mask type and cpap settings

selims · Post by **selims** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:59 pm

Hi All,

I am new to this site (but not to apnea, I had mild apnea diagnosed about 3 years ago ... and have had it for God knows how long before that). I have a ton of questions but I will begin with a specific one.

I was a mouth-breather but then I had a rapid palatal expansion (for reasons other than apnea) and discovered I could, for the first time in my life, breathe comfortably through my nose. Following which, I switched from a full-face mask to a nasal mask (ultra mirage). However, the settings were not changed on my machine (Resmed Autoset Respond). Last week, I was naughty and found how to view the Admin Settings on this machine on another site (which was when I discovered the incorrect setting). I found that the machine was set for a full-face mask, even though I have not used a full-face mask for over 6 months. In those 6 months I found that I would wake with uncomfortably high pressure in my mask and would have to turn the machine on and off (this happened frequently, and has not happened in the last week). Also, when I woke the pressure reading was usually around 10, whereas since I changed the setting to nasal mask (the setting is "ultra" on the machine) the pressure is about 5.

My question is, does the mask setting affect the pressure levels? Or is my experience just an anomoly? Any advice would be very appreciated.

Selims

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): mirage

RichCMH · Post by **RichCMH** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:42 pm

I believe the mask setting is so the collected data takes into account the leak or venting rate of each mask it can be set for. The machine will still keep the prescribed pressure(s).

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:53 pm

selims wrote:My question is, does the mask setting affect the pressure levels? Or is my experience just an anomoly? And if so, isn't that the point of apnea treatment (to get the pressures correct .. I read somewhere that incorrect (high) pressure can lead to central apnea)? Any advice would be very appreciated.

Selims, the answer can be both yes and no, depending upon the specific machine you use. If you will provide more info it will help. Very likely someone here knows about the specific machine you have.

The older machines, and probably even some sold now, had little in the way of compensation mechanisms and had to be set for specific masks. Many of the newer machines perform automatic leak compensation, and so the mask type makes little difference in pressure.

If you'll fill out the equipment listing in your profile, then that information will automatically be available for folks to view every time you post.

Regards,
Bill

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:40 pm

selims wrote:My question is, does the mask setting affect the pressure levels? Or is my experience just an anomoly?

Selims, although I don't have your machine, I found a list of its capabilities at this website:
http://resmed.com/Shared/StaticFiles/au ... an-usa.pdf

On the second page of the brochure, it states that your machine does have automatic leak compensation. If you had gone from a nasal mask to a full-face mask, I would therefore conclude that changing the mask would have had little effect on your therapy. However, you went the other way - from a full-face mask having high leakage to a nasal mask having low leakage. Could the machine accommodate the difference? I'm not familiar with your machine, and so I can't say. With the machines I'm familiar with, that wouldn't be a problem, but I have a suspicion with your machine that it just might be.

Hopefully, someone familiar with your machine will weigh in with a more informed response.

Regards,
Bill

selims · Post by **selims** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:54 pm

I contacted Resmed and they told me that I should change the settings. They didn't tell me why (which is annoying because I asked them specifically twice about the effect of the wrong settings (via email)). On another forum a reply I recieved said that even in the technical information that clinicians recieve there is no information about the role of the mask settings. That can't be right, can it?

Anyhow, I will phone them tomorrow and try to get more specifics.

Thank for the replies, if anyone knows anything more about this please let me know.

Selims

selims · Post by **selims** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:13 pm

Hi again,

As was suggested, the Autoset Respond is sensitive to the mask that is used due to the leak compensation. If the mask setting is incorrect then the treatment received will not be "appropriate." (As the resmed does not store diagnostic information, I figured that the first response above was incorrect).

This is from the "horses mouth," i.e. resmed. They were not specific about the effects but were clear about the fact that the settings are there for a reason and appropriate treatment means appropriate settings.

6 months of waking in the night wondering what was going on with the machine that was supposed to help me sleep.

When will they learn that the machines should have transparent instructions (for the patient and not for the clinician ... who in my case "forgot" to change the settings).

Thanks again for the responses,
Selims

mask type and cpap settings

mask type and cpap settings

Re: mask type and cpap settings

Thank you

As suggested ....