..instead of 1-year celebration (a bit long)

[n0hardmask]

I will probably be seeking some advice on getting used to VPAP... after 15 months of marginally successful APAP treatment, I scheduled a visit to the sleep Dr whose office did my recent sleep study. Study had confirmed my leg movement issues, near lack of deep sleep, and said I was 'treated' at 8cm*. But it has yet to be restful sleep, so I bought a Zeo to learn how fragmented my sleep really is.
*I was running 8 to 13 on my APAP but after the sleep study, I backed it down to 8 to 11 and if anything, my sleep may be worse. My pressures run from 9 to whatever the max is. My Apneas have been well controlled, but Hypopneas are anything from 8 to the teens each night.

The MD looked at my handwritten record of daily progress, and said I wasn't adequately controlled; and he needed a download of my S8. Took unit to DME (who had sold the spouse an S8 Auto 25 VPAP just 16 months ago) and was told they no longer could access data on S8 models!! [anger] Frustration! (to answer your next question, I have tried downloading the data myself, but could never get any computer to recognize the Resmed card reader.. Aaarrgh.)

When I asked the DME if DR had ordered anything, they said yes, a CPAP. Not Auto or anything else. I suggested to them and to the DR office that I should like to at least try a bilevel to see if it could help resolve my ongoing Hypopneas and/or Centrals. Negative response. I waited over a week to see if anything changed; I heard nothing after the negative reply from DR's office.

Sooo, I had been thinking about the BiPap S9 as an option, and yesterday took a leap and ordered "Gently Used ResMed S9 VPAP Auto with EPR and Heated Humidifier" from SecondWindCpap. I hope to tame the hypopneas and find out whether Centrals or (what?) are giving me all the arousals each night. Under PCP supervision, I have over the past several months resorted to 5mg Ambien and an RLS med- ROPINIROLE at night, but am having really rough nights.
No specific questions just yet; by next week I likely will though. I have browsed a few threads on beginners's bilevel, and SecondWind said they would preset the machine based on my history of pressures. BTW, again, many thanks for all your support the last 1.4 years. Wouldn't have made it without this forum! earl

[justpam]

Hope you get your therapy working to your advantage soon. Others will chime in about that, I'm sure.
I just wanted to tell you that you will not regret doing business with Mark and crew @ secondwind.
When they say "gently used" it's exactly that. I bought a back-up S9 for a fraction of "new" price.
Excellent/un-used looking unit with only 130 hrs on it. Yep, I'm happy.

Between our hosts and 2nd wind, all my needs are met without involving my insurance any further than they already are

Good luck to you.

Pam

[n0hardmask]

Hi, all. Received my s9 VPAP S from 2ndWindCPAP yesterday, so I tinkered with it to get used to it. I was expecting to have a rough night because it's so different from my plain-jane S8 Auto. To my surprise, I rested better than 'average of late' which has been on the rough side.

My settings were pre-loaded by 2ndWind before shipping:
Max Ipap 15 _____ Min Epap 9 _____ PS 6
T| Max 2.0 _____ T| Min 0.2
Trigger was med, but I set it to Low to ease the switchover; it was ahead of me in cycling
Cycle Med I thought of changing that, but didn't know which way to go, so I left it alone.

for Results, which are somewhat meaningless since I was awake at least 2 hours acclimating:
Vt 520 ml _____ RR 14 _____ MV 7.3 L/min
%Spont T 100 _____ %Spont C 88
AHI 8.6 _____ total AI 8.1 _____ Central 7.9
I'll be very interested to see how the numbers do as I spend more time sleeping- less tinkering. I suspect the Centrals may be meaningful; but time will tell. I have been showing a large HI on the S8 Auto, that I've suspected could be centrals... well, enough rambling for now. earl out.

[Beckah54]

Interesting about the centrals, earl. I went from an auto adjusting cpap to a PRS1 Bipap and had a huge (to me) increase in centrals. I also showed mostly hypopneas on the auto adjust but very few centrals, 1 or 2 per night.

I read an article stating that a lot of people display more centrals when switched to BiPap/VPap. It was an old study if I remember correctly. (See below) Pugsy said they might calm down a bit after some adjustment time but I felt much worse in the mornings on Bipap. Not so good when you have to go to work. I have decided to retire so I'll give the BiPap another try when I don't have to worry so much about functioning at work.

Here's a link to the study (posted in October 2005) if you would like to read it.

http://journal.publications.chestnet.or ... id=1083869

Best of luck with your VPap. I would be interested in comparing notes with you about centrals after I start back on the BiPap next week.

Beckah

[Xney]

It takes a bit to adjust to VPAP, just has a very different 'feel' to it.

Please post your data when you get a good night or two on it!

[n0hardmask]

It takes a bit to adjust to VPAP, just has a very different 'feel' to it.

Please post your data when you get a good night or two on it!

So far, so good as far as adapting. Now to the fun part.. trying to post these screencaps.
Sunday night: Friday night, 26th:
wed night, I think the best night, curiously: and the first full night- Tue:
I'm heading out on a trip and may be out of pocket a few days. Will check back when I can get online. I'm definitely showing up with lots of centrals; many of them clustered around very light sleeping periods.