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initial use of apnea machine

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huffnpuffing +0 points · about 4 years ago Original Poster

reading comments re. pressure issues. why does the pressures have to be set at 5min 20 max? some say that a sense of suffocating when pressure is low,some complain of constant leaking masks. if pressures were set to eg. min 7 max 14 to start with and monitored over x days then adjustments made. people may actually persevere with using the machine if the pressures are minimising problems associated the use.human nature being what it is,if something is not comfortable,just not going to happen. i believe many machine are sitting idle collecting dust.

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Biguglygremlin +0 points · about 4 years ago Sleep Enthusiast

If wishes were thrushes, or fishes, or horses ........

Unfortunately it takes more that wishing to make it so.

What would it take for such a simple and seemingly sensible suggestion to become a reality?

1) Acknowledgement that auto machines are not omniscient. That they can and sometimes do deliver less than optimal results.

2) Acceptance that handing over a CPAP machine requires more than just confirming that it is, in fact, in the box.

3) Allocating the time and effort required to choose and implement responsible, safe settings.

Personally I don't trust machines any more that I trust anything or anybody so I have been advising CPAP users to reduce the maximum limit on their machine for some time now.

I see no justification for enabling a machine to increase the pressure beyond what would be safe and comfortable for the user and I doubt that many people could endure pressures as high as 20 without potentially dangerous consequences but I don't see things changing anytime soon.

On a less dire note but still relevant to the points above, how many users have a machine that did not know the correct time when it was supposedly 'set up' for them?

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Sierra +0 points · about 4 years ago Sleep Patron

I suspect the most common pressure setup is 4 min, 20 max, ramp start 4 cm. Why? Because that is the way they come from the factory, and I suspect most providers that give the machines out have never worn one. The most devious however, are the ones that remove the SD card that comes installed from the factory.

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TopSpider +0 points · about 4 years ago

Mine came pre-set at 6 min and 16 max. I'm using a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet with full mask. I'm new and only been 'PAPing' (is that what the cool kids are calling it?) for a month.

My Respiratory Therapist has monitored me closely these first few weeks and we adjusted the min to 7 because I felt like I had to take really deep breaths while trying to fall asleep and left the max as is. My usage was maxing out just under 16 during the night and it never woke me up.

So, 7 is good for me to breath mostly normal while I doze off with a ramp of 20 minutes. My numbers have been good going from 37 events per hour to under 2, and after 2-3 nights, I have been sleeping right through. Maybe I'm just blessed.

From the previous comments, it seems like other clinics/RTs aren't all taking the time to ensure their patients are adopting and adapting successfully. It's good that there are sites like this and apps like SleepyHead to help 'Apneans' have more success with their therapy.

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Sierra +0 points · about 4 years ago Sleep Patron

I you have not already, you may make some further improvements by setting your ramp to "Auto", your Ramp Start Pressure to 7 cm, your EPR to 3, and the EPR Type Ramp Only. That will give you 7 cm of pressure on inhale and 4 cm on exhale immediately and for the duration of the auto ramp which will end when you go to sleep. Then it will stop the EPR reduction on exhale. This is likely to reduce your maximum pressure needed to control apnea by 2-3 cm.

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huffnpuffing +0 points · about 4 years ago Original Poster

topspider may have someone with a commonsense approach. i asked my provider to reset the settings of the sd card because the settings i have set return to original when the sd card is replaced. would not do, i now leave sd card out. final comment was re. my perscription,it is weird. works for me,ahi is now 1 ish.

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Sierra +0 points · about 4 years ago Sleep Patron

To my knowledge there are no settings on the SD card, only data. When you leave the SD card out, no detailed data is collected.

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huffnpuffing +0 points · about 4 years ago Original Poster

when i remove the philips sd card to upload into oscar,the settings that i have made are displayed. if the philips sd card is then reinserted into the machine the settings reset to what was set originally, min 5 max 20, functions that can be set to auto return to auto.i have to change everything back to what i want. now when i want to upload to oscar i use a generic sd card,leave philips sd card in a draw,settings don't change. all the machine information is up to date using the generic sd card when displayed using oscar.

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Sierra +0 points · about 4 years ago Sleep Patron

Sounds very strange. Are you sliding the data lock switch on the SD card to the lock position before you upload the data to OSCAR? That should prevent anything on the card from being changed.

Here is a link to a technical manual for the Phillips DreamStation. About the only thing that I could see that could be causing things to reset is the "Reset Data" function described on page 4-25. Perhaps if your computer is writing something to the data card, the machine thinks there is a new user and resets the data??? What operating system are you using? I believe Windows 8 had some issues with SleepyHead. Perhaps they carried over to OSCAR...

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huffnpuffing +0 points · about 4 years ago Original Poster

i will just leave the philips sd card alone,use the cheapy. the provider can access info without sd card.

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Biguglygremlin +0 points · about 4 years ago Sleep Enthusiast

I'm probably misunderstanding a lot of stuff but this thread seems to have strayed off the tracks and is now circling off in the forest somewhere.

I'd usually start talking about the weather around about now.

So do you reckon it'll rain and what do you think Climate Change will do to Apnea sufferers?

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