EPR?

[Merryj]

What is EPR? I looked in definitions but can't find anything...

[Hawthorne]

I believe it is Exhaltion Pressure Relief. You can set it at one of three settings to give you relief from the pressure when you exhale during the night. If you set it at 1, your pressure will drop 1 cm when you exhale - at 2 it will drop 2 cm and at 3 it will drop 3 cm.

You need to experiment to see which setting works best for you.

[snardo]

Exhalation Pressure Relief (I think). It senses when you are exhaling and reduces the pressure flowing through the mask to make it easier to exhale. Having come off a system that was just blowing the same pressure all the time, I found the higher settings of EPR rather uncomfortable and felt like I wasn't getting enough air. It also lags a little behind your natural breathing cycle, so the pressure doesn't pick back up as soon as you start to inhale. I actually coulnd't get to sleep the first night I had my new machine until I reduced the EPR setting from 3 to 1.

The numbers represent the amount of pressure relief in cm H2O. So if your pressure is set at 10 and EPR of 3, the machine blows 10 on inhale and reduces to 7 for exhale. I think my problem was that I had been using a straight pressure of 6 and then moved to a new machine with EPR that had been set to 3 with a pressure of 8, so it was blowing 8 on inhale but going down to 5 on exhale which was less than I was used to with my previous machine. I have it set on 1 now and it feels much better.

[Lizistired]

It can also be turned off. It made me feel like it was telling me when to breathe. I finally turned it off and my AHI dropped by over 60%.
The Autoset has a fast or med setting for the return when you are in CPAP mode. Not sure about your Elite but I would assume it does.
Just experiment and find out what works best for you.

[Merryj]

Thanks - mine is currently turned off. I am still swallowing air - have tried using gas-x but still feel bloated...

[Pugsy]

You might want to turn EPR on and experiment with the settings to see if it helps with the air swallowing. The small reduction during exhale may lessen the amount of air going to the stomach.

[Hawthorne]

As Pugsy said, experiment with the 3 settings. I have a different machine but it does have exhalation relief as well. I set it at 1 and it does help me with the swallowing air Iwhich can cause gas) situation.

Hope it does the same for you!

[dtsm]

Read here: http://www.resmed.com/us/assets/html/de ... c=patients

If you use EPR, keep in mind to adjust your cpap pressure. For every measure of EPR, add equal measure of pressure. So if you're at 11 and decide to add EPR 1, adjust your cpap up to 12.

[Lizistired]

I wouldn't increase the pressure because that won't help your aerophagia. With the EPR on 1 you will still get you prescribed pressure on inhale, it will just drop 1 cmh2o when you exhale. Or 2 or 3 depending on which setting you try.
I would try 2 first, and then adjust up or down from there if needed.