Resmed airsense 10 takes a break at end of breath

Hi everyone!

Trying to understand how stuff works... The device is supposed to keep a constant pressure (adjusting through the night but more or less constant during a breath) BUT we inhale, exhale, so is it true that it needs to adjust, otherwise the pressure would go up at every exhale?

Not sure what makes sense, but I do hear the motor working harder to keep up during inhales.

The second question, the airsense 10 seems to stop the pressure at the end of each exhale. In the sense that I turn it on, before breathing, pressure is there (can be felt and measured). Inhale, pressure is there. Exhale, pressure is there. Stop the exhale slowly, pressure drops to zero for a second or so before returning. If I try to inhale during that break I would have no pressure at all. EPR is turned off.

Is there a way to remove that break? It feels like a lag/delay between my breath and the device reacting.
Maybe some settings?

BlackBags wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 28, 2024 6:40 pm

Stop the exhale slowly, pressure drops to zero for a second or so before returning. If I try to inhale during that break I would have no pressure at all. EPR is turned off.

Impossible. The machine can't EVER drop the pressure below 4 cm. Simply won't/can't do it.

G'day BlackBags, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like the EPR (expiratory pressure relief) isn't properly synching with your breathing. If you have EPR turned on, it reduces pressure slightly as you exhale. It then increases it again as you inhale. The available settings are 0 (off), 1, 2 or 3 - where the number corresponds to the number of cm reduction. As Pugsy said, the machine won't go below 4 cm, even if EPR is set to the maximum.

To overcome your problem, try turning EPR off. You'll find it takes a little more effort to exhale, but you may eliminate that synchronisation problem.

Thank you for your replies Pugsy and Respirator99!

Very strange... I did buy a calibrated manometer (pressure sensor) - mostly to check if the motor was still working properly, as the DME would have done (they switched from patient care and device maintenance to remote compliance checks only, so trying to learn how to do it myself, but that's a different story).

That sensor is measuring 0 pressure (in the mask) during that short time.

Will check EPR again.