mom diagnosed at 90

[metropical]

She has been given a S9 Elite and H5i with a Swift FX nasal.
So far she has been averaging an hour with the mask.

Mom is 90 and overweight.
I'm sure the apnea has contributed to her energy lack and foggy head over the last few years.

In discussion with a friend who is also diagnosed, he spoke of an apap and/or hacking a basic cpap so that it is more useful.
I guess the basic is given so that the provider can keep getting call backs for adjust and milking the system.

Any input is welcome especially by those in the same group or knowledge of the same group.

[Pugsy]

The S9 Elite is a great machine. If offers the exact same data as the APAP model...it just doesn't offer auto adjusting pressures. The Elite is not a "basic" machine.
SleepyHead software will work with it...see links in my signature.
ResScan software will work with it. You can see the data offered by watching the tutorial for ResScan
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/
We can get you ResScan if you want it.

The S9 Escape is the "basic" model. Offers good therapy but no way to evaluate the therapy or even leaks.

An hour on the machine isn't going to offer a whole lot of data but you might go ahead and check it out...maybe part of the problem is leaks.
With ResMed S9 machines you want to avoid leaks 24 L/min or greater if they are prolonged. That is large leak territory and therapy can be impacted as well as the machine's ability to sense and flag events.
Short lived spikes to large leak territory aren't the end of the world though.

Mainly you need to figure out what is keeping her from using it more than an hour if you can.
Even if leaks are tiny and they are waking her up and causing her to take the mask off then they need to be worked on because they are disturbing sleep.

Sleeping with a mask stuck on the face isn't easy...at age 90...it likely is going to take quite an adjustment on her part but it can be done.

[nanwilson]

Oh, do I feel for her to have to go through this at age 90. I hope she takes to it like a duck to water, at age 90 she does not need to be fighting to get things right. I wish you all the best with helping her.....you are a wonderful daughter.
Cheers
Nan

[Pugsy]

You know I have a friend whose mom is a bit elderly and was complaining about the mask (Swift FX nasal Pillows) changing her nose....we found out she was wearing it too tight. She was getting "piggy nose". Once we got her mask adjusted properly she has had a much easier time adjusting. So if you mom is complaining of a sore nose...I bet the mask is too tight and the most common offender is the top strap.

[metropical]

no sore nose complaints, just geting use to the idea and all. Hoping and encouraging her to stick it out.
I'll do some more research when I'm there again.

[Pugsy]

If you could encourage her to use the mask and machine while awake...like while watching TV it will help her brain to accept the alien being stuck on her face.
I know the first month or so when I started therapy I woke often just to feel the alien....it just isn't normal and the brain takes a while to accept that having the mask stuck to our faces is a good thing.
Right now she is probably sort of hyper aware. Also as we get older our sleep gets more fragile..things just wake us up more easily. Stick the alien on our face and the brain is going to go into hyper vigilance.
Ask her if there is anything in particular that is problematic or is it just the whole setup being weird.
If it is pressure or something with the actual delivery of the air...maybe we can offer some hints to help the adjustment...like using EPR or ramp or heck, even a slightly lower pressure for a while and work up to her pressure.
Do you know what the current settings are? Pressure? Using Ramp or EPR?

[metropical]

"If you could encourage her to use the mask and machine while awake...like while watching TV it will help her brain to accept the alien being stuck on her face."


Good idea! I'll make that suggestion. Don't know setting yet. I'll have to explore when I'm there next.

[Pugsy]

In case you don't know how to check her settings...you might save this manual.
Also if you want to use the software available you have to make sure that the machine is recording the data that it has the ability to record. The default setting from the factory is for hours of use only.

Setting..Sleep Quality...the default setting is for "usage" and it needs to be set to "On" to record more than hours of use.
http://www.apneuvereniging.nl/forum/pdf ... manual.pdf for the clinical/provider manual.

And this link has instructions with pictures if you need them.
http://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-s9-cpap-setup

EPR and ramp are considered comfort features and it is totally acceptable for the patient to access these settings and alter them however they see fit. Your mom's DME may or may not have enabled those features for her to see if a different setting is more comfortable for her or not. Again this can be turned on within the clinical menu setup area if she cannot access them now.

While you do have data now other than leak numbers and leak graph...I wouldn't worry so much about the other stuff until she can get more continuous hours of use with the machine. A lot of what would normally be seen on a report from a new user only managing an hour on the machine is going to be awake events getting scored by mistake so we can't really judge the AHI and stuff until she can for sure sleep longer with the machine.