accrn's therapy thread

[Gryphon]

On a side note - not to stir up any problems,

My issue with ramp "personally" was that it caused issues later with Mask Fit (when I was first starting off with CPAP) - if I didn't remember I had to fit my mask for therapy pressure later on in the night...

But it seams like most machines have a "Mask Fit" function now that you can turn on while your masking up that should give you full pressure, so you can check for leaks, then go back to ramp land and drift off to sleep with the lower starting pressure. Just don't forget you need to fit your mask when your in normal pressure ranges not during ramp. (I could be wrong about this but I don't think so)

As far as ramp... I don't like it - but that's just me... If you really really need it. Make sure you understand how it works then do what ever makes you sleep better.

Best of luck!

Gryphon

[accrn]

You could also look at turning off the modem for a while... then you can go in and setup any pressure changes you would like to try... The machine will keep recording the needed info that "insurance wants" and as far as the DME or Doctors office trying to remote back into your machine to change them back... well unless they break into your house they're not going to be able to do squat.

It's worth a try if you want to try higher pressures etc...

Best of luck.

Gryphon

That's a great idea. I will give that a try.
If they catch me, I'll just plead ignorance, LOL.

[accrn]

I am also looking at purchasing a machine out of pocket (AirSense 10 for her) with income tax refund (providing we eventually have a working gov't again soon). And once I have my own machine I can explore auto mode.

Hi accrn,

I use the AirSense 10 for Her and I really like the the Auto Ramp feature.

It seems to be pretty accurate, every time I look at a nights data I can see when ramp is on, switches off and it seems to line up fairly well when I believe I fell asleep. And if after 30 minutes it hasn't detected sleep onset it will ramp to proper APAP mode.

For competitive purposes my settings are:
Ramp: Auto
Ramp: 8 cm
APAP: 9.6 - 12 cm
EPR: on (3 cm)

What I like about ResMeds Auto Ramp:

• Seems to me fairly accurate
• I can easily tell when I fell asleep
• If I awaken during the night, I often turn the machine off, then on again. This creates a wake up marker on my sleepyhead graphs, and the Auto Ramp lets me know when I'm sleeping again.
  While in Auto Ramp, I don't get flagged with SWJ.

My ramp pressure, 8cm, is fairly close to my minimum pressure 9.6 and typical pressure 11. My only suggestion is to try to get to a point where your ramp pressure isn't to far away from your typical pressure. This way if it detects you need more pressure while in ramp, it doesn't have as far to go to meet your needs.

Thank you! I've bookmarked your post for future reference. I am very much hoping to be able to purchase a ResMed machine soon.

[accrn]

On a side note - not to stir up any problems,

My issue with ramp "personally" was that it caused issues later with Mask Fit (when I was first starting off with CPAP) - if I didn't remember I had to fit my mask for therapy pressure later on in the night...

But it seams like most machines have a "Mask Fit" function now that you can turn on while your masking up that should give you full pressure, so you can check for leaks, then go back to ramp land and drift off to sleep with the lower starting pressure. Just don't forget you need to fit your mask when your in normal pressure ranges not during ramp. (I could be wrong about this but I don't think so)

As far as ramp... I don't like it - but that's just me... If you really really need it. Make sure you understand how it works then do what ever makes you sleep better.

Best of luck!

Gryphon

This is a very good point! As I seem to be "super" sensitive to leaks, I will make sure I check for fit at my full pressures.

[palerider]

You could also look at turning off the modem for a while... then you can go in and setup any pressure changes you would like to try... The machine will keep recording the needed info that "insurance wants" and as far as the DME or Doctors office trying to remote back into your machine to change them back... well unless they break into your house they're not going to be able to do squat.

It's worth a try if you want to try higher pressures etc...

Best of luck.

Gryphon

That's a great idea. I will give that a try.
If they catch me, I'll just plead ignorance, LOL.

Or, you can just say "It's my machine, and I'm making my therapy work the absolute best way possible... all the insurance company cares about is that I *USE* the machine they're paying for, I'm *USING IT*.

