What's your pressure?

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:19 am

The pressure you need to keep you airways open varies tremdously among people - and somtimes within people too.

My minmum is 5, maximum 9, and in the last 96 hours, I've been spending the time as follows:
5 54.83%
6 23.6 %
7 10.43%
8 5.64%
9 5.3%

Which means, almost 80% of the time at 6 or less, and the rest at higher levels.

There will be nights when the graph rarely pokes above 6, and others where it create plateaus at 7, and rise from there...
O.

sir_cumference · Post by **sir_cumference** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:03 am

My APAP peaks at 9.4 but most of the night is a lot less than that - thankfully!
sir_cumference

ufo13 · Post by **ufo13** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:23 am

mine is 18cm. was at a fixed 18 for 11 yrs. couple of weeks ago i got the remstar auto w/c-flex and heated humidifier! and hooked it up to my swift mask which i have had since january (best interface i have ever owned out of many)! so.....much more comfortable now and the therapy seems much more effective!

WillSucceed · Post by **WillSucceed** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:02 pm

I was titrated at 15 and purchased a RemStar Plus with the much-loved C-Flex. Both (pressure of 15 and C-Flex) damn near did me in.

Lost 20 lbs., and switched to a 420E set for 7-13. I spend most of the night at 7-8 with periodic short blips at 10.5

Long live the autoPAP.

so tired · Post by **so tired** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:25 pm

I'm at 5 cm., straight CPAP.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:39 pm

I was never formally titrated (never had a sleep study at all.)

I bought an autopap so the machine could do the titrating automatically -- all night, every night. I'm comfortable letting the autopap find the varying pressure needed throughout the night.

8 - 15 is the range I finally settled on. My AHI usually is 1.something. Occasionally 2 or 3.

I can feel my throat close off if I set the range any lower than 8 and test it by lying on my back and letting throat relax totally. 8 keeps it open nicely during the relaxation of drifting off to sleep.

Over half my sleep time each night, the machine uses 8. The remainder of the time it varies among 9, 10, 11, 12 (less time being spent at each higher pressure.)
The pressure has touched 13 on rare occasions for a few brief minutes.

The 90th percentile pressure I usually get is "10" or "11". That means it takes that much pressure OR PRESSURES BELOW that number, to take care of things for me 90% of the time. Doesn't mean I spend 90% of the time up AT that pressure.

So.... probably if I were titrated in a sleep clinic and put on straight cpap, the prescribed pressure would be 11 or maybe even 12 -- pressures that I hardly ever need except for a few minutes from time to time throughout each night.

My getting to spend considerably more than half the time each night down at lower pressure than what would probably have been prescribed for me:

1.) lessens the chance of mask air leaks

2.) lessens the chance of aerophagia

3.) made breathing out easier back when I didn't have an auto with C-flex

4.) gives the peace of mind of not having to wonder, "Is that single prescribed pressure (if I had one) really right for me?" "More than I need most of the time?" "Not enough now?"

Getting effective treatment using a fairly low pressure most of the night has lots of benefits.

As WillSucceed said, Viva el autopap!! And the software that shows what it's doing!!

scottyeric · Post by **scottyeric** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:32 pm

I was set at 18. That was the setting that the nurse said worked good while I was sleeping on my side. She said that the highest setting would not work on me while i was sleeping on my back.

mcdunde64 · Post by **mcdunde64** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:21 am

about 20

blainefox · Post by **blainefox** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:59 pm

12 here.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:26 pm

th7700 wrote:I was titrated at 15. However, the mask was leaking like a sieve, most likely due to my moustache. With my moustache trimmed back and the mask fitting somewhat better, 15 blew my stomach up like a balloon!

I've been comfortable at 10-12, but I start tonight with an auto, so I'll see where that goes.

Amen, Amen Brother.

My experience too & I am really looking forward to switching over to AUTO mode as soon as I can. I was at 15cms but excessive air everywhere caused me to drop the setting to 14cms. But that is only marginally better. Mask leaks are normal

I suspect the your moustache had little to do with any problems.

