auto set pressure??

[yulcdn]

I received a used Resmed elite s9 with H 51 humidifier and climate line tubing. It belonged to a dear friend who passed away. Loved the Resmed but the company wanted it back. Apparently is was on a medicare rental program. When I asked the DME how much I could buy if for, the price was over $900.00 for the used Resmed Elite.Instead I have now purchased an open box new autoset for less than the $900.00
Now the question, my CPAP was set to 14. What should the range be for the Autoset?

[nanwilson]

I would try 3 points up and the same down, give it a try for a few weeks and then tighten up the range as you like. My pressure is 11, but I can't stand anything below 10, so I set my auto at 10 to 15. It is whatever is comfortable for you, rule of thumb is usaully a 5 or 6 point spread.
Best of luck
Nan

[Lizistired]

I would use the same setting on cpap for a few nights with the new machine before I changed anything. Did you have a problem on cpap?

[Slartybartfast]

Most of us run an auto machine at about 2-3 cm below our pressure from the titration study. Presumably yours was 14, so that would be 11-12 cm for the minimum pressure setting. You don't need to worry about setting an upper setting unless you find your machine runs away with you. So I'd set the upper limit out of the way to 20 until you collect enough data that you can see where the pressure ends up. My official pressure is 11 cm. My settings are 9-20. Much of the night my pressure stays at 9 or just a little higher, and it never goes over 13.

You need to collect some data with your initial settings in order to set the lower limit properly.

[Guest]

I received a used Resmed elite s9 with H 51 humidifier and climate line tubing. It belonged to a dear friend who passed away. Loved the Resmed but the company wanted it back. Apparently is was on a medicare rental program. When I asked the DME how much I could buy if for, the price was over $900.00 for the used Resmed Elite. Instead I have now purchased an open box new autoset for less than the $900.00
Now the question, my CPAP was set to 14. What should the range be for the Autoset?

So you had an rx to buy the new, open box machine but it only had one pressure listed on the rx?

I would go back to your doctor and tell him about the problem and that you are on an auto machine now, not a CPAP. So he should have written the rx with the range of pressures needed.

[Lizistired]

Why do you want to change anything until you look at your data on the new machine?

Not sure how I got to these numbers, not sure how to stay at these numbers but I am going to enjoy the results for today!.

]

[Pugsy]

If the Elite at 14 cm was giving you great reports and you were feeling decent then you might want to go with the way a lot of people do...2 cm above and 2 cm below that 14 cm CPAP mode pressure. Then evaluate the reports.
Some people find that the variations in pressure in auto adjusting mode are rather disturbing and they wake up more often than they would prefer. Some people (like me) when using APAP mode set 10 to 20 range can sleep through changes up to 20.
Some people may have some aerophagia issues with increases in pressure. In theory the machine won't go where it doesn't sense the need to go but it will respond to snores and flow limitations that even on their own might not have become full grown apnea events. Sometimes when the machine attempts to "fix" these snores and flow limitations the "fixing" creates more problems than the minor snores or flow limitations would cause if left alone.
Sometimes the higher pressures create additional mask sealing issues.
So as you can see...sometimes we might have to compromise if some of those issues pop up.

You won't know where the machine will want to go in APAP mode till you try it. The 2 cm above and below is probably a nice conservative way to start if you are wanting to experiment with APAP mode. Or if you are like me and a real maverick...open it up to 20 cm.. Just as long as you understand the pros and cons.

The minimum pressure is the most critical pressure IMHO. It needs to be close enough to the pressure that is needed to prevent the apnea events and these machines don't go from say 6 cm to 12 cm in a blink of an eye. They go up rather slowly when compared to how quickly an apnea event can materialize and fade away. Now if your cpap mode pressure was say 9 cm..a starting minimum of 6 would likely be close enough to get the job done but if you were needing that 14 cm most of the night then a 6 cm minimum would likely take too long and some events could maybe sneak past the defenses while the pressure was trying to get to 14 from 6.

If you do a 12 cm minimum and find the pressure never varies upwards...then maybe you don't need as much pressure as originally thought and then you could probably decrease the minimum a bit.

The machine won't go where it doesn't sense the need to go BUT sometimes the reasons that it senses the need for much higher pressures are maybe less of a potential problem than the higher pressure might be.

Finally just because you have APAP mode available doesn't mean you have to use it. I do understand that people will want to try it though. Hey, that's why we get the APAPs. Just make sure you understand what you are doing and why. Your prior reports on the Elite were great and probably didn't warrant anything different. Going to be kinda hard to improve on them but I understand the desire to experiment. Just make sure you are educated about your experiment. I am starting a new experiment myself.

[yulcdn]

Thanks for all of the information. I have been very lucky in that I was able to use CPAP right from the first night and I have been a faithful hoser almost every night since ( except for one night on a red eye flight). Even though I do not log in each day, I do end my evening by perusing the website. I feel like this website is providing me with an Ivy League education and has helped me through some tough moments. My AHI each night is usually under 1 so I know that I am doing quite well. The reason for purchasing the Autoset is so that I would have a choice between CPAP and Autoset. My goal is to lower my pressure and still maintain a good night's sleep each night. The sleep study set my pressure at 15 due to very loud snoring. I lowered my pressure to 14 and the reports show that the snoring is still being well controlled. I will start tonight with a range of 12-16 as suggested. I will see how I do. I do want to let you know that my new "open box" Autoset arrived in perfect condition with zero hours on the machine.
Thanks again for all the help

[archangle]

If you're comfortable with changing your pressure settings, you should definitely start at the same pressure as the Elite. After you find you're comfortable, expand the pressure range if you want to after a few nights.

That assumes you were doing OK with the Elite unit.

[DoriC]

Thanks for all of the information. I have been very lucky in that I was able to use CPAP right from the first night and I have been a faithful hoser almost every night since ( except for one night on a red eye flight). Even though I do not log in each day, I do end my evening by perusing the website. I feel like this website is providing me with an Ivy League education and has helped me through some tough moments. My AHI each night is usually under 1 so I know that I am doing quite well. The reason for purchasing the Autoset is so that I would have a choice between CPAP and Autoset. My goal is to lower my pressure and still maintain a good night's sleep each night. The sleep study set my pressure at 15 due to very loud snoring. I lowered my pressure to 14 and the reports show that the snoring is still being well controlled. I will start tonight with a range of 12-16 as suggested. I will see how I do. I do want to let you know that my new "open box" Autoset arrived in perfect condition with zero hours on the machine.
Thanks again for all the help

Hope you'll keep us updated, I'm very interested in your cpap/apap experiment.

[BigLou]

Good luck to you in your quest for the "best" settings. Just watch the upper end of the pressure range........no need to set it too high above your titration in CPAP. I have had some interesting results myself with letting my machine go too high in APAP mode but I am probably the exception rather than the rule.