Help to verify my BiPap is still set correct

[Maryaz]

I am not comfortable that the settings on my Bipap are still set correct. I didn't use it for a period of time. When going back to it, I really don't think it is set right. I know how to read most of the areas on the controls but not the setup numbers. I was originally set to 15/10.

After my first sleep studies I was never going to ever do one again. I met a tech at a sleep study class and he convinced me I had a bad experience. I did another one and although not crazy about it, not the nightmare that the first one was. This tech really helped me get started on my machine, altho I never have conquered it. I could call if I had questions. Sometime last year when I called, I found he was no longer there and not too long after that the whole sleep lab shut down. Now I have no help.

Thanks for any input that might help.

[Otter]

I don't have a PR1 Bi-PAP Auto, but there is some basic information here that might help you.
http://www.apneaboard.com/CPAP%20Adjustment.htm

If that doesn't do it, and no one posts detailed instructions here, start new thread with a title like Need Clinician's manual for PR System One Bi-Pap Auto. You might want to do that anyway. Once you have the manual, you'll be less at the mercy of indifferent and uncooperative techs.

BTW, if you go back to your profile and change your equipment listing from pictures to text, people who come to your threads will be able to see what you're using without having to click the links.

[Otter]

Oh, and if your settings match your prescription but you still don't feel your therapy is working, please don't give up. In that case, you might want to go back to your sleep doctor, but you'll get lots of help here too.

[Otter]

Here's a better link. Can you tell my therapy hasn't quite kicked in?

http://www.apneaboard.com/PR-System-One ... -Setup.htm

[Maryaz]

Otter, I just love your picture. You are so cute. Back to business. I got your links and responses. I appreciate the help. It is late and I will look into this tomorrow. That second link is just what my machine looks like. I did read it. Reading it, makes me think that it could not have got changed. I will look and see.

My numbers are 15/10. It works up to 15. Are there names for these numbers. What is IPAP and what is EPAP. It looks like in my case that might be 15 IPAP and 10 EPAP. Am I right? What do those letters stand for.

Thank you for the help. I will be back after I check it out.

[Otter]

It's unlikey that it was changed by accident, but it's possible that it was never set right in the first place. It's also possible that you have changed, and so the old settings aren't working as well as they used to.

[rested gal]

What is IPAP and what is EPAP. It looks like in my case that might be 15 IPAP and 10 EPAP. Am I right? What do those letters stand for.

IPAP = Inspiratory Positive Airway Pressure (the higher pressure the machine uses when you inhale.)

EPAP = Expiratory Positive Airway Pressure (the lower pressure the machine uses when you exhale.)

Mary, if your BiPAP Auto is set to operate in just "Bilevel" mode, your IPAP (inhale pressure) is 15. Your EPAP (exhale pressure) is 10. In Bilevel mode the machine would always use 15 when you inhale, and 10 when you exhale. All night long.

Check your Private Messages, Mary. I've sent you one.

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Here comes more than you asked about, but is something you might want to know about your "BiPAP Auto" if you start wondering "what does the Auto setting do in my BiPAP Auto?" Don't bother to read this next stuff if your machine is set for Bilevel mode and you intend to keep it in Bilevel mode.

If a Respironics or Philips Respironics BiPAP Auto machine is set to operate in "Auto" mode (instead of Bilevel mode), those two pressures (IPAP and EPAP) can vary somewhat independently of each other during the night, depending on which one needed to adjust itself to what was going on in your breathing as the night progressed.

In Auto mode, an example of how to set those two pressures could be:

Max IPAP 20 (the highest pressure IPAP would be allowed to go up to, if that much pressure were needed at times when you inhale.)
Min EPAP 10 (the lowest pressure EPAP would be allowed to go down to, ever, when you exhale.)

When set to operate in Auto mode there is a menu item that doesn't appear in plain Bilevel mode. The extra setting in Auto mode is called "Max PS" (maximum pressure support.) The Max PS setting tells the machine how far apart the IPAP and EPAP are to be allowed to move independently from each other.

For example, if you used Auto mode and you set it this way:

Max IPAP 20
Min EPAP 10
Max PS 5

The Respironics (or Philips Respironics) BiPAP Auto in Auto mode with those settings will start out the night using EPAP 10, IPAP 12. It won't start out using IPAP 20 even though it is set for Max IPAP 20.
In Auto mode it will always start out using whatever the Min EPAP is set for (10 in the example) and will simply use 2 cm more for IPAP (would be 12 in this example) until it senses that more pressure is needed.

If, during the night, the machine senses from your breathing that 10 is still ok for exhaling (EPAP) but that you need more pressure for inhaling (IPAP) it will keep using EPAP 10 for exhaling and will start raising IPAP for inhaling. If IPAP has to go up to, say 15, it can do that and EPAP will still remain at 10. But...if IPAP has to continue on up above 15, that's when the "PS" setting does its thing.

The Max PS setting (if you set it for "5") will make sure that if IPAP has to go on up to 16, or 17, or more, it will drag EPAP up with it, not letting the two pressures ever be more than 5 cm apart from each other. With Max PS set for "5", the IPAP/EPAP can be as close together as 2 cm (the way the machine starts out the night) but can never get farther apart from each other than 5 cm.

So, if only EPAP needed to move up, EPAP would push IPAP up also (to keep them at least 2 cms apart.)
If only IPAP needed to go up, it could do that without dragging EPAP up, until it got to 5 cm apart. If IPAP had to keep going on up it would pull EPAP up along with it in this way:

IPAP hits 16, it pulls EPAP up to 11
IPAP hits 17, it pulls EPAP up to 12
IPAP hits 18, it pulls EPAP up to 13
and so on... never letting them be farther apart than 5 cms if Max PS is set for "5"

All that applies only to how the PS setting operates in a Respironics or Philips Respironics bilevel auto machine -- a BiPAP Auto.

"BiPAP" is the trademark name for Respironics (and Philips Respironics) bilevel machines.

"VPAP" is the trademark name for ResMed bilevel machines.

The PS setting works differently in ResMed's bilevel auto machine -- the VPAP Auto. Readers who want to know how "PS" works in a ResMed VPAP Auto should read Jeff's (jnk) great explanation about the difference in how the ResMed VPAP Auto and the Respironics BiPAP Auto handle the "PS" (Pressure Support) setting:
topic: ResMed VPAP Auto 25 Clinician's manual
viewtopic.php?p=376749#p376749
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Jeff (jnk) answering IFLEW's questions:
topic: ResMed Pressure Support
viewtopic.php?p=428022#p428022

[Maryaz]

I appreciate all the help I always get here. I have checked and everything is set right on the machine. I am, AGAIN, going to try to use it more. I am also going to put a new mask on and be sure the one I am using doesn’t leak. It is probably just me but it just didn’t seem to be as powerful as it had been. Mine is set at 15/10. It does have a ramp up period. Ultimately I should feel the 15 pressure. Maybe I have got a little more used to it.

I learn more every time I ask a question. Thanks again for all the information.

Rested Gal; special thanks for the additional information. I would not do well on Auto but I still read it and I do understand it. I had just seen something else that mentioned something like it. I am really glad you noted the trademark names. I thought Bipap was one type of machine and Cpap another. I was wrong. Now I know what a VPAP is. I wondered about that but my questions are on need to know and I didn’t need to know that.

Appreciate the good help here. Thanks yet again.