DSM

fstanmyre · Post by **fstanmyre** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:53 pm

I have a Remstar Auto with CFLEX. For some strange reason, at least according to Encore, I have much better results running straight cpap at 9. A very narrow range on auto is ok but if I go to say 6 to 12, my AHI's go way up. Just seems like auto operation promotes apneas. I'm getting a Goodknight 420E delivered tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see if the readings are consistant between the two machines or if it is just a software anomily.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:27 pm

fstanmyre wrote:I have a Remstar Auto with CFLEX. For some strange reason, at least according to Encore, I have much better results running straight cpap at 9. A very narrow range on auto is ok but if I go to say 6 to 12, my AHI's go way up. Just seems like auto operation promotes apneas. I'm getting a Goodknight 420E delivered tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see if the readings are consistant between the two machines or if it is just a software anomily.

Stan,

I will be all eyes & ears on any feedback you have re the 420E.

Cheers

DSM

rpalmer · Post by **rpalmer** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:54 pm

Guest wrote:Some people have a hard time exhaling against their set pressure (probably not anything you'd notice at a pressure of 9, but would if your set pressure was 18!)

And then...

rested gal wrote:3.) made breathing out easier back when I didn't have an auto with C-flex
As WillSucceed said, Viva el autopap!! And the software that shows what it's doing!!

Well, duh! I feel like the personification of the old saying "We get too soon old and too late smart." As usual rested gal, you're the personification of why this forum is of such value. The collective knowledge of a whole community of people, totally diverse but sharing OSA in common, willing to share their considerable knowledge. One of the most impressive things, too, is that I don't recall anyone being patronizing or condescending when addressing even the most basic questions from a newbie.

You may recall from some of my other posts that I've been battling with compliance for a long time. Problem of severe nasal congestion causing mouth breathing is compounded by Orthopnea (difficulty breathing when lying down), a common occurrence among CHF patients, and some other CHF related issues. I recently switched to a F/F mask after struggling with a nasal mask for a long time and that's really helped, although I sometimes feel like I'm suffocating & often experience several arousals each night, probably more related to the Orthopnea than OSA.

I've been focusing so much on the mask as the cause of my problems, I've ignored the CPAP itself. I did add heated humidification a couple of years ago & that also helped greatly, making me feel much better in the AM, but hasn't been the 100% solution. I have a straight CPAP machine, Respironics Solo LX (old enough that Johnny refers to it as a legacy unit) set at 11 & have often felt some discomfort exhaling, which surely contributes to the sensation of suffocating.

I've been reading about "autopap", "bi-level", "c-flex", etc. on this forum for a long time & I guess all that's just gone right over my head because I was so focused on trying to solve all my problems at the mask end & ignoring the CPAP itself. So I'm embarrassed to admit that the reality of autopap & c-flex is just starting to dawn on me as if I'd never heard of such a thing before.

As with many of these products, there seems to be a pretty large selection of Auto-titrating & Bi-level machines on the market, some with software to monitor titration variances, apnea & arousal events, SaO2 measurement, etc., some without; some with integrated humidification units, some without; some more portable than others, etc., etc., etc.

RG, you may not be a health care professional (haven't I read a disclaimer on some of your posts?), but you have a remarkable grasp of information & detail regarding all things related to OSA & CPAP therapy and maybe more importantly a wonderful ability to present it in a concise, easily understood way. Probably far greater than most of the health care professionals out there - certainly those I've talked to. All this is a very long way (& I apologize for the length of this post!) to get to my questions: What CPAP/Autopap machine do you use? Humidification? Are you happy with it? if you were going out today to get a new machine, what would you buy?

As always, thanks for your help, advice & letting me pick your brain.

Rol

Cameo Ann · Post by **Cameo Ann** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:23 pm

BiPAP 17/13

Fifi · Post by **Fifi** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:53 pm

fred keep us posted that should be very interesting

What's your pressure?

what pressure?

pressure

Help, RG

Humidifier