So I am new to this CPAP malarky

[Ryands]

Apologies to those I am not responding directly to, I do appreciate the feedback and comments, and I am taking it all on board, even if not replying direct...

Profile has now been updated with the correct machines.
In terms of what is actually happening appointment wise I have no idea what the long term plans are, or what machines I will keep. I assume I will be having the appointments until they are happy with the results, I don't know how long that will be. Personally I find the NHS in general will take ages to get going but once they do they normally do follow through for good results. I tend trust them and only use my private (free) healthcare for stuff where time is of the essence, such as my hernia ops where I did not feel like being on a waiting list.

If they do change me to a different machine once all tests are done I can see myself buying an APAP like this anyway. £500 for the machine, plus £150 for the humidifier I think is worth it long term. Hell it proved itself on saturday alone when I came home quite merry from a works party and didn't snore once thanks to the machine and had AHI of 8.8. Whereas normally on the rare time I have more than a couple of drinks it requires us sleeping in separate rooms!

Also despite my current tiredness I am definitely sleeping a LOT deeper. Normally I sleep very shallowly and wake up regularly. The last couple of days I slept through the wife getting out of bed and her alarm, which never happens.

And pardon the random musings...

[Ryands]

One more question...

I can see lots of posts about general cleaning, and as such I am cleaning the rubber bit of my mask daily with washing detergent, but what do people do with their mask during the day? Do you keep it in a special box / bag? Keep it just sitting on to of the CPAP (which I am doing) which doesn't seem to hygeinic and may gather dust?

[palerider]

One more question...

I can see lots of posts about general cleaning, and as such I am cleaning the rubber bit of my mask daily with washing detergent, but what do people do with their mask during the day? Do you keep it in a special box / bag? Keep it just sitting on to of the CPAP (which I am doing) which doesn't seem to hygeinic and may gather dust?

if you seal it up in a special bag and it's not completely dry, you'll promote mold growth. I just toss mine on the headboard.

can't speak for what others do.... it varies. I can't be bothered to wash everything every day, I'll usually the mask with a bit of hand sanitizer to remove facial oils, but that's about it, and occasional washing with some dishwashing soap that is good at removing grease/oil.

others do different things.

[Pugsy]

what do people do with their mask during the day? Do you keep it in a special box / bag? Keep it just sitting on to of the CPAP

Mine gets tossed on top of either my machine or my bed pillow.

[MINItron]

I put a hook on the wall. The hose gets left over my headboard, and the mask on the hook.

[chunkyfrog]

If pets are allowed in the bedroom, it's a good idea to cover the expensive parts or put them out of reach.

[zoocrewphoto]

I have a small cabinet next to the bed. The machine is in the middle drawer which is open at night and closed during the day. I keep my masks in the top drawer, so I just detach the mask from the hose and put it in the drawer. It stays protected but still has some air to let any moisture dry.

[Ryands]

Well that was annoying. Turn out the hospital visit today was not to adjust the APAP, instead it was to return it and instead I have been given a Remstar Pro C-Flex, which just provides a continuous 8cm for now.

Will give it a try tonight and see how it goes, but I am quite tempted just to order myself an APAP anyway, worst case it can be set as a CPAP, best case comfort and such will be better,

[Pugsy]

Exactly which model machine?
Is it the Pro you mentioned or the Plus 250 model you chose in the equipment selection?
Did they swap out humidifiers too? 50 series machines can't use 60 series humidifiers.

If it is the Pro and a model 460....it has some APAP capabilities...full data and limited APAP mode.
If it is the Plus model either 250/260...it's a brick and what I would expect NHS to dispense.

[Ryands]

461, so the pro model. I can see it has data, I didn't realise it had limited APAP though? Apart from the ramp feature.

[Pugsy]

Go here and request the provider/clinical manual for the 461/ (460 here in the US).
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual
Be specific with what you request so you get the correct manual. This is what you would request
Respironics PR System One 60 Series REMstar Pro with C-flex+
and the correct machine choice in your equipment profile is the same except they don't use the word "Remstar"...Remstar is a generic term used on all Respironics machines since time began (almost). So the Remstar part is mostly useless except to confuse people.

The manual explains the modes available. It does have limited APAP capabilities. 30 days APAP but it can be reset to get additional APAP days up to 5 times I think (unless that has been changed). Resetting involves erasing all prior therapy data though so not something a person wants to do while they are being watched closely for compliance stuff.

If you want to buy an APAP (model 560) on your own you might check secondwindcpap.com. But there is no urgent need to do that right now....the 461 is a good machine. You may or may not be someone who greatly needs APAP mode to be available.

[Ryands]

Cheers Pugsy. So I take from that it is the same machine as the 560, but has functionality reduced via firmware.

[Ryands]

Last night was the first night with CPAP as opposed to APAP and for once I slept the whole night through.

However it was also my worst night for AHI, with 10.5. My question though is should I be looking at AHI averages, or the graph on sleepyhead?

Last night from 11pm to 1am the AHI was in the 30's, then the rest of the night was under 5. Just one long smooth curve. Should I be happy the 10 number is not higher? Or worried about the 30 peak?

[zoocrewphoto]

I suspect the graph is showing you extrapolated ahi numbers based on how it would be if it continued all night like that. The overall number is usually what we use, but it does help to know if it is coming in clusters or spread out.

It sounds like you may be sleeping better being in cpap mode. Some people are more sensitive to pressure changes while others are not. I can sleep through pressure changes, but a tiny leak will drive me crazy.

It also sounds like you may have higher needs at times. Can you post the sleepyhead graphs? If you have a cluster of events, you may need a tad more pressure. You might need to raise the cpap pressure a little, or you may want to try a very narrow range. But it would be better to look at the events graph before deciding what you need. It will help t o know if they are clustered or not. And also whether you have a lot of centrals or not.

right now, I would concentrate most on sleeping with the machine and once you have that settled a little more, then work on improving your therapy. It doesn't do much good to get the ahi low if you can't sleep with the machine going. And 10, while higher than we want, is still lower than your untreated ahi, so it is an improvement.

[Pugsy]

Let's look at your overall AHI and events graph with leak graphs and not the hourly AHI graph.
Can you post an image of last night's detailed report? If you don't known how we talked about how to do it with some examples here.
Screen shot thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81072&p=737779#p737779