Cpap altitude adjustment

[thumbs]

I just go back from a trip the South Dakota. Here at home my altitude is 465 feet. In South Dakota the altitude was 4000 feet. This is the first time I traveled with the cpap where the altitude changed so drastically. I have been using a cpap at least 30 years. My normal episodes run around 1 or 2 at home. In SD they went nuts. They reached as high as 27. I could never get them anywhere near where they should be. I called the therapist and it was the first time they heard of the problem. I am home now and the machine is back to normal. Obviously altitude plays a huge part in setting the machine to work properly. What adjustments do I need to make to tell the machine I am at a higher or lower altitude than the normal 465 ft.

thanks for the help
Gary

[Pugsy]

What was your higher AHI composed of in terms of event categories???
In other words how much of the AHI was
1...central index
2...obstructive apnea index
3...hyponeas

what brand and model machine are you using?

[thumbs]

What was your higher AHI composed of in terms of event categories???
In other words how much of the AHI was
1...central index
2...obstructive apnea index
3...hyponeas

what brand and model machine are you using?

Hi Pugsy
Ha I have no idea about any of the things your asking. I really have never had a problem with the machines over the years. This is the first time I've had any issues so I never had a need to have this information. i can tell you its a Philips Dream Station about 4 years old.

[thumbs]

This is my first post to the forum so I am still learning the ins and outs.
Anyway I do know how to get into the settings but I am unfamiliar with the nomenclature. If the info you are looking for is in the settings I can probably find it. What I know is this. The min pressure is 6 and the max is 20. Not sure about where it normally operates but its less than 12 because anything more than that and my wife wakes me up to tell me its keeping her awake. LOL Kinda counter productive but thats the way it goes. LOl Normally when I wake up and check the machine its pressure is less than 8.

[Pugsy]

Most likely your machine is quite capable of automatically adjusting to twice the altitude your were at. Pretty much all machines manufactured in the last 10 to 15 years have an automatic altitude adjustment built in and we don't have to do anything.

I doubt the problem was the altitude and the machine not being able to deal with what happened...
What I suspect happened was at the higher altitude you had an increase in central apneas (Respironics calls them clear airway apneas) because it happens often when people go from a lower altitude to a higher altitude.
Asking the composition of the AHI would tell us if you had an increase in centrals.
Your machine doesn't treat centrals anyway...it can't.

If your machine has a SD card for data storage you can use available free software and it will show you the composition of the AHI.

OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... ganization organize and how to do screen shots.
wiki/index.php/Oscar:organize Wiki

http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t1585 ... eview.html

[ChicagoGranny]

What was your higher AHI composed of in terms of event categories???
In other words how much of the AHI was
1...central index
2...obstructive apnea index
3...hyponeas

what brand and model machine are you using?

Hi Pugsy
Ha I have no idea about any of the things your asking. I really have never had a problem with the machines over the years. This is the first time I've had any issues so I never had a need to have this information. i can tell you its a Philips Dream Station about 4 years old.

You can review the AHI categories that Pugsy mentioned in the DreamMapper app. Page 10 - https://www.mydreammapper.com/help/Drea ... rGuide.pdf

[thumbs]

Ok guys thanks. This may take a little while but I'll check out the links and see what I can find out. Yeah the altitude was about 9 times what I am normally in. I could tell when I was hiking in my breathing. Heck I'm 75 so who knows. LOL

[chunkyfrog]

While on vacation, many of us tend to do things differently.
I eat more, drink more, and am exposed to allergens I never find at home.
I expect to feel some effect.
Why were you surprised?
Most cpaps automatically compensate for altitudes of 8,000 feet and some even more.

[D.H.]

Altitude compensation merely adjusts the pressure output to be the same at any altitude (within the covered range). It cannot adjust for any other variable such as your activity, allergens, your daytime breathing, your bed, etc.

[Cecioboe]

I also live at low altitude but was in Colorado at 9,000 ft. for a few days. My machine seemed to make all the adjustments needed and my AHIs were pretty normal. I did have trouble breathing in general (also asthmatic) but sleep was great. Go figure.

[Wulfman...]

I just go back from a trip the South Dakota. Here at home my altitude is 465 feet. In South Dakota the altitude was 4000 feet. This is the first time I traveled with the cpap where the altitude changed so drastically. I have been using a cpap at least 30 years. My normal episodes run around 1 or 2 at home. In SD they went nuts. They reached as high as 27. I could never get them anywhere near where they should be. I called the therapist and it was the first time they heard of the problem. I am home now and the machine is back to normal. Obviously altitude plays a huge part in setting the machine to work properly. What adjustments do I need to make to tell the machine I am at a higher or lower altitude than the normal 465 ft.

thanks for the help
Gary

NONSENSE!

I'm not buying your story.

FIRST.
You didn't tell us which make/model of machine you're using.

If you have a CPAP machine that records data, it has automatic altitude compensation.
If there are no options in the clinical setup parameters for altitude settings, it has automatic altitude compensation.

If you have been using CPAP machines for as long as you say you have, you would know this.

Did you read the provider or user manuals for your machine? It will be in there.

To my knowledge, EVERY flow generator made in the last 17 years that collects data has automatic altitude compensation.

Finally, the altitudes you mentioned would not be problem for a data-capable machine with automatic altitude cmpensation.
Even 4000 feet is pretty low in the whole scheme of things.

Den

.

[ChicagoGranny]

I don't know what "automatic altitude adjustment" means. If the machine is set to, for example, 10.0 cm pressure, it's going to blow 10.0 at sea level and 10.0 at 8,000 feet due to the standard pressure sensors in the machine. It doesn't seem that a part of the algorithm needs to address altitude.

Of the environmental factors changing with altitude, the barometric or compressive pressure may have little effect, because at any altitude, there is the same air density within the pharynx as outside of the neck, at least when the airway is patent.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864887/

[ChicagoGranny]

That's not to say that higher altitudes can't cause breathing instability. They can. But 4,000 feet is not a very high altitude.

[Wulfman...]

What was your higher AHI composed of in terms of event categories???
In other words how much of the AHI was
1...central index
2...obstructive apnea index
3...hyponeas

what brand and model machine are you using?

Hi Pugsy
Ha I have no idea about any of the things your asking. I really have never had a problem with the machines over the years. This is the first time I've had any issues so I never had a need to have this information. i can tell you its a Philips Dream Station about 4 years old.

The following is from page 15 (or page 16 depending on which printing) of the user manual for your machine:

Altitude Compensation
This device automatically compensates for altitude up to 7,500 feet. No manual adjustment is necessary.


Den

.

[chunkyfrog]

We must remember that as little help as we got from our providers,
others received even less.
The profession sometimes appears to attract the least qualified and least motivated.