My S9 Auto SAVED MY LIFE last night I think.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Where do I begin? I'll try and keep to the point and short if I can (impossible).

My sleep doc said I had shallow breathing (hypopneas galore) and some OSA back around November; the government kicked in about $800 and I walked out of Medigas the next day with a ResMed Escape II and a mask that was the worst in the world and a VISA bill for $1500. BS and money grab. Little did I know that my Rx was for 4 cm. and would do me NO good whatever.

Went back for titration study and got all hooked up again with my mask and walked away only to get a call some weeks later that my Rx had been changed to 9.8 cm and head back to Medigas to have the machine adjusted (I could have done it at home). I still didn't feel the machine was doing its full job and continued to awake with some cold sweats at night but things were improving.

Found this board and some good advice and purchase TWO ResMed S8 Autosets with my own money (no reimbursements from anyone) at about $600 each and got a couple of new masks to try based on what I read on this board. One was the Mirage Activa LT and BINGO... it was the one for me. Thus far. The first night I used the S8 Autoset II I set it for 9.8 to 15 cm pressure. Bigger difference noticed right away but my low end of the range seemed to be too low. So I pronounced it BS and upped my pressure, on my own, to 10.8 cm. WOW! All the difference in the world for some reason. It has taken me a while to read the data and understand it but I can now see that 9.8 was just too low and it was taking time for the machine to adjust/compensate in pending or within OSA events. My numbers all dropped to ZERO's. I thought the machine had dies and gone to heaven. So I pulled out my standby machine and set it up with the same settings. Guess what? Same results. Numbers almost all zero's. I was not starting to sleep better!

Just got my ResMed S9 Auto (x2) and set it up with the same settings and WOWEE! The best sleep yet. Don't know why yet but I notice it sure is quiet. Last night, just for the heck of it, I tried reducing my bottom end pressure back to 9.8 as prescribed and guess what? I had more OSA events in red than you can shake a stick at. Shocking. My problem is that it shows, just before waking for the day later this morning that I had one CENTRAL (a first for me) but I think it could be an error as I may have removed the mask to say something to my wife or something.... the phone rang at that time.

So. Fellow forum members. Tonight I go back to 10.8 - 15 cm of pressure with -3 EPR and all the old settings stay the same as before.... and I am hoping that I see a clear set of graphs in the morning. Untreated, for me, those OSA events put great stress on my lungs and heart and shoot my blood pressure sky high. It is a silent killer (Poor Murray, he died peacefully in his sleep). So I am here to tell you that my S9 Auto saved my life again last night, even with the wrong settings as prescribed by my sleep doc.

I am going to try and get my family GP MD to give me an order/refereal for another sleep study but this time I will bring my own S9 Auto set to what I have discovered as being perfect for me. And if I don't find a better mask in the meantime; I will wear my Mirage Activa and a PAPCAP PLUS. I want to see the look on his face when he reads the results. And I have a few pointed questions to ask. I just don't know what they are as of yet. One will certainly be why we don't have regular sleep studies or at least a third to make sure that the prescribed titrated pressure is working.

Get an Autoset - they are great.

[MaryZ.]

Congratulations on taking the bull by the horns and getting the machine that you need, and being resourseful enough to make small changes in your prescription. Keep us posted on how you do in the following nights.
Mary Z.

[torontoCPAPguy]

You can count on it. I think it is truly a revelation if indeed a difference at the bottom end of the range of merely 1cm H2O has made a HUGE difference in efficiency of treatment. I am suggesting that before last night's change I was almost 100% in the clear and dropping the bottom end by 1 cm (!!) gave me a whole whack of OSA events and even one central (?). I am blown away and will trip over my feet to report tomorrow. I can hardly wait for bedtime tonight!

Asides from the fact that I am absolutely whacked out today - my wife can't wait to get out and do something in the 90 degree heat. I want to veg out.

[KC5cychris]

torontoCPAPguy

EXCELLENT

I to recently made changes using the S9 and posted my first AHI 0.8 I love this machine

Sleep well

[6PtStar]

I'm certainly glad it saved you. Would hate to lose you!! Seriously I think a lot of us fall in that catagory. I was wearing mine when I had my heart attack and it was still on my face (I think, my wife says it was) when the para Medics arrived. They seemed to think it may have helped.

Jerry

[Physician]

As I've posted before, my two primary complaints about the S9 autoset are:

1. The ten seconds it takes to get to the set minimum pressure, and

2. I can't detect that ERP results in any expiratory differential (as I could detect with the S8 auto).


Have you experienced these two things, or are you using it in non-auto mode ?

[kempo]

Congrats on dialing in your correct numbers. I hope I can do the same with my new s9 auto.

What is your EPR setting?

[torontoCPAPguy]

Dialing my correct numbers took me six months of experimentation at a snail's pace and it was a posting on this board that clued me in to LOWERING the pressures to the lowest pressures range that gave effective treatment by the numbers.... and VOILA! The best nights of sleep yet. Tonight I'm going to up them every so slightly to get back into the groove.

Next on my list is the masks thingy.

[Kevin G.]

If you have found the machine settings that let you have good sleep then why do you need a sleep study? I would suggest that the output from your S9 would provide the confirmation of good treatment.

[torontoCPAPguy]

If you have found the machine settings that let you have good sleep then why do you need a sleep study? I would suggest that the output from your S9 would provide the confirmation of good treatment.

