ASV people, I'd love some feedback. New to this.

I'm scheduled to receive a ResMed Air Curve 10 ASV, next Tuesday. ASV users, how has your experience been on it? I admit, I'm a little scared, but it's better than having desats in the upper 80s and low 90s. I think my doctor wants it on Bilevel mode, and she has prescribed the highest pressure at 15. I'm still waiting for my prescription and copies of my two nights at the lab; results, to arrive in the mail.

This morning, as I was trying to fall back to sleep, my wrist pulse ox (wearable with alarm) went down to 90. I'm even thinking about asking my doctor to send me for an MRI, as I had sustained a head injury in a domestic violence situation, where after I was hit, I went deaf in both ears for a little under an hour. I had a concussion.

I have been diagnosed with mild to moderate mixed apnea. Central score is 5.1, overall score is 12 AHI.

This afternoon, I'm scheduled for a treadmill, cardio stress test, with ultrasound.

Actually the pressure will go higher than 15 on these machines...I am using the slightly older model of that machine right now.
You might want to get the manual and read up on what all it does.
You can request it here..instructions down near the bottom of the page
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual
and just request this one
ResMed AirCurve 10 ASV

Bilevel means that you will have one pressure on inhale and it is referred to as IPAP and one pressure on exhale and it is referred to as EPAP....the difference between EPAP and IPAP is referred to as pressure support and we refer to it as PS.
I suspect that the 15 pressure that was told to you was in reference to the PS as that would be fairly common to be needed for dealing with centrals. Don't worry about the 15 thing because you will be asleep when the 15 kicks in.

When you start the night you will be using an EPAP and IPAP that is MUCH less scarey in numbers and the PS will be more along the lines of 3 to 5 cm while awake and it is super easy to breathe with those numbers....I use EPAP of 6.4 and IPAP of 9.4 so PS of 3 on my machine when I first turn the machine on and it stays there until I fall asleep and it is pretty much just like normal breathing and not difficult at all....but during the night it can go higher and I have seen IPAP up around 22 and never know it until I see the reports.

You won't be using 15 cm all night long...that I am sure of. You will use an inhale and exhale that are different and much lower than 15 and the higher pressures that will be used will only be used during the time that is needed to deal with the sleep onset centrals and once you are asleep the pressure will go back down. Higher pressures are only in response to the centrals.
If you have a few obstructive events on the side the machine will deal with those also but with much less of a pressure increase.

Pugsy, you are so kind and helpful. As soon as I have more info, I'll be happy to post it. Thank you.

Do I shut the machine off if I get up to pee, and start the thing over like I did before, the same way?

I hope this Bilevel doesn't cut me off during my inhale, the way the one in the lab did. It annoyed me, and it didn't match my usual pattern. Does this machine help with that problem? Also, does this thing alarm if you have a mask leak? If it ends up being really annoying, I would switch masks, so I don't have to deal with alarms that freak me out.

They have me on the Air Fit 10, for her, full face mask. In the lab, I noticed that at high pressure, it would leak into my eyes, and wake me up.

I shut the machine off manually whether it is in the middle of the night (for whatever reason) or when I get up. It's just handy for me to do that but there is a setting on the machine called SmartStart that will turn the machine off for you after it senses that you are no longer attached to the machine. I use it...it allows me to put the mask on and take a couple of breaths and the machine comes on automatically and it turns the machine off if I remove the mask (takes maybe 10 to 15 seconds).
Though it hurts nothing to not used Smart Start and just let the machine run but it could potentially skew the leak numbers which really isn't the end of the world to have that happen.
If the machine is left running and you aren't attached that time is NOT included in therapy hours of use. It's report as something like
"machine on but no breathing detected".

So it's up to you if you want to turn it off if you get up in the middle of the night...it doesn't really hurt anything to let it run.
No matter what it was running at in terms of pressure it will revert back to the starting pressures once you get reattached.

Yes, there is a leak alarm but it's not horribly loud and easy for me to sleep through...I turned mine off.

The machine that was used in the lab was a different machine that had more manual controls and it can't really be compared to the machine you will be using at home. Your machine does have some "timing" control settings available should you need a little different timing but in general the machine senses your pattern and will usually respond to your pattern so that timing is usually an issue but if it is there are some adjustments that can be made to help. There's usually a little bit of learning (both your body and the machine) involved during the adjustment period in terms of breathing pattern. The machine is pretty smart.

Pugsy wrote:I shut the machine off manually whether it is in the middle of the night (for whatever reason) or when I get up. It's just handy for me to do that but there is a setting on the machine called SmartStart that will turn the machine off for you after it senses that you are no longer attached to the machine. I use it...it allows me to put the mask on and take a couple of breaths and the machine comes on automatically and it turns the machine off if I remove the mask (takes maybe 10 to 15 seconds).
Though it hurts nothing to not used Smart Start and just let the machine run but it could potentially skew the leak numbers which really isn't the end of the world to have that happen.
If the machine is left running and you aren't attached that time is NOT included in therapy hours of use. It's report as something like
"machine on but no breathing detected".

So it's up to you if you want to turn it off if you get up in the middle of the night...it doesn't really hurt anything to let it run.
No matter what it was running at in terms of pressure it will revert back to the starting pressures once you get reattached.

Yes, there is a leak alarm but it's not horribly loud and easy for me to sleep through...I turned mine off.

The machine that was used in the lab was a different machine that had more manual controls and it can't really be compared to the machine you will be using at home. Your machine does have some "timing" control settings available should you need a little different timing but in general the machine senses your pattern and will usually respond to your pattern so that timing is usually an issue but if it is there are some adjustments that can be made to help. There's usually a little bit of learning (both your body and the machine) involved during the adjustment period in terms of breathing pattern. The machine is pretty smart.

That is a cool machine. I hope that I can shut off the alarm on the 10, if it becomes too annoying before a mask switch; if needed. Pugsy, again, thank you so much. You are a sweetie to help out like this. I appreciate it a lot.

I have been using the ResMed AirCurve 10 ASV for about two months and the only issue I have is the PS pressure is so strong that my mask leaks all over and it wakes me up multiple times during the night. I have spoken to my sleep doctor and they lowered the pressure remotely, but the problem persists. Any suggestions on how to remediate this issue? Thank you,

Could you update your User Control Panel to show your equipment and your mask.
Without knowing the mask, it will be difficult to address the problem.

It is likely that the mask adjustment has been made at a lower pressure than your ASV machine delivers when it detects something to treat. However, that's just a guess.

I got an ASV machine a week ago, and thanks to pugsy and other members of this forum, its been working great.

betam4x wrote:I got an ASV machine a week ago, and thanks to pugsy and other members of this forum, its been working great.

Glad to hear it's working well for you. There is a lot to say for the power of a group like this. We can learn from the experiences of others. And that can make all the difference.

Happy dreams!!