Forced to Switch is Taking the Plunge

[portiemom]

Well, tonites the nite I'm taking the Plunge from my "Tank" to the S9 Autoset. I read my numbers from the Tank just now, the range of data is from May 14, 2011 to this morning, January 20, 2012 (ooo to long without reading them) but I vow to do it once a week, it's just I hate the computer and really don't know what I'm looking at:

Average time in Apena per day 1.3 min.
Average time in Large Leak per day 4.5 min
Average AHI 2.0
Cpap 9.5 cm H20

Last night (boo hoo) with the old "Tank" but the new mask I will use with the S9 Autoset my numbers were:

OA: 0.3
H: 0.5
VS: 5.9
AHI: 0.8
Large Leak 0.0
Time in Large Leak 0.0
Average Leak 34.55

So can you please tell me how to set the S9 Autoset, as I've had to use Cpap mode on the "Tank"
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to a great experience, (to quote Madonna, I feel like a virgin), excited and scared.
Pugsy any ideas ?
Thanks

[Pugsy]

Well your cpap pressure on the tank of 9.5 cm is obviously doing a really good job.
Of course you can use the Autoset in cpap mode at same pressure and likely get the same results but that takes all the fun out of having a new APAP machine doesn't it?

EPR exhale relief is a per cm drop per the setting in the pressure during exhale. It is going to feel different than what you are used to and we sometimes have to adjust the pressure up a little if we use EPR since it is a much larger drop than you get with the Respironics Flex settings.
So you can choose a 1 cm drop...2 cm drop or a 3 cm drop. I would suggest that you try each one to see which one "feels" more comfortable to you. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. There is also a setting in the clinical menu for the speed of the change from inhale to exhale...I think the default is medium and I would suggest you leave it at that for now.

Since you are used to 9.5 cm pressure I imagine you might find starting out much below that a bit stifling.
Since you aren't used to pressure variations I would keep the pressure ranges rather tight now and maybe open them up a little later if the need is shown. Since we don't know if 9.5 is the least you need or happens to be a worse case scenario number I think I would go rather conservative with the APAP settings for the first time.

I think I would do 8 cm minimum and 12 cm maximum. Set the EPR to whatever feels best to you. Then see what the report looks like tomorrow. If you happen to like EPR at 3 we may need to allow for it a little more with the settings. You could of course use a lower minimum but from my own experience going down in pressure can seem rather stifling when we are used to higher pressures. Also the machine can't go below 4 cm...if you used 3 cm EPR..at a minimum pressure of 7 you then have 4 cm pressure..quite easy to exhale against but it might let a few events sneak past the defenses along with being rather stifling.

I would keep the range rather tight for now till you see if the pressure changes which might occur in APAP mode disturb your sleep or not. Also we can then evaluate if you need a higher maximum.
From your Respironics data...I doubt you need more than 12 on any consistent basis but you never know.

So I would suggest you test EPR before you go to bed....get that sorted out.
If you prefer no EPR...you could probably use 7 minimum and 12 maximum.

[teknomom]

Well, tonites the nite I'm taking the Plunge from my "Tank" to the S9 Autoset.

Best of Luck tonight!! I hope it all goes much easier than you could ever imagine!

[portiemom]

Thank you Pugsy and Technomom, I am looking forward to great things, AHHHHHHHHHHH