Anybody else noticed this on the modern machines?

[ResmedUser]

You get them and hardly any of them actually blow at the pressure they are supposed to blow at. For example if your minimum APAP pressure is 11, when you set your computer settings to 11, I and my DME are getting actual readings either under or over 11. For example I have had three Resmed APAPs in the last year and not one was correct. One was set for 11, but blew at like 10.6. I exchanged that one and got one that blew a 10.9 at 11. Then a third Resmed APAP, at a setting of 11, it blows at 10.6 and my DME had to artificially raise the setting to 11.2. And it STILL does not blow a true 11! If I raise that one to 11.4 to artificially boost the real pressure, it then blows 11.3. Really exact, good engineering and manufacturing, huh?

Then this high end Respironics I got recently from my DME. My own DME guy admitted to me he had to set it at 11.5 to get it to blow an 11. Actually it blows more like an 11.3 artificially adjusted like that.

My prescribed minimum pressure is 11. Not 10.6, not 10.7, not 10.8, not 11.3.

WTF is up with these CPAP manufacturers? It did not used to be like this. When I got my original gear years ago all of them blew what they were programmed to blow.

I think I am going to start looking for other ways to treat my OSA. I could still lose another forty pounds. I might look into that jaw procecure where they break and reset your jaw to fix your airway. Ive also been told I have some excess tissue in the back of my throat. Seems like Resmed and Respironics are not paying attention to quality control like they used to and just going for the money and screw the patients.

Anybody know of a German made CPAP manufacturer? They still do things right.

Mikey

[TooGroggy]

What do you use to measure the pressure?

[Slinky]

They use a manometer, TooGroggy.

[ResmedUser]

What do you use to measure the pressure?

Well, the pressure is measured three times. First at my DME but the DME I am currently using is slack and they probably do not even calibrate their pressure checking equipment often. I am getting ready to dump them completely. They have sent me three Resmed APAPs, none of which blew an 11 or even a close enough 11.1.

I check my own equipment with a gauge that I bought from CPAP.com, adjusted with a small screwdriver.Then I follow that up with a Fisher and Pykel water manometer and that thing NEVER LIES.

All of the recent ones I have gotten either blow below or above the computer set pressure. My current DME claims "this is the norm." I have trouble believing that but if it is true, its a sign quality control is going downhill. Because that would mean you can only get an approximate minimum pressure...somewhere a little below or a little above your prescribed minimum pressure.

I have found that as little as a few tenths of a point below my prescribed minimum pressure and I get OSA symptoms to come back. On the other hand, just a few tenths of a point above my prescribed minimum pressure and I begin getting sharp stomach pains (I have a hiatal hernia/GERD) and I begin feeling overactivated.

Again, Ive now had four Resmed APAPs in less than a year and none of them blew a real 11 at a computer setting of 11. WTF is up with that? It was not like this when I started getting this CPAP gear three and a half years ago. The equipment I got blew what it was set at.

Mikey

[ResmedUser]

I even ordered an S9 from CPAP.com recently. I specifically told them I wanted an APAP that blew at my prescribed minimum and not above nor below. You know what I got? A new S9 that was set at 11.2 to artificially boost the pressure. I went into the clinical menu and dropped it to 11.0 and you know what the thing really blows? 10.6, maybe 10.7. Ridiculous. I blew a bunch of my own cash and cant get anything done right.

Evidently the issue is with Resmed.

Ive decided I just want to get bariatric surgery done so I dont have a weight problem anymore and maybe have a throat surgery done to make my airway better and to hell with all this CPAP gear. I still need to lose 45 lbs and I bet at the minimum my pressures would dramatically decrease or my OSA would go away after 45 more lbs lost.

Mikey

[ResmedUser]

This is the real reason I am so ticked off right now btw, I cant get jack done correctly. Everybody wants your money but they dont want to do any real work to earn it. WTF happened to quality control? Is QC a lost concept in this post 2008 economy?

Mikey

[Hueffenhardt]

According to the User Manual (http://www.resmed.com/au/assets/documen ... ow_eng.pdf) for the ResMed S9 AutoSet:

"Pressure measurement tolerance ±0.5 cm H2O ± 4% of the measured reading".

So, for a target pressure of 11, they are supposed to have a pressure measurement tolerance range of 10.06 to 11.94. It looks like all of your readings were well within that. So, ResMed provided pressure exactly within the range their literature said that they would provide it in. Good job, ResMed!

