Is my cpap working?

[Sleepless Nights]

I have a Phillips Respironics REMstar Pro C-Flex +. I don't know if it's working. To test it, I purposely stopped breathing during the inhale and the pressure immediately stops. I've done this numerous times to test it and it does it each time. So I'm assuming that if I do stop breathing, the cpap machine isn't going to be doing what it's supposed to be doing. I'm new to using a cpap machine. I've been using it for about 4 months now. Can someone help me with this? Is this thing working or have I been wasting my time with it?

[RandyJ]

Testing a machine by holding your breath is not reliable, especially with a straight cpap machine like yours.

Your best course of action is to download Sleepyhead and import the data on your SD card so you can see what is going on with your therapy. (assuming that your model is from the System One Series (450 or 460, look on bottom of blower for model number)

Pugsy's Pointers has step by step instructions on how to do this: viewtopic/t88983/Pugsys-PointersSleepyH ... nding.html

[Sleepless Nights]

Thanks for the reply Randy. I'll check that out.

[Sheriff Buford]

I don't know if this specifically answers your question, but when I want to see if the machine is working I place my fingers on my mask vent (to see if the mask is venting air).

Sheriff

[Sleepless Nights]

Hi Sheriff, what do you mean exactly? If it's venting air while you're exhailing? I know when you're inhaling, it's coming from the machine. Sorry for my confusion.

[kaiasgram]

I have a Phillips Respironics REMstar Pro C-Flex +. I don't know if it's working. To test it, I purposely stopped breathing during the inhale and the pressure immediately stops. I've done this numerous times to test it and it does it each time. So I'm assuming that if I do stop breathing, the cpap machine isn't going to be doing what it's supposed to be doing. I'm new to using a cpap machine. I've been using it for about 4 months now. Can someone help me with this? Is this thing working or have I been wasting my time with it?

Hi Sleepless Nights. What do you mean when you say the pressure immediately stops? I assume you're not saying that the machine actually shuts off? I'm thinking maybe it just feels like the pressure stops because you're holding your breath and cannot feel incoming air flow while doing that.

If you put your hand up by the vent holes of your mask while your machine is on, you should feel air flow all the time -- lighter flow while you're inhaling and slightly stronger flow when exhaling. If you can feel that, then your machine hasn't stopped.

The software will tell you how well your machine/pressure is treating your apnea. Your awake experiment is likely not giving you useful information because you're not really replicating asleep conditions.

[Sleepless Nights]

Hi Sleepless Nights. What do you mean when you say the pressure immediately stops? I assume you're not saying that the machine actually shuts off? I'm thinking maybe it just feels like the pressure stops because you're holding your breath and cannot feel incoming air flow while doing that.

If you put your hand up by the vent holes of your mask while your machine is on, you should feel air flow all the time -- lighter flow while you're inhaling and slightly stronger flow when exhaling. If you can feel that, then your machine hasn't stopped.

The software will tell you how well your machine/pressure is treating your apnea. Your awake experiment is likely not giving you useful information because you're not really replicating asleep conditions.

Yes, the pressure immediately stops. I do have a sim card in my machine, but the booklet doesn't really tell you how to read the data on it.

[Sheriff Buford]

Hi Sheriff, what do you mean exactly? If it's venting air while you're exhailing? I know when you're inhaling, it's coming from the machine. Sorry for my confusion.

All masks have a vent to remove CO2. It's in a different spot depending on the mask. I sometimes wonder if the machine is on and I can tell by putting my hand over the spot where the vent comes out of the mask.

Sheriff

[sawinglogz]

You might have "auto-off" turned on. If it detects that you're no longer using the machine, it will stop.

That's not surprising, since CPAP isn't meant to make you breathe when you're not trying to breathe. It's only meant to splint open your airway to avoid obstructive apneas. If you're wondering whether it's "on", you should feel some air venting from the front of your mask.

See the replies regarding Sleepyhead for reading the data off of your card. If you're concerned that you're not even trying to breathe (central apneas), you'll definitely want to look at the data. There are different machines for treating that. They essentially watch your breathing pattern and give you a burst of air to encourage you to breathe if you stop trying for too long. (They don't have an auto-off feature, for obvious reasons!)

If your AHI has gone down significantly from your original diagnosis, the machine is probably at least somewhat effective.