New here...

[LonghornTaco]

Hello, glad to find this board! Great info!

Anyway, back in February, I had a sleep study done. Went to the doc afterwards, told me I had OSA and I was given a script for an apap machine. I got the machine back in February and I've had some amazingly varied results since then. I've had maybe one or two nights where I work up feeling great, a bunch where I really didn't feel much different than before the apap and more than a handful of terrible nights.

My machine has the SD card collecting data, but I have not been back to the doc to report the results since the first meeting. Couple of reasons why:
1. The doc wants his office visit fee before he'll send me over to the sleep store people (who sold me the machine) to have adjustments made if necessary.
2. The more important reason - my insurance sucks and so far, my entire sleep study, office visits, machine, supplies, etc... have been out of pocket ($4K+). And the doc's office visit fee by itself was over $400! So, I'm trying some stuff on my own before I give him another dime.

Anyway, I just looked through the SD card data for the first time tonight and I'm trying to make some sense of the numbers I see. First off, the range he initially gave me was 5-15. Over the last couple of months, I've played with the minimum pressure, going from 5 to 9 and back (leaving it for four or five days each time) with varied results.

But, two numbers are confusing me a bit. My AHI is 2.5 and the 90% pressure is 10.5 (these are both 30 day averages). From a little searching around, an AHI of 2.5 doesn't sound like it should be all that bad, but I'm still feeling very tired when I wake up. At this point, I don't know that all the expense has been worth anything.

Based on some posts I've seen here, looks like people with apap, on average, set their ranges from -3 to +2 of their titrated pressure. Does that mean I'd set mine to 7 and 12, since my 90% pressure is 10.5?

[DoriC]

Welcome Longhorn, don't get discouraged, you'll get there. Are you having any leak problems? You should be able to see a 30day avg on your screen too. I think for the Quattro at 10cms, the leak rate should be around 38 lpm. If you have the manual you can check the chart. You might try 8-12cms for a few nights.

[mars]

Based on some posts I've seen here, looks like people with apap, on average, set their ranges from -3 to +2 of their titrated pressure. Does that mean I'd set mine to 7 and 12, since my 90% pressure is 10.5?

Hi Longhorn Taco

There are many factors involved in getting good therapy, but certainly the pressure setting is a very important one.

I suggest you look at Mile High Sleeper's great store of useful information -

http://smart-sleep-apnea.blogspot.com/2 ... tings.html

which I think will clarify a number of your questions.

And welcome to the Forum.

cheers

Mars

[cflame1]

So... appears that the machine in your profile isn't right...

Based on the statements about the SD card, you've got some form of a PR system one Auto.

Do you have the software as well? You can get EncoreViewer 2.0 to read your SD card. If so, you can post some of the detailed reports and folks may be able to help you.

Some folks on here not only read their own cards, but some will also adjust their own machines. Are you willing to do that?

[LonghornTaco]

Thanks for the welcome!

Welcome Longhorn, don't get discouraged, you'll get there. Are you having any leak problems? You should be able to see a 30day avg on your screen too. I think for the Quattro at 10cms, the leak rate should be around 38 lpm. If you have the manual you can check the chart. You might try 8-12cms for a few nights.

I've had on and off problems with leaking, although, lately it's been pretty good (especially with the pressure set at 5). I noticed a little bit last night (after upping it to but not bad. I've had terrible nights before where it's leaking so much I just rip the dern thing off, but the last few weeks have been ok. My machine tells me the percentage of time I've experienced "large leaks", not the volume that's actually leaked. And right now, the 7 day average is 3% and the 30 day is 5%. Not sure exactly what that means though.

I have changed my range to 8-12 for now. Last night didn't really seem any different than before, but I'll give it a few more days.

Hi Longhorn Taco

There are many factors involved in getting good therapy, but certainly the pressure setting is a very important one.

I suggest you look at Mile High Sleeper's great store of useful information -

http://smart-sleep-apnea.blogspot.com/2 ... tings.html

which I think will clarify a number of your questions.

And welcome to the Forum.

cheers

Mars

Yep, already hit that site. In fact, it's what led me to this one.

So... appears that the machine in your profile isn't right...

Based on the statements about the SD card, you've got some form of a PR system one Auto.

Do you have the software as well? You can get EncoreViewer 2.0 to read your SD card. If so, you can post some of the detailed reports and folks may be able to help you.

Some folks on here not only read their own cards, but some will also adjust their own machines. Are you willing to do that?

You were right, the machine I picked was wrong. I have the Respironics RemStar Auto A-Flex System One. Also have the heated humidifier.

I had no idea until last night that there was software that would read/analyze my card that was available to me as the patient. Gonna look in to getting that.

And I have no problem with adjusting my settings. I've been doing it (somewhat blindly) for a few months, so having some smarts behind my choices would help.

Thanks again!

[echo]

Welcome to the forum!! Glad you're getting everything to work for you.

One thing I'd like to mention: not everyone does great on APAP, as the changing pressures can cause more disruption to sleep. I'm one of those people that does best on a fixed CPAP pressure. So once you get your leak and mask issues figured out, and you're still not feeling better, you might want to try fixed CPAP at or around your titration or 95% pressure.