Ramp pressure too low to stop back-sleeping apneas?

I'm using a ramp of 6 and final of 8 cm. Although I'm a side-sleeper I noticed I like to start out on my back. Not sure why, but I think its because I know I won't disrupt the mask hitting the pillow. A few nights I woke up not breathing that way. I am not sure if I was still at ramp or final at that point. My ramp is supposed to be 20 minutes.

Should I just blow off the ramp entirely? Also, should I assume that pressure is not high enough to stop back-sleeping apneas and force myself to remain on my side at all times?

Jason S. wrote:I'm using a ramp of 6 and final of 8 cm. Although I'm a side-sleeper I noticed I like to start out on my back. Not sure why, but I think its because I know I won't disrupt the mask hitting the pillow. A few nights I woke up not breathing that way. I am not sure if I was still at ramp or final at that point. My ramp is supposed to be 20 minutes.

Should I just blow off the ramp entirely? Also, should I assume that pressure is not high enough to stop back-sleeping apneas and force myself to remain on my side at all times?

Think of Ramp as "training wheels" for CPAP therapy. Since it starts at a lower pressure than what you need, you're probably going to have events occurring before it reaches your needed pressure if you go to sleep before the Ramp time is up. My advice is to turn it Off as soon as possible.

I never did use Ramp.

Den

I'm on week two of therapy. My first week, I had to use the ramp feature, since my pressure was at 10.0 cm. However, the rep. set the ramp at 6.0 cm which was too low for me. I ended up changing it to 8.0 then 9.0, then shutting it off after a few days.

Now, I'm on AutoPAP with a minimum of 10.0 cm, so I just start it that way now. Since your titrated pressure (8.0 cm) is fairly low, you might feel better with no ramp. Some people (me included) feel that too low of a pressure is uncomfortable and suffocating.

Thanks. Guess I will stop using the ramp. I never ramp it when I come back if I get up for the bathroom anyway.

Jason S. wrote:Thanks. Guess I will stop using the ramp. I never ramp it when I come back if I get up for the bathroom anyway.

If you want, some machines allow you to set ramp time and beginning ramp pressure, you could up your beginning ramp pressure to closer to 8 or simply adjust the ramp time down to 10 minutes or so if you really like the ramp.

Hi Jason: My Rep. set my ramp at 4.5 and my top # is 13. Someone on here told me that 4.5 was too low, so I shut it off completely. That worked for a few nights. But I had to have the ramp back on, I guess I got used to it. I did turn it up to 7, and that seems to be working. I'm going to in crease it a little at a time till I have it up full..Just my $.02, Larry

Jason S. wrote:

40 Winks wrote:Jason, you look a lot like a character in a book I read - Dirk Pitt..

Dirk is my brother.

I'm assuming Harry is part of the clan too then?

When I first started I used ramp but it felt like I was suffocating so I stopped trying after a nite or two, ramp was set at 4 with CPAP at 8. That was with a nasal mask. Recently bought a nasal pillow and it felt like my head was a balloon - sinuses puffing out and eyes buldging. Then I remembered the ramp function. With info I learned here and some fiddling I upped the ramp to 6 and CPAP to 11 and I can now use the nasal pillow. What I find weird is that in the morning it is fairly comfortable even at 11, it's like your sinuses adjust to the pressure. I had to double check to make sure I was at the correct pressure.