[accrn]

palerider,
I like that approach! They don't seem to know what the crap they're talking about anyway.

[palerider]

palerider,
I like that approach! They don't seem to know what the crap they're talking about anyway.

I know that there's good doctors out there, (Chunkyfrog has one), I know that there's good DMEs out there... (Pugsy has one). I know that there's good sleep techs out there (Jason over at freecpapadvice.com is one).

But, it seems that they're the exception, not the rule, otherwise, why would we all be here... we didn't come here because we were getting great care from our doctors and great service from our DMEs... we came here because we'd been failed.

(well, most of us did, I came here because I'd been scared off of sleep tests and sleep doctors by my brother's very bad experience, so technically, I didn't give 'em a chance to fail me, I just figured they would).

[Dog Slobber]

I know that there's good doctors out there, (Chunkyfrog has one), I know that there's good DMEs out there... (Pugsy has one). I know that there's good sleep techs out there (Jason over at freecpapadvice.com is one).

But, it seems that they're the exception, not the rule, otherwise, why would we all be here... we didn't come here because we were getting great care from our doctors and great service from our DMEs... we came here because we'd been failed.

I'll add one more to the list of failures.

The system itself.

For me, none of the doctors failed, per se. It was the Canadian Healthcare System. I've learned that our system is fine if you have minor issues or life-threatening emergencies, but everything in between is just broken.

I think that might be why my Sleep Doctor is so accommodating to my self-management. How could she in good conscience tell me, "You shouldn't be changing the settings of your machine, we'll see you again in 6 months."

[Pugsy]

I think that might be why my Sleep Doctor is so accommodating to my self-management. How could she in good conscience tell me, "You shouldn't be changing the settings of your machine, we'll see you again in 6 months."

IMHO the really good and really smart doctors are the ones that will freely admit that they don't know everything and are willing to embraced the patient being an active participant in their own therapy for anything. Those are the keepers.

[accrn]

Hello All,
I have switched from the P10 nasal pillows to the Nuance Pro while I wait for the Brevida to arrive in my quest to find something that I won't wiggle out of quite so often. Honestly, I don't like the pillows quite as much, but for the last two nights, it hasn't seemed to leak enough to wake me up... fingers crossed. Here are my charts from the 2 nights I was wearing it. It seems like things look pretty good... The snoring is most likely from when I was on my back. I've woken up in excruciating pain about the time the snoring seems to stop on the graphs.

SH 1.27.19.PNG (69.38 KiB) Viewed 758 times

SH 1.28.19.PNG (73.51 KiB) Viewed 758 times

[accrn]

These are the 2 nights previous to switching to the Nuance Pro. I was wearing the P10 for these.

SH 1.25.19 p10.PNG (78.3 KiB) Viewed 758 times

SH 1.26.19 p10.PNG (80.29 KiB) Viewed 758 times

[palerider]

Well... the leak lines look good... now if you can get the little leaks to quit bothering you.

Did you say you've tried earplugs?

[accrn]

Well... the leak lines look good... now if you can get the little leaks to quit bothering you.

Did you say you've tried earplugs?

So far, with the Nuance Pro, I haven't had any leaks that woke me up (fingers crossed that this trend continues). It isn't the noise that bothers me, it's the feeling of leaking air on my face, so earplugs won't help. Good suggestion though.

[palerider]

Well... the leak lines look good... now if you can get the little leaks to quit bothering you.

Did you say you've tried earplugs?

So far, with the Nuance Pro, I haven't had any leaks that woke me up (fingers crossed that this trend continues). It isn't the noise that bothers me, it's the feeling of leaking air on my face, so earplugs won't help. Good suggestion though.

How about a balaclava?

[accrn]

Well... the leak lines look good... now if you can get the little leaks to quit bothering you.

Did you say you've tried earplugs?

So far, with the Nuance Pro, I haven't had any leaks that woke me up (fingers crossed that this trend continues). It isn't the noise that bothers me, it's the feeling of leaking air on my face, so earplugs won't help. Good suggestion though.

How about a balaclava?

I'm not ruling anything out! I may end up mummy wrapping my head every night!