Newbie: Pressure Range Intellipap Autoadjust Travel CPAP

[Thierry]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with OSA some weeks ago (AHI: 56) and have been prescribed CPAP-treatment since then. Our Belgian national health insurance doesn’t cover the usage of an APAP and most people end up with a rental CPAP from the local sleep clinic. Most of the rental cost is covered by our public national health insurance. I ended up with a basic Remstar M CPAP without C-flex or anything fancy with the pressure fixed at 8 hPA/cm H2O. As a side sleeper I did have trouble with the masks provided by my local sleep clinic but this was quickly solved by buying my own Swift FX nasal pillow mask which suits me very well.

For travel purposes and to leave at my girlfriends apartment (we don’t live together yet and it would be rather inconvenient to take my pap with me every time we might end up sleeping together) I decided to by my own Sleepcube Autoadjust Travel CPAP (the UK version of the Intellipap). I’ve been sleeping with the Intellipap for 4 nights now and I don’t think I will want to use the old Remstar ever again though, what a great little machine this is!!

Although I’ve been using the Intellipap with the factory settings and didn’t narrow the pressure settings I do have some excellent results:

Last night:

- 95th Percentile Pressure: 7.0
- 90th Percentile Pressure: 5.5
- AHI: 1.5
- Pressure Plateau Time: 0%
- High Leak Flow Time: 0%
- NRI: 0.00
- EPI: 2

Last 7 days:

- 95th Percentile Pressure: 7.5
- 90th Percentile Pressure: 7.0
- AHI: 1.5 (most nights only 1 but last night 2)
- Pressure Plateau Time: 0%
- High Leak Flow Time: 0%
- NRI: 0.00
- EPI: 1

Could it be that narrowing the pressure settings is not necessary for everyone?

[snnnark]

Your 95% requirement is not high at 7 - 7.5 so if you are starting from the default 4cm (or is it 3?) then the machine doesn't have to go far to stop your apneas. So I would say in your case it is not necessary to narrow the range. That being said, you may just be able to catch that 1 AHI if you start from say 6cm.

[Thierry]

Thanks a lot for your input Snnnark! The default is 3 but my machine goes to 4 as soon as I switch it on! I will definitely try to narrow the range. Would be brilliant if I could still lower my AHI.

[Emilia]

My Intellipap is my first and only machine..... I love it, too! My AHI varies from 0.3 to 2.5 (this is rare) but usually around 1 most nights. I have a narrow range of 7-10, I stopped using the Delay after a few weeks, and I use the Smartflex set at 2. Does the UK version have Smartflex yet?

[Thierry]

Emilia,

My unit doesn't have the smartflex yet. But just some days after I ordered mine the smartflex version became available on http://www.eu-pap.co.uk too.

As I originally wanted to use both units frequently, I didn't want the Intellipap to be to fancy anyway! I will have a hard time going back to the old Remaster provided by my sleep clinic though Even without the Smartflex the exhale is much easier on the Intellipap and my Swift LX makes less noise too!

[timbalionguy]

You made a wise decision with the IntelliPAP.

From what I understand, you can get Smartflex with a simple software upgrade (requires a special cable that is, I think $30 or so.)

From your Remstar settings, and from the numbers you are getting from your IntelliPAP, it looks like your OSA picture is very stable, I agree with others that 6-10 cm would probably serve you very well.

[Thierry]

Waaw with the bottom pressure fixed at 6 hPA/cm H2O my AHI dropped down to 0.5 last night!

[snnnark]

[Emilia]

Woohoo! Glad to hear of your improved therapy..... continued sweet dreams and great sleep!!