Settings from Philips APAP to Resmed bilevel

[boxofrain]

Hi all, as it turned out I was able to locate a "backup" machine here locally and bought it yesterday for $400 cash. Good price? I think so but if I overpaid by a bit it's fine. I bought a Resmed Aircurve 10 VAuto and it seems to work perfectly. My question is this: The settings that seem to work best so far on my Philips Dreamstation APAP are 8.5/13. Everything else including Ramp etc are off. I have experimented with many pressures on the DS and this seems to be best at the moment. So how would these pressures translate not only to a BiPAP, but a totally different brand? Could someone give me a starting suggestion as to the Max iPAP, Min ePAP as well as PS? Please base it on what my settings are on the Dreamstation. Anything else I should know? Thanks ALL in advance! I am still a newbie but learning more every day!

[Okie bipap]

Set the Min EPAP to 5.5, Max IPAP to 13 and PS of 3. This will be close to what you currently have. Others will say to put the max IPAP to 25 and let the machine go where it wants to, but what I recommend is closely mimic what you are currently using.

[Pugsy]

Were you using Flex exhale relief at all? If so, at what setting?

Did you ever hit your max of 13 on the apap?

And yes...good price depending on the hours of use for the ResMed AirCaurve Vauto. Extremely good price if low hours.

[boxofrain]

No, not using flex. So how would that translate to this machine.
Thanks I think decent price. I can’t remember the exact hours but I approximated that it was close to a year. Not super low but not bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[boxofrain]

Oh and no I don’t hit my max of 13 on resmed!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pugsy]

PS is sort of like Flex but you weren't using Flex.

To make it work like your apap you would need PS to be set to 0....so minimum EPAP 8.4 and PS of 0 and max IPAP of 13 would be close.
The ResMed does 0.2 cm increments so you can't match it exactly...since there is no 8.5 available. With PS set to zero the bilevel essentially functions like the apap.

Now...all that said...OkieBipap gave you some excellent advice. You have a machine that will do more and be more comfortable while doing it and is also an excellent starting point.

The ResMed algorithm is different...and you probably wouldn't need the same apap settings as you were using with the Respironics machine even if you went to a ResMed apap much less this bilevel machine.
I have gone from a Respironics apap to a ResMed apap to now the ResMed AirCurve 10 Vauto.....the differences in the algorithms and adding in PS....will enable you to use less EPAP minimum and very likely be more comfortable doing it.

Just play with the settings and see what feels the best to you.
I really like PS...you may or may not but give it a try.

If you never hit the max of 13 on the Respironics machine it doesn't really matter what the max IPAP setting is as long as whatever you set it at isn't hit. I leave mine wide open but it rarely goes past 12. Just because it can go to 25 max IPAP doesn't mean it changes anything in terms of response or anything like that. I could set it to 13 or 15 or 19 or the 25 and it doesn't really matter because the machine only goes to where it thinks it needs to go. Sort of like your car being able to go to 120 mph...it's a moot point unless you put your foot to the floor.

[boxofrain]

So what are your guesses regarding what will happen using the new machine? I will try it tonight at PS 2 as a true BiPAP. I guess that could be a start, right?
Will my results be better, same or worse than the Dreamstation? No reason to believe there would be a higher AHI, right? What do you think?

[Pugsy]

Well....there is a reason I went from apap to a bilevel machine.
I got better results and was more comfortable getting those better results....and I slept better which for me is and has been my primary goal always. Not numbers.

It's darn near impossible to predict how much (if any) change there will be in the AHI because of the different algorithms involved for one thing and the other is we don't sleep the same each night even if we didn't change machines.

If you use the 5.5 EPAP minimum and 2 PS which gives you 7.5 IPAP to start with...that's a bit lower than what you were getting with the apap and I just don't know how much difference the algorithm will make up for. I wouldn't expect a horribly higher AHI though.
on the apap you were getting 8.5 epap and no change in ipap since Flex wasn't used.