I'm new to Auto CPAP - Not sure what range to set

[desert rider]

I've been using CPAP set on 12 for five years, but my machine needed to be replaced (the humidifier died). I just replaced the old CPAP with an Auto CPAP, but I'm not sure where I should set the ranges. If my prescribed level is 12, what is a typical range to start out with on an auto machine?

Thanks!

[Pugsy]

Usually 2 above and 2 below the usual cpap pressure is a good place to start.
So in your case probably minimum of 10 and maximum of 14. See what happens. Should get you real close if the original 12 cm cpap setting was accurate. Might get by with a little lower minimum if the 12 cm was a worst case scenario pressure and you really didn't need that much all the time.

[desert rider]

That sounds sensible. Thanks!

[Ransid]

My sleep tech just set me up on a Res med Autosense range 5 to 15.

only been a week seems to work well, starts of at 5 then ramps up later on.

[Tatooed Lady]

those DMEs and doctors like to set these suckers WIDE OPEN when dealing with autos. I guess that's their way of saying, "screw you, let the machine figure this mess out. I don't even know how to fit headgear properly."

[Wulfman...]

I've been using CPAP set on 12 for five years, but my machine needed to be replaced (the humidifier died). I just replaced the old CPAP with an Auto CPAP, but I'm not sure where I should set the ranges. If my prescribed level is 12, what is a typical range to start out with on an auto machine?

Thanks!

I couldn't tell if your previous (M Series) machine was data capable or not......or whether you had been monitoring your therapy with the previous machine.

Therefore.......
I'd recommend setting up your new machine exactly (as close as possible) to your previous one and compare/monitor the therapy results......BEFORE you start tinkering with ranges of pressures.

If you've been used to fixed pressure for that long, the changing pressures may be a shock to your sleeping, and my leave you feeling unrested.


Den

.

[Pugsy]

Wide open will work okay as long as the machine doesn't need to go into the double digits and not everyone needs those double digit pressures to get the job done. Some people may only need a nice modest 7 cm to hold the airway open...others might need twice that. The machine can get to 7 cm from 5 cm quickly enough to do a good job...but can't get to 14 cm from 5 cm quickly enough to get the job done optimally.

So wide open isn't always a bad thing...if someone only needs 7 or 8 cm to get the job done then it doesn't really matter if the maximum is wide open if the machine never goes above 10 cm. Just because it can go there doesn't mean it will and if it doesn't even go there it becomes a moot point. If it gets the job done and a person sleeps well with the changing pressures and feels good...doesn't hurt anything.

Someone that has been using a fixed pressure for a long time...now they might find those changing pressures a bit disturbing so for those people I would recommend a tighter range if they are wanting to use apap mode and see what happens with the pressure along with how they sleep. The body is going to be used to one way of doing something and when we start making really big changes to the routine then sometimes sleep quality suffers. There are pros and cons to everything though.

[desert rider]

The body is going to be used to one way of doing something and when we start making really big changes to the routine then sometimes sleep quality suffers. There are pros and cons to everything though.

My body is going to be THRILLED to have a humidifier again and my wife is going to love this quieter machine.

[TyroneShoes]

those DMEs and doctors like to set these suckers WIDE OPEN when dealing with autos. I guess that's their way of saying, "screw you, let the machine figure this mess out. I don't even know how to fit headgear properly."

I think "wide open" actually makes sense when starting out. I also think the reason they make the machines capable of 4-20 is because that is the range that therapy falls in for everyone.

There is no real practical way to discover what pressure or what range is right for a particular patient, without "letting the machine figure it out", short of a good sleep test in a lab and titration. "Letting the machine figure it out" is exactly what titration is, from the point of view of the machine.

In my case, I had a home test, which is pretty inaccurate, but good for initial diagnosis. From that, my ENT prescribed 5-20. OK, fine. But it was weeks before I was scheduled to see them again, and they wanted a in-lab test, which eventually informed them to move me to straight 8.

All is well, but it seems like I was on 5-20 for an inordinate amount of time (50 days), and I don't think the voluminous data from all of those nights ever even entered into the decision to go straight 8. I don't think they ever even wanted to see that data. I think a flawed in-lab split test is what informed them.

So I have issues with the process and how long it took, but I still think it makes perfect sense to start "wide open" and "let the machine figure it out". How else are we ever going to "figure it out"? I just think it also makes even better sense that someone look at the data and narrow the range in a timely manner once the data informs them that it can and should be narrowed. And in my case, which is probably sadly typical, the person who has and reviews and understands the data is ironically, guess who...the patient.

The guy with all the training and the practice and the experience and the Mercedes, well he doesn't care enough to do any more than schedule a highly-remunerative (for him) 6-hour sleep test, look at that data for 30 seconds, lift a $30 copay from you and a $200 fee from the insurance carrier, and then make a snap decision regarding pressure based simply on that.

Which makes it important for the patient to take charge of his own therapy, because certainly no one else is going to. Thanks to SH and it's creator, and these forums which have knowledgable folks, we can finally do that.

[Tatooed Lady]

Wide open makes more sense when it's not like a frigging James Bond movie to get the DME or doctor to change pressure so the patient can sleep better, or to get back to see the doc if things aren't working right.
But that's an old argument.