DreamStation: bipap?

Hi all. Last night with pressure raised from 5 to 6 I did better with inhalation.

Still having problems with exhalation though. So much pressure ears are stuffed.

S/W RT at docs office for first time today. She suggested I either have a titration study or ask the doc to switch my machine to bipap mode.

Does Bipap give exhalation relief? Does DreamStation even have that?

I thought the only way I could get exhale relief on this machine is by raising FLEX from 1 or 2 to 3, which i understand doesn't really do much, nor give the exhale relief a Resmed machine would.

Any input?


Thx

BiPaps....bilevel pressure machines offer greater exhale relief than you can get using the Flex exhale relief.
Plus they also offer Flex relief with the bilevel pressures...so you get the best of both worlds if you get a Respironics bilevel machine.

And yes...There is a DreamStation Bilevel machine.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/pr-dre ... chine.html

BiPap is actually Respironics marketing term for a bilevel pressure machine.
ResMed uses a different marketing term but they work the same way with
bilevel meaning 2 pressure settings available independent of each other. One for inhale and one for exhale.

For exhale relief it is the difference between inhale and exhale that makes the inhale/exhale function much less difficult.
It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't been able to compare what it feels like but a difference of 3 or 4 cm between the inhale and exhale is often simply easier to manage than 1 pressure.. The drop during exhale is more of a significant drop and just makes for easier respiration for some people.
You can't get that much of a drop with Flex relief...you can only get part of the drop and if you are a rather shallow breather not even that much. With the 2 settings available you get the drop no matter how forceful your breathing is or isn't.

Because bilevel machines are more expensive often we have more hoops to jump through to get insurance to cover the costs...and that's where the doctor has to help with documentation that a person can't use regular cpap.

Bipap would require a DreamStation BiPAP Pro or DreamStation Auto BiPAP machine. So you are right your's cannot be set for BiPap, PRO is a fixed model which might be all you need but I would try to get the AUTO.

Thank you both.

It seems a DreamStation Auto Bipap might be the best option if I were to stick with DreamStation.

It is also clear to me that my doc's RT either doesn't know enough to help me, or isn't giving the effort necessary to help me, if she thinks she can "switch my machine to bipap mode" and I will "feel the difference tonight".

Hopefullady wrote:She suggested I either have a titration study or ask the doc to switch my machine to bipap mode.

I missed this comment...your machine doesn't have a bipap mode available at all unless you aren't using the DreamStation Auto CPAP.

OkyDoky is correct...you would need a new/different machine to have bilevel pressures unless you already have one of those machines and that would be highly unlikely that they would have given you that model machine to start with and set it up in cpap mode.
Bilevel machines also have cpap mode available.

Pugsy wrote:

Hopefullady wrote:She suggested I either have a titration study or ask the doc to switch my machine to bipap mode.

I missed this comment...your machine doesn't have a bipap mode available at all unless you aren't using the DreamStation Auto CPAP.

OkyDoky is correct...you would need a new/different machine to have bilevel pressures unless you already have one of those machines and that would be highly unlikely that they would have given you that model machine to start with and set it up in cpap mode.
Bilevel machines also have cpap mode available.

Great. Thanks Pugsy.

Your Dreamstation Auto CPAP is a very nice machine, and your current pressure requirements of 5-6 will make getting an Auto BiPAP approved nearly impossible as your pressure requirements are not high enough to require pressure support (separate inhale and exhale pressure). The minimum pressure any of these machines can provide is 4.0 cmH2O. You are only 1 to 2 cm above that.

As you adapt to your machine, it will become much more comfortable, and the sense of exhaling against pressure will diminish ore go away entirely. I just think you should know the odds of persuading anyone that a bilevel device is medically necessary is a pretty tall order. Your time would be better spent learning to become comfortable with the therapy you have.

Hopefullady wrote:Hi all. Last night with pressure raised from 5 to 6 I did better with inhalation.

Still having problems with exhalation though. So much pressure ears are stuffed.

S/W RT at docs office for first time today. She suggested I either have a titration study or ask the doc to switch my machine to bipap mode.

Does Bipap give exhalation relief? Does DreamStation even have that?

I thought the only way I could get exhale relief on this machine is by raising FLEX from 1 or 2 to 3, which i understand doesn't really do much, nor give the exhale relief a Resmed machine would.

Any input?


Thx

Have you tried setting up a "ramp"? This works very well for a lot of people. It helped me a great deal and in a little while I could handle higher pressure with ease.

Hopefullady wrote:Hi all. Last night with pressure raised from 5 to 6 I did better with inhalation.

What are your pressure settings? Do you use SleepyHead to look at your results?

- edit - oops. DreamStation means no SleepyHead. You can still look at your pressure settings and range on the display. EncorePro will work, even though it's a pain to install and not nearly as good as SleepyHead.

Is 6 your minimum pressure, your maximum pressure, or what? Are you in APAP mode? If in APAP mode, how hight does your pressure get during the night?

If your max pressure is 7 or less, you can just use flex and get basically the same relief that a bilevel/BiPAP would do.

How long have you been having trouble exhaling? Was there some change that made this happen?