly when you insert it showing the card is being prepared for use. Then when you put the card in your computer so SleepyHead can read it, make sure it is in the locked position. Some users apparently have trouble with the computer writing to the card and that messing up the formatting of the card.

Hope that helps some

I forgot to mention a couple of other things I do to try and keep in the mask in place when I sleep. I was using a memory foam orthopedic pillow, but found it was too firm and when I side sleep it would dislodge the mask due to the pillow pushing back. I switched to a softer down alternative pillow ($18 a pair at Costco). And I found an old satin pillow case to make it easier for my head to slide around without dislodging the mask and straps. My next purchase is going to be a Rest & Renew Satin Pillow Protector from Bed Bath and Beyond ($10 in Canada, $8 in US). They are sold to help keep your hairdo in place when you sleep. I just want to keep my CPAP mask in place! Hope that helps some...