Pressure Pulsating

[CruzTerri]

Over the last couple of days, I have been woken up with the pressure "pulsing" instead of a steady blowing pressure. I am on straight CPAP and have had my machine since January of this year. The last couple of nights my AHI has shot up from 1.9 to 7 and 16 (last night).

I plan on contacting my DME, but I'm in the middle of training at work and can't take time to even make a phone call However, Friday is my day off and I'll try to take the machine in then if necessary. But was hoping to find out if someone else had experienced this and what they did about it.

[Pugsy]

CFlex maybe? Off, on or setting related? You have the software. Anything exciting going on there like leak?

That is all I can think of and probably would do like you are thinking, take it to DME to have it checked out.

[Drowsy Dancer]

Is what you are experiencing the same as described in this thread: viewtopic/t51595/Respironics-Omnilab-ad ... ormal.html

If your machine is throwing out pressure pulses, I can see at least two logical possibilities:

The machine is pulsing randomly and waking you up because there is something wrong with the machine
The machine is pulsing in response to your not breathing because there is nothing wrong with the machine, it is working properly, and the apnea, or the related pressure pulse, are waking you up

To illustrate one variation on the second possibility, I am prone to what my doctor describes to me as "sleep-onset centrals" and the machine will start pulsing at me and wake me up as I am falling asleep. Annoying. The red ticks are the pressure pulses:



DD

[CruzTerri]

Is what you are experiencing the same as described in this thread: viewtopic/t51595/Respironics-Omnilab-ad ... ormal.html

If your machine is throwing out pressure pulses, I can see at least two logical possibilities:

The machine is pulsing randomly and waking you up because there is something wrong with the machine
The machine is pulsing in response to your not breathing because there is nothing wrong with the machine, it is working properly, and the apnea, or the related pressure pulse, are waking you up

To illustrate one variation on the second possibility, I am prone to what my doctor describes to me as "sleep-onset centrals" and the machine will start pulsing at me and wake me up as I am falling asleep. Annoying. The red ticks are the pressure pulses:



DD

DD- I see the red ticks in my flow chart and I know that it's to get you to breathe, but this was boom, boom, boom one after another. Right, now I'm at work, getting ready to go into training (yeah, last day), tonight I'll try to post the wave charts. It could be that I just had bad nights. Thanks for your input. Last night was much better at 4.x AHI.

Thanks again.

[tetech]

It happens to me whenever I breathe slow.
ANSWER: I have been an electronics repair tech for 30 years, so I just called Respironics Tech Support (Ray) at 1-800-345-6443 menu option 1, 4, 1 on this. Ray says a firmware update will solve this exact issue. He does not know which serials have the old firmware (cpap.com replaced it 3 times early on, but back then the buggy firmware was the same in the replacement units), so if it happens ask for a firmware update. My RMA this time is RT25106.

[CruzTerri]

hmm - this still happens to me, but not as often any more. I'll have to pay more attention to it. But it doesn't appear on the waveform chart as a pressure pulse. I've just kind of put up with it for now. BUT if there is a firmware upgrade, I'll definitely look into it. Thanks for the information.

[archangle]

When that happens, try holding your breath and seeing what happens. Or seal off your nose internally and breathe through your mouth.

Then concentrate on breathing regularly and seeing if it stops, and what part of the breathing cycle it happens on.

[Guest]

When that happens, try holding your breath and seeing what happens. Or seal off your nose internally and breathe through your mouth.

Then concentrate on breathing regularly and seeing if it stops, and what part of the breathing cycle it happens on.

HOW STUPID IS THAT? The pulses are there to determine if it IS a clear airway anpnea and you want her to hold her breath?

[archangle]

When that happens, try holding your breath and seeing what happens. Or seal off your nose internally and breathe through your mouth.

Then concentrate on breathing regularly and seeing if it stops, and what part of the breathing cycle it happens on.

HOW STUPID IS THAT? The pulses are there to determine if it IS a clear airway anpnea and you want her to hold her breath?

