Just getting started

[wiscman77]

I thought I had signed up here before, but can't find my first post...

I just got my CPAP about a month ago. I love it. Some comments:

1. The pressure was too light, at first. I had to turn the ramp to five minutes; it increases gradually. I haven't tried turning it off completely, but I am going to try that.

2. As a scuba diver, I have a regulator that has a venturi assist. It takes some of the incoming breath and re-routes it back to the intake valve, which pushes it open a bit more and creates a positive pressure. Exhaling into a regulator also involves a bit of pressure to overcome the valve holding shut. The better the regulator, the less pressure is need to open the exhaust valve.

3. Except for the fact that my mask is a nasal mask, the sensations are very similar. Breathing in gets a bit of a push, especially when I take a strong inhalation. And, exhaling is similar to exhaling through a regulator. It is a comfortable and comforting feeling.

4. I tend to be a mouth breather... It seems that my nasal mask also creates a mild partial vacuum in my mouth that actually holds my lips together. Strange feeling, especially when the excess air inflates my cheeks. LOL Hmmm...I wonder if that could be an apnea episode???

5. I am not crazy about the "score-keeping." If I take an afternoon nap, and also have one bathroom trip at night, I end up with THREE mask removals. Twp of these are at the end of sleep time; I don't think they should count. Actually, any removal for less than 5 minutes shouldn't count either.

I imagine that each machine has a different algorithm for its charting. But, in general, what is a good "score" to have each night?

[Julie]

Hi & welcome...

I'm a little confused by your keeping score with mask removals for night time and naps... what is it you see as being scored, and that 'shouldn't count'?

And turning the ramp up or down does not impact your scripted pressure settings... it has its own settings and isn't the same thing, only meant to make its climb to the scripted pressure easier for those who feel the need of a gradual climb (usually to quite a high pressure setting) and most of us turn the thing off the first week we're on Cpap. What are your pressure settings - should be somewhere between 4 and 20... and if the low one is only at 4, that would explain the difficulty of inhaling... and certainly you could bump that up to 6 or 7 for now. Leave the high one alone because it's not important for now, unless it's been set low (under 15 or lower) so could interfere with the low setting depending on things to be ascertained later.

And you can't have apneas when awake and/or aware, so forget that for now too.

I hope you're not trying to match up scuba algorithms with C- or Apap ones... they're not the same .

What we really need to help you is first the full name/model of your machine (not just 'Resmed" please), your mask, and scripted pressure settings. You can also include ramp setting time schedule, but as I said I'd just turn it off for now unless you can't take your machine going straight to the low scripted setting starting out.

[palerider]

Hi & welcome...

I'm a little confused by your keeping score with mask removals for night time and naps... what is it you see as being scored, and that 'shouldn't count'?

I think he's talking about those silly apps that resmed and respironics are pushing, as an alternative to real data.

[Julie]

Ah ha - no cellphone here so I'm behind on apps (and envious of those who have them, but also wonder how they keep track of them all ).

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

Hi & welcome...

I'm a little confused by your keeping score with mask removals for night time and naps... what is it you see as being scored, and that 'shouldn't count'?

I think he's talking about those silly apps that resmed and respironics are pushing, as an alternative to real data.

Yes it sounds like he's using Dream Mapper by Respironics (or something similar). Our DME uses downloads off of Dream Mapper and they are constantly getting onto us because of the disconnects and the odd 'readings' it gets when you get up for bathroom breaks or after naps.

[palerider]

Yes it sounds like he's using Dream Mapper by Respironics (or something similar). Our DME uses downloads off of Dream Mapper and they are constantly getting onto us because of the disconnects and the odd 'readings' it gets when you get up for bathroom breaks or after naps.

dreammapper is just the little app they give you, the DME and doctors have another program they view the uploaded data with, that gives them full printouts, probably much like encore does... not that most docs or DMEs actually LOOK at the data to make sure that your treatment is working.

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

Yes it sounds like he's using Dream Mapper by Respironics (or something similar). Our DME uses downloads off of Dream Mapper and they are constantly getting onto us because of the disconnects and the odd 'readings' it gets when you get up for bathroom breaks or after naps.

dreammapper is just the little app they give you, the DME and doctors have another program they view the uploaded data with, that gives them full printouts, probably much like encore does... not that most docs or DMEs actually LOOK at the data to make sure that your treatment is working.

Nope ours takes the info from Dream Mapper. It's a computer app and then transfers it to the website (https://www.mydreammapper.com/Account/L ... me%2FSleep) We've not had a download from anything except from this for two years now. They just get on our profile and print the stuff from there. No idea why they do it that way. They switched to it after we'd been doing the actual taking the card to them for a year. It's a bitch and a half to do

Updated because I looked into it a little more

From the site:
WHY IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA BEING PROCESSED? You have chosen to download and use the DreamMapper Application in conjunction with your therapy. We will use the personal data you and (if your Healthcare Provider uses our EncoreAnywhere product and you consent) your Healthcare Provider have provided to us in order to provide the functionality included in the DreamMapper Application, including to help you get the most out of your therapy through monitoring, analysis and correct use of your Therapy Device

So I guess our DME uses the EncoreAnyhere since they get the info from the DreamMapper.

