Aircurve 10 ASV for Severe OSA startup

[Neo2020]

Hello, I can’t get In to see a sleep doc till Jan but picked up a resmed Aircurve ST with nose pillows. Not sure if anyone can recommend starting pressures, maybe 10/5 ? Or just stick it on auto? I monitor my SPO2 and it has been getting down to 84% at the lowest earlier in the week. This was my last 3hrs

[Pugsy]

The AirCurve 10 ST model doesn't do auto mode.

Why did you buy that model? What is your diagnosis?

[Neo2020]

I got that model cheap 2nd hand. Have been using a wellue oxygen ring . Had a sleep study and guy didn’t send results and old doc moved on. Frustrating as I didn’t even get his number. Sick of waking up exhausted some days and thought I’d try it out as may have to wait till January. Guy had a whole heap of machines and said he’d be happy to swap/update to something suitable if needed to. Looks like he now has a vauto on his site now which may have been better. Didn’t know enough about them at the time

[Pugsy]

Do you know what kind of sleep apnea you have?
Plain old obstructive sleep apnea or did you have a lot of central apneas....or both?

I am familiar with the AirCurve 10 ST myself....I did what you did just to try it...found one cheap and bought it.

Did you ever have a sleep study using any machine to figure out your pressure needs?

This model isn't the easiest to self titrate with...because it doesn't do auto and it's mainly for central apnea alone and not obstructive apnea. Now we could maybe get close but it won't be easy and it will take some time and patience.
A drawback to it is that it lumps central apneas and obstructive apneas in the unclassified apnea basket and when we use available software to monitor results we have to guess what we need to adjust.

Look in the clinical menu and tell me what modes of operation you have available.
If you don't have the clinical/provider manual for the machine you can request it here.
https://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap- ... tup-manual

[Neo2020]

Thanks very much for your help. Will attach pic. May have been too fast to try and grab a bargain .Looks like asv or vauto the way to go .Also from another post

The Aircurve 10 Vauto, ST and ASV are all distinctly different machines with different therapy missions. This titration guide from Resmed describes each machine and its intended uses https://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/...er_eng.pdf

The ASV is a bilevel with a backup rate, meaning it will switch to IPAP when you fail to take a breath or your breathing is too shallow. It automatically adjusts EPAP pressure to prevent obstructive apnea, and provides pressure support as needed, as much as needed to keep you breathing in the event of central apnea. This is the machine for complex apnea.

The ST is a bilevel with a backup rate, but has fixed EPAP and IPAP pressures. The EPAP must be set at a level that keeps the airway open, and the IPAP is set to make breathing easier for people that suffer from neuromuscular respiratory insufficiency, obesity hypoventilation and COPD. This is a machine for respiratory disease or restriction to make it possible to get a full breath with less effort.

The ST-A is a bilevel with backup rate that has automatic adjusting EPAP and Pressure support. It targets maintaining respiratory volume and rate. This is the machine the ST wanted to be, and can function to treat pulmonary restriction as well as central apnea. This is the machine that can maintain a consistently high minimum pressure support, and add more pressure support as needed to maintain tidal volume, or aveolar volume.

The Vauto is a bilevel machine with no backup rate. It is used to treat obstructive sleep apnea, hypopnea and upper airway resistance. In the event of apnea, it does not switch to IPAP until the user spontaneously breathes. This is a more comfortable alternative to CPAP, but is not a treatment for central apnea.

[Pugsy]

Okay...Let's start with S mode as that is normal bilevel fixed. Let's start with the basics and work from there as needed.
EPAP 6 and IPAP 10 which gives us PS (pressure support) of 4.

Get OSCAR...you will need it
OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

Use your oxygen desat monitor thing as well.

Learn how to post images of your software reports.
viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

[Neo2020]

Awesome. Great stuff. I will do this and report back. The guy who sold it does have the Vauto and ASV second hand if I need to swap. For now I’ll try this for a start. I do have the wellue O2 ring to monitor as well. Be nice if Oscar could import data from that. Thankyou

[Pugsy]

Well...OSCAR won't import that oximeter but it doesn't really matter because all we want to do is see if you still get desats in general.
Not a big deal.

The VAuto would have been a better choice if you have plain OSA.....the ASV would have been a better choice if you have OSA and central apnea or just central apnea.

We can maybe make the ST work but it won't do auto adjusting at all.
The only "auto" part of it is it will automatically force you to breathe if you don't breathe and it does it with EVERY breath whether you need it or not and that's in the ST or T mode. Unless you have really bad central apnea it's more of an annoyance than a help.

[Dog Slobber]

The guy who sold it does have the Vauto and ASV second hand if I need to swap.

If possible, you really want to swap your ST for the VAauto.

The VAuto is by far the preferred machine, especially for non-specialized cases, which probability suggests you're not.

[Neo2020]

The guy who sold it does have the Vauto and ASV second hand if I need to swap.

If possible, you really want to swap your ST for the VAauto.

The VAuto is by far the preferred machine, especially for non-specialized cases, which probability suggests you're not.

Will do. For now I’ll give it a go and make do as delivery is going to be a pain over Xmas

[Pugsy]

The data gathered from the ST machine might help us know if you need the VAuto or the ASV model.
Might as well use it and get something out of it.
I don't have central apnea...and I was able to successfully use the ST that I bought but in S mode and it did the job. Not optimally but it did work. Since it doesn't auto adjust I ended up having to use higher pressures all night just to deal with what I need in REM...but I did it.

When I bought the ST I knew it wasn't ideal. It was cheap and the person selling it wanted it gone because her husband had passed away and the hours on it were high enough to make it something the secondhand sellers didn't want to buy.
I kept it until I ran across someone with just plain central apnea and it works fine for that situation...so they got a good deal.

[Neo2020]

Have Swapped my ST machine for a ASV as the guy didn't have a vauto and glad I did as it doesn't feel as direct. Feel it will help if I decide to have a few beers and need auto adjust. Sleep wasn't too bad .Thought Id attach my first few hours of use https://i.imgur.com/etdoHtb.jpg Couldn't upload due to fail to move uploaded file error in forum . Being a chronic mouth breather I'm using a nasal pillow mask to convert over. Seemed to work well with the ASV and made me uncomfortable on the ST. Have moved humidity up to 4 from 3 last night . Seemed to wake up in the night with sore throat but went away quickly . O2 ring recorded mostly 95% SpO2 which is great as I hit a low of 78% in past week . Using ASVAuto mode Min Epap 5.6 Max Epap 15.0 Min PS 4.0 Max PS 10.0 . Have also turned Ramp Time to Off .Ext Humidifier I guess refers to the one on the machine so have this on. Leaking a bit around the mask which I will get sorted. Hope I didn't step on it at one point . Will do a bit of reading up

[zonker]

here is neo's chart-



i would comment on said chart, but know nothing about asv.

good luck!

[Neo2020]

Don't think I need ASV but only got it cos guy didn't have Vauto. Have posted todays results https://imgur.com/t0SSeCP STill can't add attachment. Over the last 2 days, I have reduced snoring considerably, first time going from mouth breathing to nose and oximeter is staying av 96% . Certainly helping in this regard.

[Pugsy]

Check your image size. It might be too large. There is a 1 MB size limit for attachments.

Your reports took really good. As long as you are sleeping good and feeling good it doesn't hurt anything to use the ASV even if you don't have a problem with central apneas.
It won't do what it does for centrals if you don't have them and it doesn't look like it is doing anything but auto adjusting for your OSA stuff.

I used an ASV machine for a couple of years just because I liked it and I never had a problem with centrals.

I would sit back and enjoy the ride.