ASV/AutoSV - Going from Respironics System One Advanced to Resmed Aircurve 10

[q49q49]

Does anyone have experience with going from a Philips Respironics BiPap AutoSV Advanced System One (950P) to a Resmed Aircurve 10 ASV? Insurance approved a new machine and the doc wrote the referral for the Aircurve.

It seems like there have been a lot of people looking for machine recommendations recently. The comments about the Resmed machines look encouraging, but I'm not sure how they apply to ASV users.

Even after five years with the Respironics DH still has some nights that he just can't get to sleep because the machine will not sync to his breathing rate. Once he is asleep there doesn't seem to be any problems until he has to get up in the middle of the night and then the 'dance' starts all over. Should we expect the problem to get better or worse with the Resmed? If you've gone from the Respironics to Resmed ASV, will we be trading this problem for another we should watch out for?

I've dug through past posts going back to 2011 and found one that does a good job of explaining our problem:
"Respironics BIPAP AutoSV won't allow me to breath!" Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:07 pm

problem: Post by frotu33 »

...To make matters worse, the machine seems to be cutting off my breath when I inhale, forcing me to breathe against resistance. When I begin to inhale, I only get a second or less before it feels like the air just stops flowing. It almost feels like the air is being suctioned out, but I know that's not possible.

explanation: Post by Mr Bill »

"What you may be running afoul of is the way the Respironics ASV interprets a breath. If you breath quite forcibly in or out, the ASV will allow it. But if you breath in feebly and pause even for an instant, then as far as the ASV is concerned you have now chosen to start exhaling. The same applies if you are exhaling and start for even an instant to breath in. What it wants you to do is breath in when you breath in, and breath out when you breath out. Any hesitancy, and you flip to the other state. Test this out deliberately yourself and you will see what I mean. In time, your brain will get simpatico with this behavior and you will wonder why you even worried about it."

Also, the people here are amazing. We have learned so much just by reading old posts. I don't think we would have been able to make it this far without your help.

[bwexler]

I am pondering the same change in the near future.
I did manage to tame my PRS1 960 ASV a few years ago. I saw the Sleep Doctor tried his advice for about an hour. I then made exactly the opposite changes to my settings and things got better. Most of the doctors are only guessing. The folks here have been there and done that and in many cases know way more than the doctors about how to actually make things work.

It's a real shame some of our brightest members can't write our prescriptions for us. Then we could not only save the cost of a visit, but actually get the stuff we need on the first go around.

[Pugsy]

Let me think on this a bit.
I never used a 950 model...I have used a 960 and a ResMed S9 Adapt which is their ASV model in the S9 model line.

Can you go into the clinical setup menu area and write down all your setting options that you have available and what the current settings are? Do you know how to get into the setup menu area? It requires the secret handshake to get there.
Respironics ASV models (at least the 960 and DreamStation ASV) have more customizable choices or options in terms of the timing of respiration stuff than the ResMed ASV models have.
I don't remember what was available on the 950.

Sounds like the main issue is while awake and adjusting to the rhythm of the machine...and not how it goes about dealing with things once asleep.
Respironics has more options to set to try to customize that timing or rhythm....ResMed tends to try to auto adjust and I am unsure as to which might end up being the better way to go or not.
Look up forum member JohnBFisher and read what he has written about the differences...he used to compare the brands to cars...
ResMed being a fast sports car with hair trigger response...and the Respironics more along the lines of a big old comfortable Cadillac.
And how a person did with one or the other just depended on what they preferred to drive.

Ideally what I would do if it were me....I would simply ask the DME if I could test drive both brands and see which one I liked.
They might have a slightly used one sitting on the shelf somewhere....never hurts to ask.

[Mark Sadler]

I have the Deramstation Auto SV. I used it for 6 months and was never satisfied with my quality of sleep. My AHIs averaged around 8 or so. I switched to the Aircurve 10 ASV a couple months ago and from the first breath it was better for me. My AHI’s went to between 5 and 2. My sleep is much better with the Aircurve ASV.
Just my experience.
I’m sure that the Dreamstation ASV is a good choice for some.

[Weagle]

I can't compare to other machines, but as a rookie to this adventure in my life, I was given the ResMed AirCurve 10 ASV as my first machine. I have had no issues with fighting the machine for breathes. My challenges are keeping a seal and too high of pressures (Aerophagia).

I can say that the machine adapts very quickly to my changes of breathing cycles. I usually put my mask on about 10-15 minutes before I fall asleep and I know my breathing during that time is anything but regular. I don't ever feel like I'm fighting for a breath. The machine also does a great job at holding the lower pressures during long exhales as well and maintaining higher pressures during long inhales.

Being new to this whole process I may not have a lot of knowledge of other machines, but also as a rookie, the machine adapts well to my inexperience and is very comfortable with the ways it adapts to my breathing. It hasn't scared me away from trying to adapt to this new challenge in my life.

Hope this helps,

[q49q49]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate the ASV user perspective.

Pugsy:

Can you go into the clinical setup menu area and write down all your setting options that you have available and what the current settings are? Do you know how to get into the setup menu area? It requires the secret handshake to get there.

I've had to restrain myself from tinkering with the settings, even to the point of not trying to find clinical manual. I can't imagine him trying to sleep without it for even a night, so the risk of making it inoperable too great for me.

DH is more of a Cadillac, so maybe a model that reacts like sports car will stay out of his way, so that he can stay on his own steady course. But I'll ask the DME about a test drive too.

I'm really hopeful that this will be an improvement. Fingers crossed.

[q49q49]

We picked up the AirCurve 10 ASV yesterday. I'll report back on how it works for DH after a week or so.

A related question. Our current equipment note currently says 'Philips Respironics BiPap AutoSV Advanced System One". When I update it so say "AirCurve 10 ASV", will it change the note on all of my posts or only going forward? I can see how it could make older posts confusing, if the original context is lost.
(And is this appropriate place to ask this question? Is there specific format for posting procedure questions?)

[Pugsy]

When you change your equipment the change goes backwards too...nothing we can do about it but don't worry about it. We can usually sort it out easily enough.

We don't have sub forums here. Everything goes in one global forum. If you can keep most of your questions in one thread like this one it actually helps us even if we are talking about 2 different things sometimes and your equipment list for the old questions might not be showing the equipment the original question was talking about.
Like I said...we can usually sort it out with just reading all the posts.
The biggest problem comes when someone only reads the first couple of posts and then decides to reply and it ends up being not applicable because of the equipment or setting change...and that's on them for not taking the time to read the thread thoroughly...that's not your fault. Happens all the time...they get in a hurry to say something and don't bother to read the rest of the posts from either you or someone else.

Crossing my fingers that the adjustment to the ResMed will go smoothly...if I were to place bets on it...I am betting it will.