Need replacement for Autoset S9 - Ideas?

[Cuda]

The S9 has no alarms for when you recieve no treatment which in my case is dangerous. It was explained to me such alarms are a pain for the DMEs and they do not want to handle any support calls (doing your job? Yuck!). Last night the the hose came apart from the mask once again. This time my S9 was smart enough to shut down which normally it never does. I woke up 6 hours later in very rough shape.

I need a unit that has an alarm on it once the pateint is no longer recieving any therapy. If leaks are over 24L a min it wakes me up, might as well since I would be better off not sleeping at all than sleeping without the machine or even worse sleeping with the machine but its no longer connected or even on.

Which brands have this function?

I also have a S9 in mint shape to get rid of.

[hyperlexis]

The S9 has no settings at all to make it beep during a large leak?

The PR Ones can be set to make beeping noises when a large leak is detected (I only have heard it before auto shut off), but the beeping to me is pretty soft. I don't really know if it would be loud enough to wake me up.

I don't know if the DeVilbiss machines have audible warnings but you should check them.

Any idea what's causing all your disconnections? If you are pulling the hose so hard the mask disconnects, have you ever pulled the machine onto the floor?

[Cuda]

Never pulled the machine on the floor but plan to put it back in the nightstand drawer just in case. The hose has disconnected from the mask maybe three times. The first two times the machine just blew air for six hours, this time the machine turned itself off.

No alarms.

When I get a good night on the machine and can think straight I might have to rig something up. Its irritating because the machine knows the mask is off or leaking, why not have the option to have it wake up the user after 20 minutes. Don't they know sleeping without the machine is bad?

Imagine millions of dollars and thousands of engineers and everything the S9 is and they miss something so simple.

[big_dave]

Very strange. The S8 has a leak alarm.

[hyperlexis]

Yeah it's a stupid design flaw. Like someone will wake up because he's looking at a display showing a mask leak, but no beeping..... Right. Surprisingly dumb omission by ResMed. Really dumb. You should definitely call them to complain -- if enough people do they may eventually do a firmware upgrade to fix it. Especially if it means people sending their machines back.

PR Sys One has similar dumb omissions. One is that the mask alert beeping is so faint, and for such a short time that I wonder if it would be effective, and two is the whole backlight problem. PR Ones shut off the display backlight a few seconds after the blower starts. And, unlike the ResMeds, you cannot 'wake up' the display later on, other than by shutting the machine off and restarting it. (Which will drop an auto machine back to the lowest starting pressure....)

DeVilbiss machines, I think, don't even tell you you had a mask leak until the day after it occurs! The warning shows up on the screen telling you you had a leak from the prior night's use. Totally nuts. Like building a smoke alarm that warns you a day after the fire....

I honestly wonder with these seemingly straightforward problems whether the engineers have ever taken their machines home and used them. In a few days these omissions should become obvious to anyone using the products each night.

Maybe you will need to go with a PR (or maybe an Icon? Do they beep with leaks?) or get an oximeter that will start beeping loudly if there is a problem.

Otherwise figure out why your mask keeps getting disconnected so easily. Maybe some handcuffs?

[edm_msu]

Not sure, but oximeters might have an alarm if the oxygen goes too low. If your CPAP disconnected and if your oxygen levels went too low, then the alarm would go off. Something to consider, instead of getting a new CPAP. Besides, oximeters are nice to have for people with apnea anyways.
Ed M.

[lostsheep]

I have an S9 auto VPAP, and noticed an option in the clinician's menu to turn the leak alarm ON/OFF. Perhaps you just need to turn it on?

If you don't know how to go into clinical mode, search this forum for instructions for doing that on your machine. If it is like mine, you just hold down the round knob & "check-check" button at the same time for 3 seconds.

[billbolton]

I woke up 6 hours later in very rough shape.

I need a unit that has an alarm on it once the pateint is no longer recieving any therapy.

If it is you can sleep for 6 hours without CPAP treatment and not awaken, then you probably have something other than straight forward apenas occuring, in which case you may need an ASV rather than a CPAP machine in any case

ASV machines, including the S9 ASV, do come with audible alarms.

Cheers,

Bill

[MidnightOwl]

Cheapest fix - try replacing the hose. My hose is now pulling loose very easily but I ow it's overdue for replacement. I haven't bothered yet because it doesn't happen that often after I'm asleep and when it does I wake up right away. If that failed I'd try hose + duct tape.

However you're right. There really should be an optional alarm. My old m-series has one but it's way too faint to do me any good. Perhaps the older resmed is better? I also thought of an oximeter but my experience with them at hospital bedsides is that they are continually giving false alarms.

[archangle]

If it is you can sleep for 6 hours without CPAP treatment and not awaken, then you probably have something other than straight forward apenas occuring, in which case you may need an ASV rather than a CPAP machine in any case.

Why would you say that? Plenty of apneacs suffer from severe apnea for years and never report waking up choking or even sleeping poorly.

I'll agree that the PRS1 alarm is way too quiet to reliably wake you up.

Be sure that you have the machine secured such that you can't pull it off the table.

Does the hose come off the mask, or does that little grey plastic part come off the mask?

Or are you missing the little grey plastic part where the hose attaches entirely?

[billbolton]

Plenty of apneacs suffer from severe apnea for years and never report waking up choking or even sleeping poorly.

What is reported and what actually happens are often quite different things

[archangle]

Plenty of apneacs suffer from severe apnea for years and never report waking up choking or even sleeping poorly.

What is reported and what actually happens are often quite different things

Well, call it what you will, but many untreated apneacs sleep the whole night through without ever waking up. Look at how many people sleep long enough to have apneas over a minute long.

[MyIdaho]

Never pulled the machine on the floor but plan to put it back in the nightstand drawer just in case. The hose has disconnected from the mask maybe three times. The first two times the machine just blew air for six hours, this time the machine turned itself off. No alarms. When I get a good night on the machine and can think straight I might have to rig something up. Its irritating because the machine knows the mask is off or leaking, why not have the option to have it wake up the user after 20 minutes. Don't they know sleeping without the machine is bad? Imagine millions of dollars and thousands of engineers and everything the S9 is and they miss something so simple.

I've gotten up for a bathroom run and turned my S9 on before hooking up the mask... The S9 is quite noisy if freely blowing air... Plus, the mask itself becomes noisy with the little flapper opening and closing as you breath without the blower attached.... While I agree that an alarm is a good idea, the two changes that take place when the hose disconnects are very disconcerting and likely would wake up a high percentage of users. Perhaps they think this is sufficient (but apparently does not work for you)?

[bjcyorkiemom]

Check to see if your insurance would cover a continuous oximetry unit, they do have parameters to set and an alarm if you go below a setting, or Apnea Monitors (even though they are usually used for sick infants). I've always set up PR machines until last year and switched to ResMed so all I've ever set up are the S9's. None of the c-pap / bi-pap units I've ever set up in more than 10 years have had leak alarms.

[Slartybartfast]

Some folks are sounder sleepers than are others. Every time I have disconnected the hose from the mask I've awakened immediately from the noise of the machine. I checked the clinicians manuals in both the S9 Autoset and Intellipap, and neither has an alarm to awaken you should the leaks exceed a certain level. I suppose there was a reason both companies made the same decision about that.