which machine do I buy? Help

[livingstone]

I am needing to purchase a cpap machine and I am a relatively new user. I am on straight pressure my doctor does not reccomend auto. Which is better Phillips Respironics system one c flex or remstar s9. Is there any difference? I would love some direction on this. Thanks.

[chunkyfrog]

FYI: any auto cpap can be set in cpap mode.
I recommend the Resmed S9 Elite as a straight cpap with full data;
---but at cpap.com, I bought my Autoset for about $50 more--and have been able to skip at least one extra $$leep $$tudy.
I discovered my pressure requirement was a bit lower than titrated in the lab--thanks to the Autoset.
Do not accept any Resmed with the word Escape in the name; even if you have to get your doctor
to re-write your prescription to give full data, especially AHI, leaks, and events referenced to time.

[livingstone]

Hi,
Thank you for replying. My doctor said that if I choose to buy an auto machine. They will set it at a straight pressure he does not trust auto. So it would not be of any value with the extra cost to buy an auto machine if they would only set it at a straight pressure. What do you think?

[Therapist]

my doctor does not reccomend auto.

The poor man probably does not know an auto can be set in straight CPAP mode. The doofus probably also thinks all Autos are set at 4 - 20 cm.

I would get one of these machines:

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-machine/respi ... -flex.html

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-machine/resme ... chine.html

If you get the ResMed you can download the software free.

[livingstone]

Hi again,
Sorry maybe I did not expain well. He does know it can be set at straight pressure and says it will be. Therefore there is no need for an auto machine. My choices are phillips system one c flex or resmed s9 elite. which is better. Neither of these to my understanding are auto machines. Thanks

[BoomersRock]

For the difference in price, buy a Resmed S9 Autoset. You have full data capabilities and if you need/want to go automatic you can, without buying another machine.

[livingstone]

Hi,
Sorry for my ignorance but how do you switch the machine to auto if I buy one and also I live in Canada and there is a hugh price difference between the two. I also do not know how to read the results.

[livingstone]

Hi ,

Just thought I'd add that my doctor expects that I should be compliant on this straight pressure and that the pressure should not change unless I gained a lot of weight. I just don't think I trust that the pressure should not change. He says I only need to take the card back to the cpap provider once a year to have it read. Is this acceptable? I have no idea anyway of reading or downloading the info to see if the pressure would need changing. I am so new at this and wonder how a person gets enough information to make an intelligent decision.

[NightMonkey]

He says I only need to take the card back to the cpap provider once a year to have it read.

He is ignorant and probably won't change.

If you want good therapy get the ResMed Autoset and you can learn here how to download the software and monitor and control your therapy.

Once a year is a bummer. If you do it yourself you can check it daily, weekly, whatever.

You need to be able to see if your mask is leaking and how many events you are having. You need to do this on your own frequently until you get settled in.

You can learn everything you need to know from this forum. It sounds complicated now but as you build a little knowledge and experience it will become easy.

[livingstone]

Hi,
Thanks for the help. I would feel more comfortable knowing how I'm doing with this. Where on this site do you learn how to read the data from the machine and how to download it. Do you need to have a newer computer, because my is quite old? Thanks so much for responding!

[archangle]

It sounds to me like your doctor is stuck in the 20th century in terms of CPAP therapy.

Get the auto machine. If your needs change, you change doctors, or if your current doctor learns more and changes his mind, you will have the option of APAP.

Philips Respironics System One vs. ResMed S9 is a tossup. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Be sure to investigate online CPAP purchase, including the possibility of getting one from outside of Canada. A top of the line PRS1 Auto machine with humidifier is under $700 online in the US.

If you do stick with a manual CPAP:

Get a PRS1 (Philips Respironics System One) PRO, it's much better than the Plus in terms of data collected.

Or get a ResMed S9 Elite instead of an S9 Escape. Same reason. ResMed restricts their US based distributors from shipping out of the country.

If you go with auto, get the PRS1 Auto, not the AutoIQ. The AutoIQ is not really an Auto machine. For ResMed, get the AutoSet, not the Escape Auto.

You can get a free program called SleepyHead to read your data from either Philips or ResMed machines.

With software and a modern fully data capable CPAP machine will try to measure your apneas each night, tell you what kind they were, when they happened, how long they lasted, and even show you a waveform of your breathing at the time of the apnea. They will also give you readings of some more subtle things like flow limitations, RERAs, and snoring. You can see graphs of how your apnea readings vary from night to night.

This is really great when you have a bad night, or if you start feeling bad and want to be sure your treatment is working right. Even if your doctor does guess right and gets the correct manual CPAP pressure, it's good to be able to look at the data and prove it's right.

It's easy to change the pressure and mode yourself, once you find the secret to getting into the secret menus that us poor ignorant patients aren't supposed to see.

[Hawthorne]

Where, in Canada, do you live?

[The Choker]

Hi,
Thanks for the help. I would feel more comfortable knowing how I'm doing with this. Where on this site do you learn how to read the data from the machine and how to download it. Do you need to have a newer computer, because my is quite old? Thanks so much for responding!

First check your computer's capacity. Assuming it is running XP:

1.From the Windows desktop open My Computer
2.Within My Computer highlight and right-click the C: Drive or the drive you wish to determine the capacity or available space on the drive.
3.From the menu that appears after right-clicking the drive click Properties.
4.The Properties window will display the used space, free space, and the total capacity of the hard disk drive or other drive similar to what is shown below.

Let us know the GB of used and free space (hard drive capacity).

1.Open System by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System General.

Near the bottom of this window it should say something like, "1.00 GB of RAM".

Tell us how much RAM (memory) is showing. This is probably 0.50 or 1.00 or maybe a little more.

[livingstone]

Hi again,
Thank you all for all your help. My computer is xp and I have 1GB of Ram with about 30 gb free space. How much do you need? What else do I need to know?

[chunkyfrog]

Changing any settings on the s9 Autoset or Elite is easy.
You just need the clinician's manual.
I was able to download it in pdf format,.
I believe somebody here has a link.