DNFTT

[moccasin]

I have had pulsing pressure while breathing normally in CPAP on the ResMed S9 Autoset. It began shortly after starting use of the new machine. Had it replaced once and am having the issue researched by doc and therapists. Just ripped it off my head (2:30 a.m.) because it's driving me nuts and I can't believe it is "normal" or "healthy" to breathe this way. I notice it on awakening, steady pulsing in short bursts of one second or less on both in breath and out breath continuously. I did not have this problem with the Remstar plus I used previously. Hope I get an answer soon.

[DJ_Boxer]

I have had pulsing pressure while breathing normally in CPAP on the ResMed S9 Autoset. It began shortly after starting use of the new machine. Had it replaced once and am having the issue researched by doc and therapists. Just ripped it off my head (2:30 a.m.) because it's driving me nuts and I can't believe it is "normal" or "healthy" to breathe this way. I notice it on awakening, steady pulsing in short bursts of one second or less on both in breath and out breath continuously. I did not have this problem with the Remstar plus I used previously. Hope I get an answer soon.

Moccasin: I have the S9 Autoset on CPAP Mode and I had the pulsing same as you. What I did was I turned the EPR off (they set it to 3) when I was turning off the ramp(which I don't use). I have not had any pulsing since then. I believe your EPR is on which lowers the pressure during exhalation either 1,2 or 3cm's.

DJ

[moccasin]

I have been trying to notice what's going on with me and the machine (ResMed S9 Autoset) when I experience the rapid pulsing of pressure during breathing. It is occurring frequently when I awaken at night and almost always when I awaken in the morning. Sometimes it occurs throughout the breathing cycle until I turn off the machine. At other times, it occurs only at the end of a deep inhalation and for the first portion of the exhalation. Once it has begun a pattern of pulsation, it continues until I turn the machine off. I find it very disconcerting and am inclined to discontinue therapy until I get answers or resolution.

I am very interested in others' experiences and possible solutions. Thanks!

[Lizistired]

I have been trying to notice what's going on with me and the machine (ResMed S9 Autoset) when I experience the rapid pulsing of pressure during breathing. It is occurring frequently when I awaken at night and almost always when I awaken in the morning. Sometimes it occurs throughout the breathing cycle until I turn off the machine. At other times, it occurs only at the end of a deep inhalation and for the first portion of the exhalation. Once it has begun a pattern of pulsation, it continues until I turn the machine off. I find it very disconcerting and am inclined to discontinue therapy until I get answers or resolution.

I am very interested in others' experiences and possible solutions. Thanks!

Moccasin, It would be helpful if you would provide more information.
Your prescription pressure.
Your actual machine pressure, cpap or apap, minimum, maximum.
Ramp time, ramp start pressure.
EPR level, ramp only or always on.
Your AHI,
Leak.
Really can't help you without some info.

[Williamsimard]

I just got the a10 machine yesterday from Lincare in Bethlehem and it's doing the pulsating exactly like you're describing and I'm wondering how do I find my firmware version and what version is the update that corrects this problem and the epr turning that off will that also be needed in addition to the update ?

and is the update something that can be done wirelessly through their connection or do I need to load it onto an SD card and insert it into the machine ?

is there instructions for doing this or is it an auto load update where the machine will see the file and automatically update the firmware

my previous two CPAP machines neither of those had this issue and they are telling me the machine is bad but in seeing these posts I know it's not a bad machine

You really need to be your own advocate and I appreciate you having this website very much

thank you for your hard work and thank you to everyone in the community for posting

[palerider]

I just got the a10 machine yesterday from Lincare in Bethlehem and it's doing the pulsating exactly like you're describing and I'm wondering how do I find my firmware version and what version is the update that corrects this problem and the epr turning that off will that also be needed in addition to the update ?

and is the update something that can be done wirelessly through their connection or do I need to load it onto an SD card and insert it into the machine ?

is there instructions for doing this or is it an auto load update where the machine will see the file and automatically update the firmware

my previous two CPAP machines neither of those had this issue and they are telling me the machine is bad but in seeing these posts I know it's not a bad machine

You really need to be your own advocate and I appreciate you having this website very much

thank you for your hard work and thank you to everyone in the community for posting

Your machine isn't even made by the same manufacturer, and doesn't operate the same way. Look elsewhere.