cpap machine gone crazy

[moparman]

I have been having problems after being on my machine for ayear. mine is set on 17 problems I started having, waking up with chest pains ,bolts of lighting in my eyes bleeding in the ear, ear aches numbness in the left side headaches, ended up in ccu and they couldn't find anything major. had another sleep study done nothing changed. they had a tech come and check it out. the machine showed 17 but when he hooked up the calibrater to it . the machine was a putting out 28.4. the guy said I was lucky to be alive. still having some affects from it bolts of lighting and some chest pains. has anybody else had this happen to them.

[GoofyUT]

Tell us what kind of machine you're using and then

CALL A LAWYER!!!

BEST of luck to you!

Chuck

[moparman]

remstar/pro with c-flex,

[Goofproof]

I would check it myself, I supect it's not able to run that high at all. That's 8.4 cm past the design spec. Your DME is supposed to check your machine at every 6 months. Also checks it before you get it. Jim

[bdp522]

The DME didn't check mine. He brought it in a sealed bag, inside a sealed box. Opened the thing up, set it at 7 and left.

Brenda

[Bamalady]

Your DME is supposed to check your machine at every 6 months.

Well, it seems I have more to learn. I have had my machine for a little over a year. It has not been checked since I've had it. I guess I will go search for DME Standards.

[dsm]

WOW! 28

My BP330 can go to 30 but most Remstars are designed to do the standard 4-20.

The blower runs at a constant speed set by an electronic controller. The motor is brushless so requires a controller to change its speed which is how the different cms settings are obtained.

The motor controller has a range of settings to drive the motor/blower based on an internal software table.

The only time I had an even vaguely similar experience was when I 1st started using the PB330. It has a separate pressure line that starts outside but then goes inside the main airhose up to the mask where it accurately samples the pressure at the face.

I had bumped the 2nd pressure line & it disconnected so that when I powered up the PB330 it went straight to 30 CMS & I thought I was about to be transformed into the 'Michelin Tyre Man'.


I can understand your strange experiences if you were being inflated with 28 cms. You are lucky to be alive. That kind of airflow can induce a fatal 'pressure induced central'



DSM

[moparman]

the guy thought it was funny when I told him I and showed him the duct tape on the mask just to keep it on my head. I just wish the problems would go away, I have heart problems,high blood pressure and diabetes now and there having a hard time getting it under control. I go to the va in clarksburg wv, then to pittsburgh va hospital and they cant seem to get together on my problems.

[Snoredog]

You need to make or buy a manometer. They are so easy to make and very accurate.

You can buy the F&P, I have one it works very well, has a built-in intentional leak about $50 bucks from cpap.com, you can make a U-tube manometer for next to nothing. You only need about 4ft of 1/8" ID clear tubing and a 1/4" thick by 1" by 50cm stick. Round one end of the stick so the tubing can roll around it creating a "U", use clear shipping tape to attach the tubing to the edge of the stick. One end of the tubing can be flush with the end of the stick and the other to connect to the oxygen port on your mask. Go down half way on the stick and draw a line across, that becomes the 0 (zero) cm mark, then put 1cm tics on the stick each side of that 0 reference mark. Then fill the tubing with water until it reaches the zero mark (use a eye dropper or shringe).

Connect the long end of the tubing to your oxygen port on the mask (save the cap!) Put on the mask, turn on the machine and if it is putting out the correct pressure it will move the water on the stick to the cm reading. Double the cm reading seen and that will be the accurate pressure reading.

Or you can just buy one like the F&P:

[dllfo]

Maybe I missed it, but what mask were you wearing?

AND it makes me wonder how high any machine CAN go if it malfunctions?
30? 40? What keeps it from hitting 40? Other than the mechanical limits of the machine itself?

[rested gal]

Don't know about other machines, but under Specifications, CPAP Performance the statements below appear in both the Patient and Clinician manuals for the Polaris TR. That's the little cpap machine that used to be called "Everest/Aura" -- a simple straight cpap machine that can be set from 4 - 20:

Working pressure range: 4 to 20 cmH20

Maximum system shutdown pressure: 30 cmH20

[moparman]

well its back to the hospital. they want to find out how much damage was done to me. they said I shouldnt be having these problems.

[bdp522]

Good luck with your tests. Hopefully it's nothing permanent.

Brenda

[rested gal]

moparman, given what you've been through with a faulty machine, I'd think you have very good reason to try to get your doctor to prescribe a bi-level machine with bi-flex. Perhaps you could get the doctor to let you have a trial with the Respironics BiPAP Auto with Bi-Flex. It may be that you don't even need the 17 you were originally prescribed to be blowing at you all night long. The BiPAP Auto will vary the pressure as needed AND give you much better exhalation relief than even C-Flex can. Possibly letting you spend most of the night at pressures considerably below that straight 17.

Seems to me you deserve some extra help and a LOT more comfort at this point, given what happened with the machine they gave you to start with. Perhaps a sympathetic doctor will give you a new Rx.