BiPap Auto Going Crazy

[oakmont]

I've been successfully doing my cpap for a little under a month.. I have close to 100 hours on my machine. Currently i believe the device is programmed with a max pressure of 20 and min of 4.

Recently, Ive been awakened (2 nites now) with the machine pumping the max 20 pressure in inhale and 15 on exhale... the pressure and the noise from the machine wakes me... i find that I can turn if off, and back on and it seems to "reset" its pressure and I can fall back to sleep...

previously I was on 17 cpap and didnt have a lot of problems however, my dme thought i might be more comfortable with the bipap auto..

any idea why this machine seems to stick at 20/15, even when I wake up it doesn settle down, which I thought it was supposed to do since it is "automatic"

I'd love to see the programming guide for it, so far no luck finding one

[dderrick]

Have you done any Airline travel with your Cpap?
When you look at the display is there a change in the Therapy hours and the blower hours from night to night?

I had very similar probpem with my Cpap from this manufacturer. After 1400 hours I returned one ( 3-weeks ago) because the blower was on full throttle and it felt like my eardrums were about to blow. The second indication something waas wrong is that Therey Hours was not increasing but Blower hours was increasing. The third issue was that that the unit did automatically come on within a few seconds of placing the mask on my face,

The second unit I received stopped working after 1 week and the problems started immediately after connecting the unit in the Hotel. 1) Cpap started by itself had to turn off wiith the on-off button. This cycle repeated 4 times before I could get it to stay off. 2) Therepy Hours does not increase night to night but blower hours does. 3) Auto-On does not work.

Since I travel frequently I was equating the problem to travel. I alwats carry it on the flight so it is not exposed to unusual circumstances.

[GumbyCT]

any idea why this machine seems to stick at 20/15, even when I wake up it doesn settle down, which I thought it was supposed to do since it is "automatic"

Sounds like it is doing as it's supposed to. When you have events the pressure should increase to open your airway. It sounds as if it is doing that but when the pressure gets to high, it likely wakes you.

You can also use the ramp feature to lower the pressure if your DME has set it, if not contact your DME and let them know what your are experiencing.

Good Luck,
GumbyCT

[RonS]

I had a similar experience when I allowed the machine to "do whatever it wants" by setting the maximum way up. It may be beneficial to you to cap the machine at the 17 you were (I assume) titrated to by sleep study, and set the minimum epap to something a little closer to your max, say 10 or 12.

You should be loking at the data coming from your machine to try to figure out what is going on, too.

I'll send you a PM.

[rested gal]

I agree with Gumby that it sounds like the machine is doing what it's supposed to do. Especially since you said your prescribed pressure would be 17 if using straight cpap.

That was very nice of your DME to suggest the BiPAP Auto for you, but I think the doctor (or DME) was misguided in setting EPAP way down at 4.

I agree with RonS that it would probably be better to raise that "Min EPAP" (minimum EPAP) up much, much closer to your prescribed cpap pressure.

If I'd been prescribed 17, and had changed to a BiPAP Auto, I'd set the min EPAP at 12 or 13. I don't think the 20 for max IPAP is a problem...I'd leave that set up at 20. But I'd definitely raise the min EPAP up a LOT higher than the "4" it's presently set at.

Since you mentioned having been using cpap at 17 without a lot of problems, I don't think you'd really need to set a ramp for your new machine, even with min EPAP at 13, max IPAP at 20. I think you could handle that fine without "ramp."

Someone else may have already offered you the Provider manual for your machine, oakmont, but if not... PM me your email address and I'll be glad to send it to you as a PDF file. Be sure to tell me if it is an M series BiPAP Auto, or is an older one that does not say M series on top of the machine.