Well, the sleep study is a much more in-depth examination of what is going on; my sleep studies have included EEG, EKG, SO2, movement monitors on eyes, legs, etc. and provided information to the n'th. degree. I'd like to know definitively if MY settings are giving me more Stage 4 and REM sleep (I'm sure they are, I'd like a quantitative analysis) along with all the other information that the machine simply cannot record and in a controlled environment. As a scientist, THAT is imperical data that impresses me or not and is the proof that I am looking for. If I could find an EEG setup on eBay that I knew did not have the dents hammered out, I would probably pick it up and use it myself. I have already invested in an oximeter and an automatic hospital grade BP machine; both have heart rate monitors as well. It is ALL of this information and not just what the machine is spitting out that will confirm for one that an improvement has been made and exactly WHAT that improvement 'measures' for examination and future reference.

It is good empirical data to have on hand, creating a timeline of data from your treatment, etc.

One person's 'good sleep' is not necessarily the zenith of what can be attained through scientific analysis on an ongoing basis. And unless one has all of the equipment and is confident in that equipment (calibration, etc.) then one does not have a full picture. The blower and what you can pick up cheap only paint a partial picture. Insufficient for me in my quest for the best I am afraid. And if I am fortunate, it is a friend that will do the sleep study or at least be in charge of it and will have the costs covered by a referal order from our GP or Respirologist, based on a need to know SO2, BP, heart rate, etc., while what I am personally looking for is more along the lines of what the EEG is providing.

There is no such thing as "too much good information". If you can get it - get it. Get it?

[Muse-Inc]

Great news TCG! Been a struggle for you I know, sounds like you're getting your therapy dialed in so that sweet restful sleep occurs! Happy news!

I'm slowly raising my low-end pressure, hope I see good effects too. My brain doesn't like changes so I gotta make 'em and wait and wait and wait. Hoping this will decrease my wakeups. Have discovered that the nights I use my topical progesteone, I typically reduce these wakeups by half. The week each month I've off, sees 'em go back to 6-8 per night ugh ugh ugh.

[Uncle_Bob]

It is good empirical data to have on hand, creating a timeline of data from your treatment, etc.

There is no such thing as "too much good information". If you can get it - get it. Get it?

STANDING ON TOP OF MY SOAPBOX HERE.................

This entire thread needs to be wiped as it is promoting illegal piracy of software. How about talking about this on the back burner? There are so many 'me too's' that it is making the hair on the back of my head stand on end.

Guys...(and gals) ... there's got to be a better way that is somehow less blatant?

Well I'm glad you are off your soap box and no longer falsely accusing people of pirating software.
I put him straight and he deleted his original post without apology
Hey how about you don't read my posts if you don't like the 'me too's'. maybe you will get to keep the hair on the back of your head.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Uncle Bob:
I think you're getting your threads mixed up here. And besides that was yesterday's news. And also... you gotta stop with the beans, huh? I'm starting to get complaints.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Congrats on dialing in your correct numbers. I hope I can do the same with my new s9 auto.

What is your EPR setting?

I agree that the S9 takes its sweet time coming up to pressure, but I have mine set to auto-on/off so by the time I put it on and climb into bed its doing its thing. I can see where it would be annoying with a full face mask for sure.

The EPR works just fine for me and I have it set at 3 (-3cm H2O) for maximum effect and it does make a difference in my sleeping comfort without a doubt. I cannot imagine sleeping with a blower that does not have EPR or its equivilant.

Well, after cranking down the pressure by one measly cm the other night and having a totally disasterous night with the pressure getting cranked all over the place in AUTO mode; night before last I set it back to where it was 10.8 - 15 cm and felt I did much better but forgot to insert the data card not realizing that the S9 has no internal memory for detailed data (DUH?). Last night I did insert the card and the results shown were magnificent but I'm still recouping the lost sleep from two nights ago. I had one single OSA event all night (it's normally zero now) and a half dozen hypopnea events that the blower took care of. Showed a few mask leaks during the night which I attribute to smoooshing my face into the pillow from being extra tired All in all a good night. Tonight I am going to make a point of hitting the sack earlier and ensuring that I have a good fit and seal before I konck out, which I literally did last night. One minute there I was and the next there I still was, GONE!

It amazes me how such small differences to one's settings, mask fit, etc. can make such a huge difference to the efficacy of treatment and sleep. And I seperate them because it many cases they are indeed seperate issues albeit intertwined. My hypopneas are a huge issue for me as my blood SO2 falls and blood pressure literally skyrockets to the point where I am in danger of popping my Aorta right off my heart. Well, maybe not popping my Aorta but certainly at risk for nasty things.

Thank goodness I gave up smoking and eating beans long ago.

[Uncle_Bob]

Uncle Bob:
I think you're getting your threads mixed up here. And besides that was yesterday's news. And also... you gotta stop with the beans, huh? I'm starting to get complaints.

STANDING ON TOP OF MY SOAPBOX HERE.................

This entire thread needs to be wiped as it is promoting illegal piracy of software. How about talking about this on the back burner? There are so many 'me too's' that it is making the hair on the back of my head stand on end.

Guys...(and gals) ... there's got to be a better way that is somehow less blatant?

Apologies for getting threads mixed up, its tough when people post rants then delete the post.