Here's a touch of irony

Hi folks,

Well after years of servicing respiratory devices and a corresponding amount of time in self denial, I have finally admitted to myself that I suffer from sleep apnea. My blood pressure is higher than it should be, I'm irritable, exhausted by afternoon and every one or two hours through the night I find myself awake for no apparent reason. My doctor has advised me that sleep apnea is the probable reason for these symptoms. Inwardly, I've known I had this problem, but have been reluctant to face the fact that I would be tied to a mask and a machine and all the adjustments that would have to be made. I am fortunate in the fact that Accurate Biomed has a wealth of expertise with this equipment and that we are in frequent communication with knowledgeable medical people to get me started. Through our company's inventory I have acquired what I believe is a more than adequate piece of equipment with which to begin my treatment. It is a Respironics System One 60 series.

My intention is to use the Auto IQ functions to determine base levels for pressure and then using Sleepyhead and the generous advice that this board has been known for, to navigate the learning curve I am facing and that so many of you have succeeded traveling. I have also made arrangements to procure a gel type nasal mask as I am somewhat claustrophobic and am thinking that my adapting to this therapy would more likely be a success than using a full facial mask. That certainly could change in the future, however.

So now I guess it's a lot of reading (the beginner stickies are where I have been and will be spending most of my time for awhile) and a lot of questions that hopefully I have the search skills to uncover here. I know, by virtue of my previously communicating with folks on cpaptalk that needed our company's services or advice, and the expertise they have selflessly shared with other folks, I'll be in good hands.

Now, where's that manual.....

Ian,

With all true sincerity, I welcome you to our "club".

In all honesty, I hadn't really noticed until one of your recent posts that you had joined this forum so early in 2005.

But, if you need any assistance with answering any questions........feel free to ask.

Best wishes for successful therapy,

Den

.

Resistance is futile.
You will be ventilated.

Your service to cpap people has been highly recommended with positive comments. I'm sure you will be helped by many along your own journey. Because of your experience you are way ahead on understanding the experience. I started my own treatment in denial but now know it is a blessing that I can do something to stop the damage being without oxygen was doing to my organs.

It's good to see you had the sense to get a machine that offers data.

FWIW your post count is a bit anemic for 10 years. Maybe this will give you something to talk about.

Wow, I just did a double take. Your 10th anniversary here is in 2 days.

@Wulfman

Thanks Den. Yea, I started the company in 2000. We started offering xpap service in earnest in '05. Prior to that we serviced O2 concentrators, portable ventilators, etc.

@archangle

I lol'd

@OkyDoky

Thank you for the kind words. It was getting to the point where I had to do something.

@Sleeprider

I always was aware of the fact that Accurate Biomed was a vendor and I never wanted to use this forum as an "advertisement". For that reason, I've only posted when I could contribute in a practical fashion. Now you will all find out how verbose I can get.

accurate wrote:Hi folks,

Well after years of servicing respiratory devices and a corresponding amount of time in self denial, I have finally admitted to myself that I suffer from sleep apnea.

welcome to the club... of course, you know you'll be well taken care of

accurate wrote:My intention is to use the Auto IQ functions to determine base levels for pressure and then using Sleepyhead and the generous advice that this board has been known for, to navigate the learning curve I am facing and that so many of you have succeeded traveling.

Hola! Do the 60 series have AutoIQ? I think you might have SmartStart available. ETA: Sorry, it's called Opti-Start.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:

accurate wrote:My intention is to use the Auto IQ functions to determine base levels for pressure and then using Sleepyhead and the generous advice that this board has been known for, to navigate the learning curve I am facing and that so many of you have succeeded traveling.

Hola! Do the 60 series have AutoIQ? I think you might have SmartStart available.

Yes. The AutoIQ is a limited Auto mode (30 days) that's available on the PR 460 Pro machines. It's supposed to revert to straight pressure after the 30 day trial, but it can be reset for (supposedly) a few more times. Anyway, it's a type of "hybrid" that PR came up with.

"SmartStart" is a ResMed option on their machines. Most of what Accurate works on are Philips/Respironics equipment.


Den

.

Dangit, I may be misremembering the name, but there's a feature of my 560P that I *thought* was called SmartStart. BRB.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:Dangit, I may be misremembering the name, but there's a feature of my 560P that I *thought* was called SmartStart. BRB.

There are options in most of the PR machine menus for "Auto On" and "Auto Off".


From the S9 Autoset and Elite clinical manual:

SmartStart: Default - Off Range - On / Off /Patient
Description: Enables or disables the SmartStart feature


Den

.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:Dangit, I may be misremembering the name, but there's a feature of my 560P that I *thought* was called SmartStart. BRB.

you're right, there's a feature that's not listed in the manual that i have, that is called something like that... but does something completely different than resmed's smartstart.

ah, found it... "opti-start"... starts at the previous nights median pressure, or something similar, instead of the min pressure.

Wulfman... wrote:

Drowsy Dancer wrote:Dangit, I may be misremembering the name, but there's a feature of my 560P that I *thought* was called SmartStart. BRB.

There are options in most of the PR machine menus for "Auto On" and "Auto Off".


From the S9 Autoset and Elite clinical manual:

SmartStart: Default - Off Range - On / Off /Patient
Description: Enables or disables the SmartStart feature

Argh. Y'all made me pull out my manual. It's called Opti-Start, and I *never* hear anybody talking about it.

The user manual says:

"This feature allows your devise to use your most recent sleep performance as an input to your next Auto-CPAP therapy session. The goal is to start your therapy close to your adjusted pressure. This optional feature can be enabled or disable by your home care provider [or clever bunnies like us]."

I'm looking for my clinical manual for more details on Opti-Start.

palerider wrote:

Drowsy Dancer wrote:Dangit, I may be misremembering the name, but there's a feature of my 560P that I *thought* was called SmartStart. BRB.

you're right, there's a feature that's not listed in the manual that i have, that is called something like that... but does something completely different than resmed's smartstart.

ah, found it... "opti-start"... starts at the previous nights median pressure, or something similar, instead of the min pressure.

YES. OPTI-START. Although I think it takes an average of previous nights' data--I think you can specify a range of look-back dates between 7 and 30??--rather than just the previous night's.

Here's a previous thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=92826&p=856255&hili ... rt#p856255