EncoreAnywhere says 'EncoreAnywhere™ is a complete solution for gathering and sharing patients' compliance data over the web. Managing your patients' compliance data has never been so easy!'

[palerider]

Nope ours takes the info from Dream Mapper. It's a computer app and then transfers it to the website (https://www.mydreammapper.com/Account/L ... me%2FSleep) We've not had a download from anything except from this for two years now. They just get on our profile and print the stuff from there. No idea why they do it that way. They switched to it after we'd been doing the actual taking the card to them for a year. It's a bitch and a half to do

Updated because I looked into it a little more

From the site:
WHY IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA BEING PROCESSED? You have chosen to download and use the DreamMapper Application in conjunction with your therapy. We will use the personal data you and (if your Healthcare Provider uses our EncoreAnywhere product and you consent) your Healthcare Provider have provided to us in order to provide the functionality included in the DreamMapper Application, including to help you get the most out of your therapy through monitoring, analysis and correct use of your Therapy Device

So I guess our DME uses the EncoreAnyhere since they get the info from the DreamMapper.

EncoreAnywhere says 'EncoreAnywhere™ is a complete solution for gathering and sharing patients' compliance data over the web. Managing your patients' compliance data has never been so easy!'

dreammapper is the phone app that respironics provides for users, encoreanywhere is the software I was referring to that the doctors and DMEs use. they don't use the phone app. that's basically what I was saying, and encoreanywhere provides far more information than just a score and summary. there are various ways that the data can get to respironics, including cell modem. at any rate.... the disconnects thing is kinda stupid.

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

Nope ours takes the info from Dream Mapper. It's a computer app and then transfers it to the website (https://www.mydreammapper.com/Account/L ... me%2FSleep) We've not had a download from anything except from this for two years now. They just get on our profile and print the stuff from there. No idea why they do it that way. They switched to it after we'd been doing the actual taking the card to them for a year. It's a bitch and a half to do

Updated because I looked into it a little more

From the site:
WHY IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA BEING PROCESSED? You have chosen to download and use the DreamMapper Application in conjunction with your therapy. We will use the personal data you and (if your Healthcare Provider uses our EncoreAnywhere product and you consent) your Healthcare Provider have provided to us in order to provide the functionality included in the DreamMapper Application, including to help you get the most out of your therapy through monitoring, analysis and correct use of your Therapy Device

So I guess our DME uses the EncoreAnyhere since they get the info from the DreamMapper.

EncoreAnywhere says 'EncoreAnywhere™ is a complete solution for gathering and sharing patients' compliance data over the web. Managing your patients' compliance data has never been so easy!'

dreammapper is the phone app that respironics provides for users, encoreanywhere is the software I was referring to that the doctors and DMEs use. they don't use the phone app. that's basically what I was saying, and encoreanywhere provides far more information than just a score and summary. there are various ways that the data can get to respironics, including cell modem. at any rate.... the disconnects thing is kinda stupid.

I see. Well they also call the website we put our info dreammapper and its connected to encore which is so confusing. I have a dreammapper card reader app on my computer too.

The disconnects thing is annoying. I'd rather take my card somewhere but they don't let us

[palerider]

I see. Well they also call the website we put our info dreammapper and its connected to encore which is so confusing. I have a dreammapper card reader app on my computer too.

The disconnects thing is annoying. I'd rather take my card somewhere but they don't let us

basically, "encore" is the professional software, 'dreammapper' is the consumer end of things.

you can, if you're sufficiently masochistic, download encore and see what they see, but sleepyhead is much easier to use.

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

I see. Well they also call the website we put our info dreammapper and its connected to encore which is so confusing. I have a dreammapper card reader app on my computer too.

The disconnects thing is annoying. I'd rather take my card somewhere but they don't let us

basically, "encore" is the professional software, 'dreammapper' is the consumer end of things.

you can, if you're sufficiently masochistic, download encore and see what they see, but sleepyhead is much easier to use.

Yeah I like my sleepyhead lol the stuff from Dreammapper is crazy enough I don't want to venture into encore world haha

[yaconsult]

Please don't worry about that silly score! This is NOT a game. Much more important is the AHI number which tells you how many times per hour you stopped breathing and how you FEEL! Since your score is so high, that number has to be good too.

The apps and web sites with scores are just for the people who can't handle information. The machine records every singe breath you take and every episode you have. It's all on the memory card to analyze if you need it or just want to look. Download the wonderful, free SleepyHead software and you will be amazed!