OSCAR vs. ResMed myAir App

[GoGo6889]

Good morning, I have been monitoring this site since I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea last month. I have been slowly adjusting to my ResMed AirSense 10 "for her" and, all in all, am pleased with my progress and improved sleep quality. I am, however, confused by many of the discussions related to OSCAR. My CPAP machine came with a card preinstalled. I know that Apria Healthcare, as well as my doctor, are receiving reports on a regular basis, as I have checked. What are the significant differences between the two applications - OSCAR and the ResMed myAir? I almost fear "too much information," as I think my anxiety level would ratchet up considerably. As it is, I was taken completely off guard by my recent diagnosis and am grateful that thus far, at the age of 71, I have managed to dodge the severe health issues that often arise from untreated sleep apnea. Thanks for any insights provided by those more in the know.

[lazarus]

MyAir provides virtually effortless access to very basic information that is meant to inform a user in a broad way about hours of use and AHI in a way that may motivate continued use of the machine and cheer the patient on, but it doesn't provide the sort of details needed to troubleshoot individual efficacy issues to perfect machine settings the way OSCAR can help provide.

Some doing well on PAP therapy are greatly comforted by posting OSCAR results in the form of pictures of an average night just to know experienced users don't see any obvious issues. Others may not want to go through the trouble of learning all the tech of downloading and installing such a detailed program if that is not their thing.

Only you know if you are happy with the results of your therapy according to how you feel and what the screen of your machine reports in the detailed menus. You may want to settle into using the machine a while before deciding whether you are curious about whether PAP can be even better for you than it is now. In the meantime, let it be comforting to you to know OSCAR exists and this forum exists to be of help to you when you feel you can handle OSCAR without being overwhelmed by it. If all indications are that therapy is going well, you may find in a few months that getting OSCAR running and posting an average night for review seems much less daunting of an endeavor then than it may seem to you now.

I wish you the best with your therapy. Just remember that the software tools and this forum exist for you as a help if and when you need or want, and keep making progress at the pace you are comfortable with. You may surprise yourself with what you decide you can handle down the road.

[zonker]

i want to follow up on lazarus' most informative post. i want to stress that if you are doing okay with your therapy and are satisfied with the results, then there is no need for using oscar.

if you come here asking for advice such as "my cpap therapy isn't working. what can i do?", well then the forum would need to see the data that oscar provides in order to improve that situation.

each of us is different. we each sleep differently. and basically we each need to tweak individual settings to get a good result.

good luck!

[Dog Slobber]

[Pugsy]

What are the significant differences between the two applications - OSCAR and the ResMed myAir?

The details available.
OSCAR only reports what the machine gathers but it reports a LOT more than what MyAir reports.
You may or may not need or want those extra details.
Choice is yours.

[SleepGeek]

I know that Apria Healthcare, as well as my doctor, are receiving reports on a regular basis, as I have checked. What are the significant differences between the two applications - OSCAR and the ResMed myAir?

IMO what your doc cares about is that your AHI is <5.
What DME's care about is that you used the equipment >4hr/nite so they can get paid from your insurance.

afaik everything in My Air is on the screen of the cpap. Look on the screen to compare - I don't use My Air.
I believe the reason My Air was developed was so the DME doesn't have to send a tech to verify how many hours you used the equipment and they can bill your insurance.

The hours used were already being recorded by the machine and lots of other data that isn't clearly displayed.

Back in the day forum members used software (Encore) to read and interpret data the equipment was recording but not displaying using what we thought was a "Smartcard".

As time went on a forum member developed "Sleeyhead" which displayed more details that the equipment was collecting but not reporting on the screen. That eventually lead to what is known as OSCAR.

There are more deep dark secrets between Sleepyhead and OSCAR but that will likely start a fight.

So suffice it to say that OSCAR is a FREE program which is far better choice than My Air - so give it a GO.

[lazarus]

My Air . . . DME

You may be confusing myAir with AirView.

https://www.resmed.com/en-us/healthcare-professional/

[SleepGeek]

You may be confusing myAir with AirView.

Maybe...
Like I mentioned, I've never used either app.
Perhaps you can esplain what data one displays that the other doesn't?

[lazarus]

Perhaps

Feel free to follow the link to further links I posted if you wish to learn more. I will not comment further here in GoGo6889's thread about anything that does not pertain directly to the original question.

[SleepGeek]

You may be confusing myAir with AirView.

I never mentioned Airview.

What are the significant differences between the two applications - OSCAR and the ResMed myAir?

Like many others here - of the two I prefer OSCAR.