bonjour

I will add that my 6-20 recommendation is for one night only. The data from that first night would be used to better dial in your dad. I can guarantee that I would change it. Thus the upload the charts after. Either Sierra's settings or mine will provide info that likely will require adjusting after you/we see the data from night 1.

Masks are very personal, what fits one person may not fit another. The Quattro is frequently the first mask tried by many clinics. You may find better prices online on sites like Amazon (note: technically a mask purchase in the US requires a prescription) I wrote a well received WIKI article about masks in general callte the Mask Primer.

[http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mask_Primer]

I replied with fairly detailed instructions on how to self titrate with an autoset. I was wondering if I broke any rules by that, but that didnt make sense.

Just a note, you cannot sanitize them if you do not clean them first. That info I have is from a microbiologist who works for Big Pharma. There typically is a thin film that needs to be removed with the normal suggested cleaning routine before this type of sanitizer will work.

I have to agree with Sierra here. I will agree that Medical Marijuana will help some patients with some conditions but I have NEVER seen anything like this associated with any form of Sleep Apnea. I'll add that I maintain a WIKI page for alternative forms of treatment for apnea. Those other forms, in the research usually state that the gold standard for Sleep Apnea treatment is CPAP which includes all the classes of machines mentioned above.

They should be chosen to treat the specific condition that the user has,

*To treat obstructive apnea and minor hypopnea and for most initial treatments a standard Auto CPAP such as AirSense AutoSet (or for her) is appropriate.

*To treat obstructive apnea and hypopnea, and a standard Auto CPAP is insufficient the treatment of choice is the Aircurve 10 Vauto (has higher pressure and greater Pressure Support (PS) (similar to EPR) available

*To treat central apnea, the only appropriate therapy would be the Aircurve 10 ASV

*To treat obstructive or pulmonary restriction including hypoventilation, would be the Aircurve 10 ST

It would be extremely unlikely for a CPAP, even at max pressure, to hurt your dad. It may not help him but if he did as you said "has numerous periods where he doesn't breathe during his sleep/naps" he has Sleep Apnea and the question is how bad.

I'm sure we can help you thru this but my first question is which ResMed AirSense 10 machine do you have? There will be words on the front of the case. What I want to here is that it says "Autoset" or "Autoset for Her" which would mean that you have the best CPAP (Auto-CPAP) to use to accomplish what you would like to accomplish.

Like all (alright most) here I am not a medical professional but I do have some experience with Apnea. That said either I, Sierra, or others here can help you to understand the results and what your next actions should be. That said ...

You will need an SD card in the CPAP machine. The access door in the upper door on the left side of the machine. If one is not there (or even if one is) you can buy one almost anywhere. The OEM size is 2GB but it is very unlikely that you will find one the important thing is that it is 16GB or smaller. Assuming you have an AutoSet set the range to Min = 6 and Max = 20 and for the test I would suggest EPR is off. 4 is the min that the machine will go but it is not uncommon for an adult to feel that 4 is not a high enough pressure. The next step is you say "goodnight dad, see ya in the morning." What we just did is set up your dad to be auto-titrated over night. That means to find which pressures to start him off with. This is an option that is frequently provided by a Sleep Lab (except without our help) only with a pressure range of 4-20.

To do this you will need to know how to set the pressures. Perhaps someone here (Sierra) can provide that.

Sleepyhead Software (free) is the best software to view the results so download Sleepyhead and Post his nightly charts here. Which charts? That would be *Event Flags -- This will show us what Apneas and Hypopneas occurred and when. Apneas and Hypopneas are also a trigger for an Auto-CPAP to increase pressure *Flow Rate -- Can provide valuable info on exactly what happened *Flow Limit -- This is another cause of both discomfort and or arousals and is also a trigger for an Auto-CPAP to increase pressure *Snore -- This too is also a trigger for an Auto-CPAP to increase pressure *Pressure (not Mask Pressure) -- To let us see how the machine responded to all your dad and everything through the night *Leak Rate -- this can indicate issues such as mouth breathing

Like many here I did NOT have sleep apnea, I didn't stop breathing in my sleep, I didn't snore. Sound familiar. JUST to tell her "I TOLD YOU SO" I took a sleep study. I had 90 events per hour, an AHI of 90!! Go figure.

I didn't have a problem, I was driving off freeways at exits because I was driving to stay on the road. It was the rumble strips on the side of the city road that woke me up, rumble strips you ask, most know them as driveways, I was driving across driveways, and scared to admit it. 2nd sleep study, the titration study, and I woke at 5:30am actually feeling awake and refreshed, I was stunned! My DME told me 6-8 weeks to get a CPAP device and I said no way. I said find one elsewhere and I'll travel as far as it takes to get it. End result was about 1.5 weeks to get an appointment and the device, and I've never looked back. My Rx was CPAP at 19 cmH2O and I took to it like a duck to water. I was lucky, I was immediately feeling better. That was in 2003

Sorry Sierra, but you hit a quirk I have, please bear with me. I have Diabetes, type 2. But I was initially diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes. Using the English language I concluded I was before diabetes since "Pre" means before. In this case it does not. Diabetes is a disease where the body does not properly process sugar, and untreated it tends to be progressive. There is another disease that is progressive, Cancer. Pre-Diabetes is similar to Stage 1 Cancer. Would you choose to not treat that cancer knowing that without treatment it would get progressively and significantly worse? Of course not. Pre-Diabetes means you have an early detected form of diabetes that is treatable. I equate Pre-Diabetes to Stage 1 Cancer, in other words, it means that you have diabetes and you need to be treated for it.

Off soapbox Thanks\Fred

Have the Rx read mask of patients choice.

I've not had that kind of pain either. A couple of thoughts. A pillow similar to a massage table's to allow face down.

A P10 Pillow mask (a fit kit because it contains 3 different pillow sizes), it is the lightest, least intrusive out there, and some hose management to go with you. A Mirage Activa nasal mask as it allows for a phenomenal amount of movement because of its design, though by todays standard it is fairly bulky.