ASV question...huge pressure while wide awake..why?

[jjlady]

My ASV is serving up some really big pressure/breaths (for a long time) early on while I am still awake (trying to fall asleep) that is actually keeping me awake, why is it doing that....I feel still wide awake while this happens? Any way I can fool it to not serve up those huge pressures, so I can actually fall asleep??

[tmiker]

Hi, I noticed the same thing myself and started waiting 15 minutes once in bed before putting on the mask. It seems to help as it lowers the initial breathing pace the machine is trying to maintain. Sometimes I still get a pressure increase that I'm not sure why, but if I look at the flow wave the next day I had a decrease in rate or depth at the time.

[old64mb]

It's because the set backup breathing rate is actually faster than the natural rate you're breathing while awake. The machine decides that you need to breathe faster to keep up with the set rate and kicks pressure up. Not a problem while you're sleeping, but when you're awake and trying to fall asleep...problematic, and one of the few downsides to an ASV.

[tmiker]

old64mb, I guess an ASV user could run in manual for backup rate with a rate somewhat below your sleeping breathing rate and avoid this???
I run it in auto now but have considered manual 10 BPM. My night average BPM is 18.

[old64mb]

Probably not a wise idea; backup rate is one of the core ways an ASV deals with centrals.

If your average BPM under auto is 18, titration protocol generally suggests a couple of BPM lower at most if you go manual - say something like 16. Having that high a rate while trying to fall asleep is going to be problematic, though, so auto is still likely your best bet.

[JohnBFisher]

jjlady, I think I already mentioned that it's not unusual to have this type of problem when you first start ASV therapy. For the first few months I found I had to switch off my machine and turn it back on .. so we could be in synch again. But after a couple months, I did that less and less. Your body does adjust to the ASV therapy over time.

[Bons]

Yup, what John said. It took me months to fall asleep easily with the ASV. My daytime breath rate is 6-8 bpm with long pauses in between, and the ASV wants me breathing faster and more regular than that. Fortunately, I am the only patient my doc has whose breath rate goes up while sleeping. So I set the bpm as low as it will go, and the rise rate as high as it will go. And my brain and body have learned to adapt for comfort and sanity's sake - before ASV I would be awake for up to an hour, early ASV I'd be awake for hours, now I'm asleep most nights within 15 minutes.

In the meantime, the ASV makes really fun noises and sputters when you scream into it from frustration

[Pugsy]

In the meantime, the ASV makes really fun noises and sputters when you scream into it from frustration

Reminds me of something my daughter told me she did to her new phone. One of those fancy phones where you can have it do a google search with your voice and it responds with a voice. She was playing with it and ask for something regarding her pug dog (I forget exact wording) and the woman's phone voice told her she couldn't find anything like that (and it was something simple that should have offered choices) so my daughter got into a sparring match with the phone voice and finally cussed it out.
Phone voice said...."That's not nice to talk that way". It appears that the programmers thought to include responses for cuss words. She laughed till she cried.

[ozze_dollar]

Yes I had the same problem with high pressures before I went to sleep. First thing,get off your back. Take a few deep breaths and relax. I must be more used to the machine(or vice versa) as it doesnt seem to be an issue anymore.I have had mine since June 2011
My exhale is 1-4. My inhale is 5 - 15.
Seems to be just right.
My machine is an ASV. Resmed in Sydney tell me it is not a bi level machine. I have only pick that one for my profile as it seems the closest.