APAP pressure setting range?

[mommystired]

Hi All!

I'm a noob......just signed up today, but I've been lurking so long, I feel like I know you all. All of your encouragement to each other has helped me as well because instead of being scared out of my mind like I was before, now I'm still scared, but at the same time excited to start my therapy. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and I really need some kind of life back instead of being a "I-just-slept-10-hours-but-need-more-sleep" zombie.

My Cpap titration study was done two weeks ago and I just received the results in the mail. Now, from reading posts for weeks on end, I came to the decision that I better try and get an APAP even though the sleep center doctor suggested a CPAP. My PCP wrote a little note saying that I need to call to get my script, and she's pretty cool, so I think I can get what I want.

Now, since she's not really a sleep doctor, my question is: my pressure setting is at 8 cm, how much should I "suggest" as my range? 6-10? If I remember correctly from previous posts, there have been suggestions of 2 cm's under and 2 cm's lower of the prescribed pressure, but I wanted to double check first.

Thanks!

[tangents]

Here's what I would do:

If I was titrated at 8 cm, I would set the APAP for 8-12. I would use that setting for at least 2 weeks. I would look at my data for those two weeks, and determine whether I had a low enough AHI and leaks. Then I would see what the auto-pressure is doing. If I was straight across at 8 cm, then I would try 7-10. I would go slowly, because when a person is just starting out, they are getting accustomed to SO many different aspects of xPAP, that the data for an individual night doesn't necessarily mean much.

The important thing is to prevent apneas, and let the body get oxygenated rest. I've recently learned that once an apnea occurs, the APAP will not re-open the throat - it will increase pressure to stop the next one.

Good luck with your new machine and the start of your therapy. Let us know what you get!

Take Care,
Cathy

[rested gal]

My PCP wrote a little note saying that I need to call to get my script, and she's pretty cool, so I think I can get what I want.

Now, since she's not really a sleep doctor, my question is: my pressure setting is at 8 cm, how much should I "suggest" as my range? 6-10? If I remember correctly from previous posts, there have been suggestions of 2 cm's under and 2 cm's lower of the prescribed pressure, but I wanted to double check first.

I'm not a doctor, but if I were prescribed a pressure of 8 from a sleep study, I'd initially set an autopap at 8 - 12, as Cathy (tangents) mentioned. Setting the minimum pressure at the prescribed pressure.

There's nothing really wrong with setting it for "two below/two above" the prescribed pressure, but..... I think the bottom pressure is the most important one to get right. And "right", to me, means having the bottom pressure set high enough to prevent most events right from the get-go.

In other words, if I can be comfortable with a prescribed pressure, I like to use an autopap almost as if it were a straight cpap machine, with the minimum pressure warding off most events (apneas/hypopneas) all along.

So... unless I'd been prescribed such a high pressure that I really couldn't get comfortable using it, I'd set the minimum pressure on an autopap at, or almost at, the prescribed single pressure.

For me, the main value of using an autopap is that the machine can automatically use more pressure if more is needed occasionally.

My thoughts about where to set the maximum pressure on an autopap:

If I didn't have software to download the data and see what pressures the machine used throughout the night, I'd set the maximum pressure about 5 cms above the prescribed single pressure.

If I did have the software (like Encore Viewer for a Respironics autopap, or Silverlining for a Puritan Bennett autopap) I'd set the maximum pressure at 20.

If I saw (via the software) the pressure going considerably higher than the prescribed pressure, like hitting 16 when I'd been prescribed " 10 ", I'd want to know that. Then I'd decide what tweaks I wanted to try.

I don't think it really matters, for most people, how high you set the maximum pressure ceiling if the machine is never going to have to use much more than your prescribed pressure anyway.

The minimum pressure is the one that's the most important on an autopap, imho .... setting the minimum pressure high enough to prevent most events from even getting started.

Good luck, mommystired! That's great that you have a good PCP who will write a prescription for an autopap.

[Snoredog]

[quote="mommystired"]Hi All!

I'm a noob......just signed up today, but I've been lurking so long, I feel like I know you all. All of your encouragement to each other has helped me as well because instead of being scared out of my mind like I was before, now I'm still scared, but at the same time excited to start my therapy. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and I really need some kind of life back instead of being a "I-just-slept-10-hours-but-need-more-sleep" zombie.

My Cpap titration study was done two weeks ago and I just received the results in the mail. Now, from reading posts for weeks on end, I came to the decision that I better try and get an APAP even though the sleep center doctor suggested a CPAP. My PCP wrote a little note saying that I need to call to get my script, and she's pretty cool, so I think I can get what I want.

Now, since she's not really a sleep doctor, my question is: my pressure setting is at 8 cm, how much should I "suggest" as my range? 6-10? If I remember correctly from previous posts, there have been suggestions of 2 cm's under and 2 cm's lower of the prescribed pressure, but I wanted to double check first.

Thanks!