UARS and CPAP Setup Help

[nunanuna]

Hi, Female/19, got diagnosed with UARS due to an AHI of 4.5 and RDI of 15.4 during a sleep study. Doctor did not see a problem, and as an unemployed college student I have no money left to spend on seeing doctors. I was able to pay for a Dreamstation Auto with Humidifier and nasal pillows, but since I can not pay to see a specialist, I’m going to need to self titrate and self treat my UARS. Thanks for the help! Here are a few of my questions:
1. Should I set the machine in CPAP or Auto mode?
2. What should the starting pressure range be for the first night?
3. How should I increase/decrease this range for the best fit?
4. Is OSCAR useful to UARS?
5. How should I set the other settings like ramp and EPR?

[jimbud]

Go here, find and get your clinical manual:


https://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap- ... tup-manual

That will be a start.
Keep your future questions in this thread. (recommended not set in stone).

Good luck,
JPB

[slowriter]

You might take a look at this thread I started a couple of weeks ago, which will give you some answers.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=176502

I don't feel I'm dialed in yet, BTW.

[zonker]

bump

[Pugsy]

1. Should I set the machine in CPAP or Auto mode?

I would suggest auto mode.

2. What should the starting pressure range be for the first night?

Minimum 6
Max 20
Flex relief your choice...try all the settings and choose the one that just feels more natural to you that you like the best

3. How should I increase/decrease this range for the best fit?

Hard one. Going to just have to wait and see what might show up on the software detailed reports along with how you feel.
How you feel is going to be a major factor in what you do or don't do.
Gotta start somewhere though.

4. Is OSCAR useful to UARS?

Not so much in terms of the reported AHI because your AHI is already low but there are some features and data points that might be useful to you. The normal OSA reported stuff isn't going to be very helpful to you.
But you can still learn about leaks and flow rate and maybe get an idea if your sleep quality is improving or not.
You can actually learn to spot asleep breathing from arousal/awake breathing and UARS patients tend to have a lot more arousals.
With time and some education its fairly easy to spot the difference in breathing.
http://freecpapadvice.com/sleepyhead-free-software

5. How should I set the other settings like ramp and EPR?

The DreamStation doesn't have EPR...it's exhale relief is called Flex and you can use whatever feels the best to you. You can even try off and see if you like it.

For now I wouldn't even use the ramp feature. Starting at 6 should be fairly comfortable and most people can handle it easily.
Especially if you use the Flex feature....Flex doesn't even engage unless the pressure is at least 6.