bipap ST how to setup?

[sickwithapnea17]

hi should I just leave my bipapst settings as is? it has these min vent and s/st options and I don't know which to pick?
I was thinking of seeing a neurologist since I have centrals but I don't know if it would help? I have an appt with a sleep doctor soon
I'm worried I have brain damage now

[cflame1]

With the centrals you've been having... leave your settings as they are without talking to your doc. You could very well make it worse with your dial winging!

[sickwithapnea17]

please tell me is there hope for me with the bipap st? am I going to get better soon? my brain is fried, my memory and thinking is destroyed and my career is ruined because of sleep apnea

[Bons]

There is hope for you, but it would be best to have a doctor titrate you for the ST.

[sickwithapnea17]

I was titrated for regular bipap at the lab by a technician at 18/14 auto and the settings on st are the same.
It is really weird, I have this experience on cpap/bipap I will go to bed and then I will wake up feeling like I had just gone to bed (it was the same in the sleep lab on their machine). And then I have daytime sleepiness, memory problems, bad fatigue/falling asleep, etc...
does this mean I'm getting 0% stage 3/4 sleep like my sleep study says?
but now once on bipap st I wake up a little tired but refreshed, like I had deeper sleep (when I can actually fall asleep on the machine), but I can't sleep on the higher pressures 18/14

[jamiswolf]

Hi sickwithapnea17,
I agree that that machine should be professionally titrated. Does the machine tell you what the settings are now? Could you post them here?

By the way, the S/T mode is where it should be if it's supposed to be helping with centrals. And there should be a BPM (breaths per minute) setting too. I'd like to know what those are set at.

Who set it up for you? DME?
James

[sickwithapnea17]

the device warehouse I think set it up to 18/14 auto, I have it on
30 min ramp, starting 5.0
BPM 10, Ti 1 Rise time 1
there is some minvent thing
what do each of these do?

[jamiswolf]

Hi Sickwithapnea,
there are a couple of issues that are almost required before taking things into your own hands. Just randomly changing settings can be dangerous.

Most people here monitor their own data. You can remove the chip in the back of the machine, plug it into your computer (it's called an sd card) and see clinical results on your treatment. Your machine doesn't give graphical info but it does give you numbers.

You need to know what the machine is sensing and doing. AHI, obstuctive vs central events, hypopneas and with your machine, patient triggered breaths and pressures and minute ventilation are all available and important. I'm not saying this to scare you, but these are things that directly relate to your therapy, what your body is doing and what the machine is doing. So don't mess with settings until you understand some of these issues.

Keep looking for all the settings. This machine is more closely related to the asv machines then to a regular cpap.

Once you get all the info, we can look at it and see if it needs tweaking. I don't have the knowledge to advise you. But I am interested in that type machine because it seems that's the direction I'm headed in. I do know the names of people who are familiar with your machine and can help though. John Fisher, Ameriken, Brianan, Paper-Nanny and others who all use ASV machines.

so help is here for you, but you're going to have to provide lots of info. All I can do is to get you started.

Don't tweak anything without writing down previous settings.

Ask any questions. If i don't know answers, I'll try to find out who does.
Jamis

[sickwithapnea17]

thanks! I posted settings but I keep taking the mask off in the middle of the night when I'm sleeping. maybe I need to tape the mask or something. so I wake up after getting all these apnea events with my heart pounding and a little chest pain
also 18/14 is high and I don't know if I can sleep on it for long
there's some comfort setting?

[jamiswolf]

sickwithapnea17 ,
Is your machine the Systemone auto bipap S/T. You need to spend your study time understanding what's going on with your apnea. I don't really know, but yes it's my understanding that that machine has a biflex setting but I don't think it works when you're in S/T mode.

S/T mode is spontaneous Timed which initiates a breath when you stop breathing. The high pressures of your regular bipap setting are for obstructive events and the bursts of really high pressure are for central apneas.

It's probably the bursts of really high pressure that are waking you when you tear off your mask. You're going to have to learn to keep it on.

I suggest that you post some questions over on the ASV thread because that's where the people are that use these types of machines. You're getting very novice and incomplete advice from me.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=65791&p=638330&hili ... ad#p638330

Do you sleep on your back or your side? Side sleeping usually requires less pressure and perhaps you can talk your Doc into reducing it. The two pressure characteristic of BiPap is really it's own comfort feature...I think it's uncomfortable now because it's taking you awhile to get used to those high pressures.

But no matter what, it won't help you if you don't wear it.
Jamis

PS Try a chin-strap on top of the headgear. That might help you keep it on.