[ResmedUser]

According to the User Manual (http://www.resmed.com/au/assets/documen ... ow_eng.pdf) for the ResMed S9 AutoSet:

"Pressure measurement tolerance ±0.5 cm H2O ± 4% of the measured reading".

So, for a target pressure of 11, they are supposed to have a pressure measurement tolerance range of 10.06 to 11.94. It looks like all of your readings were well within that. So, ResMed provided pressure exactly within the range their literature said that they would provide it in. Good job, ResMed!

Yeah and I wont be buying anymore Resmed gear from here on out either. I think I am going to start looking for a new mask to switch to even. I used to like Resmed, not anymore. I could tell a big difference in quality with their newer S8 II APAPs and the S9s too. What a rip. An expensive machine ought to have tighter tolerances than what Resmed spouts.

Mikey

[ResmedUser]

I wonder how many OSA patients Resmed has killed with tolerances that loose? That means if my sleep doc prescribes me a titrated pressure of 11, my machine could be 10.5 to 11.5 and still be legal. That is an ENTIRE POINT OF PSI. And they also wont give their patients their software, unless you about order your sleep doc to rx it to you. Or get a bootlegged copy, which I am not into that sort of thing.

Resmed is not a company I want to do business with.

Mikey

[ResmedUser]

According to the User Manual (http://www.resmed.com/au/assets/documen ... ow_eng.pdf) for the ResMed S9 AutoSet:

"Pressure measurement tolerance ±0.5 cm H2O ± 4% of the measured reading".

So, for a target pressure of 11, they are supposed to have a pressure measurement tolerance range of 10.06 to 11.94. It looks like all of your readings were well within that. So, ResMed provided pressure exactly within the range their literature said that they would provide it in. Good job, ResMed!

You work for Resmed by any chance? You sell their gear? I cannot imagine anyone supporting Resmed with loose tolerances like they have unless their is some financial conflict of interest there.

Mikey

[xenablue]

I even ordered an S9 from CPAP.com recently. I specifically told them I wanted an APAP that blew at my prescribed minimum and not above nor below. You know what I got? A new S9 that was set at 11.2 to artificially boost the pressure. I went into the clinical menu and dropped it to 11.0 and you know what the thing really blows? 10.6, maybe 10.7. Ridiculous. I blew a bunch of my own cash and cant get anything done right.

Looks like you got exactly what you asked for - your machine calibrated to the demanded pressure, regardless of what it SAID (11.2).
Good luck finding a machine that is EXACT. There is a permissable variance for a reason.

Evidently the issue is with Resmed.
I'm guessing it's not just Resmed - it's not evident at all as you haven't shown that no other machine has the same issue. And NO, I'm not biased because I have a Resmed - it matters not to me what machine I have as long as it does what I want it to do.

Ive decided I just want to get bariatric surgery done so I dont have a weight problem anymore and maybe have a throat surgery done to make my airway better and to hell with all this CPAP gear. I still need to lose 45 lbs and I bet at the minimum my pressures would dramatically decrease or my OSA would go away after 45 more lbs lost.

Mikey

Gee, and you were being so rude to a regular poster on here that she needed to lose 50lbs - can't be bothered to go looking for the exact words, but they were there. Perhaps you should stop throwing stones.

[SleepingUgly]

Mikey, you seem to be under a lot of stress lately. Do you have health insurance? Is there a mental health professional you can talk to that can help you sort everything out?

[Hueffenhardt]

You work for Resmed by any chance? You sell their gear? I cannot imagine anyone supporting Resmed with loose tolerances like they have unless their is some financial conflict of interest there.

Mikey

No, my job is completely unrelated to CPAP, etc. And I have no financial interest in ResMed.

I do however, do my research before I buy anything. I read the user manual before I decided to buy the S9 AutoSet. I knew of its pressure tolerances and compared it with the F&P ICON Auto among others. I knew what I was getting before I bought it.

[DoriC]

I think I read somewhere that one must be at least 100lbs overweight to even be considered for bariatric surgery and must also undergo rigorous psychological testing.

[NightMonkey]

I might look into that jaw procecure where they break and reset your jaw to fix your airway.

Mikey

Here is some financial help on that surgery. I will do the first half of the procedure for no charge.