Question about using my new Resmed S9Auto...pulsating

[Pugsy]

I have no problem activating FOT when I'm awake, just breathe very slowly or hold your breath for a moment to start FOT.

Yes, it can be done but is not normally activated with normal breathing. When you hold your breath or breath very slowly that isn't normal awake breathing. The machine is fooled into thinking something is going on and it tries to figure out what is going on.
OP says she is breathing normally when she hears something and she is saying "hear" and not "sense or feel".
It may be that she is inadvertently triggering FOT...but it needs to be either confirmed or ruled out by looking for it on the flow rate graph.

[bigharry26]

I have used my S9 for a couple of years but still seem to be tired all the time during the day. Had an overnight Oximeter test with the S9 working and it still showed 42 period of apnea.
Went back to my old Virtuoso machine and woke up refreshed and alert. Just studying the S9 Manual and hope I can make it work. Have been using the Humidifier
but never noticed any difference. Considering the high price of the S9, I am very disappointed

[Country4ever]

I called the woman who gave me my machine at Lincare.......just to start the process, in case I need to exchange it. She had never heard of this happening...........but she didn't really know about FOT either. I really didn't expect her to.
I'll take the machine in next week, just to make sure all the settings are appropriate.

Would it help to call the company and talk to one of the engineers?

Okay........on to the software. I have a reading problem. Don't know if its my eyes or my brain, but I would like to figure out the software. Would you recommend Sleepyhead? And can I just download it free?
Do I need to get some sort of card reader? I know this is old hat to alot of you, but its new to me....so please be patient. Rather than read alot of pages of info, I do better with very pointed answers.

I'll try the machine again tonight. Hopefully I'll be more tired. I might not notice it if I'm really tired.
Hubby reminded me of how much I hated my other machine when I started and didn't think I'd ever get used to it.........so I'll try to be patient.
What bothers me the most is that no one else seems to notice this funky happening. That's what makes me think something is really wrong with it.

As far as the air hunger..........any suggestions? I use Swift original nasal pillow and tape my mouth. Would be great to see if my O2 dropped during that time. Hubby suggested using the Slimline tubing, but several people have said that they experience air hunger with that tubing, so I'm not sure it would help.

The Lincare lady didn't even know you could use a standard hose on it. ~sigh~ .........it's a darned shame that the sleep docs and the DMEs don't seem to know much about anything. More and more people are using cpap, so somebody better learn something! I'd be lost without you folks!

[SMenasco]

After I settle down and my respiration rate drops fairly low, my S9 starts to pulse until I take the next breath. In my opinion, it is a function of the S9 design.

[Country4ever]

Are you conscious when it pulses, or do you notice it on a readout? The pulsing happens to me when my respiratory rate (while still totally awake) is about 12-15, so I think the pulsing is premature. I'm an incredibly light sleeper. EVERYTHING wakes me up...........so this might be a challenge.

[avi123]

Your DME does not need to know about the FOT. Just ask them to check your S9 Autoset machine and re-calibrate it. They know how to do it. By doing it they would find out if there is anything that pulses out of the ordinary. The air hose size should make NO difference about the FOT operation (I think). About a software, I would try to get ResScan going. Once you know how to use the "two panes" (see the link on my signature line) you could then post graphs like these:

[Country4ever]

Well, the air hose size DOES need to be labeled correctly on the set-up menu. Are you saying it doesn't?

[avi123]

Well, the air hose size DOES need to be labeled correctly on the set-up menu. Are you saying it doesn't?

Yes it does to get correct data, but it should not affect the FOT which you say bothers you.

[RogerSC]

Yeah, one time while I was going to sleep, due to my curious brain (peculiar?), I tried holding my breath to see if the machine would do anything, and after while this very mild pulsing started. It really wasn't much, but satisfied my curiosity about what the machine would do *smile*. However, if it's doing that all the time, there's obviously something wrong with the cpap. You have a clear path to the cpap, or you wouldn't be feeling any air or pulsing, so it seems to me that there's a broken sensor or something else that's just not working right. If you had a DME check it out, they should see it, too. So taking it in is the right thing to do. You could also call ResMed customer service and try to get on the line with a technical person, and talk about it. My guess is that they'll ask you some questions, and eventually just say, "Yep, shouldn't be doing that, get it looked at". Maybe the DME will give you another one while they fix this one. Or you can just return it, and buy another one, maybe from a different DME if need be.

The only thing that I know of that you can do to diagnose this if everything that you can see looks good, is to unplug the cpap from the wall for a while, and leave it unplugged for a few minutes. Then plug it back in and see if it does the same thing. It would be nice if there were user accessible diagnostics that you could run where it went through a self-test, but if that is built in (should be), I don't know how to access it.

As far as software goes, I used ResScan when I started on cpap. Still have it, and keep it ready, but Sleepyhead is so much easier to use, I've pretty much gone over to using only that. Reviewing your data is much easier, you've got to do a lot more clicking and waiting to review the detailed graphs with ResScan, not sure why...probably designed by the same people that designed a cpap machine without a decent self-test *smile*. For Sleepyhead, in the "daily" mode you just click on the day that want to see data for (there's a calendar there), and you see all the detailed data graphs for that day immediately. The graphs are rendered a little differently, the ResScan graphs look a little better, but you can definitely get what you need off the Sleepyhead graphs. And Sleepyhead, oddly enough, seems more tolerant of corrupted data on the SD card. Again, you'd think that ResScan would be, but no.

I don't understand the term "air-hungry". Does this mean that you'd like to raise your pressure? I'd set up to look at your data first, so that you can see if raising your pressure is affecting events, like causing more centrals.

At any rate, sorry that you're having these problems. To have oddities turn up in a new machine is just plain frustrating. But you're going in the right direction, which looks like finding out what's wrong with the machine at this point...keep it up!

[Country4ever]

Thank you avi and Roger!

Okay.....here's an update. I was sooooo tired last night, because the night before....and all that pulsing, I put the machine on and pretty much went to sleep. I really tried to ignore the pulsing, since I was so tired.
The night went VERY well! I did have air hunger to start with, but tried to ignore it. Roger.......when I say "air hunger", I mean that I want to rip the tape off my mouth and breath alot more deeply......like I'm just not getting enough oxygen. But last night, I just tried to be patient, take a few deeper breaths, and it seemed to go away.

What's interesting, is that I had the lowest AHI and leak rates I've ever had.......in 7 years.
My AHI was .5 and my leak was 2. My question now is........can I compare those numbers (apples to apples) with the numbers I would get on my Resmed S8 autoset?

I did hear those rapid pulsations last night when I was still awake and breathing normally.

I've looked at some You Tube videos about setting up Sleepyhead software, and I'll try to get that going this weekend. I should be able to see the pulsations on there, right? That guys instructions are really good.
Seeing them happening on a graph would really show the problem, if it is a problem.

I know it was only one night, but it has given me some hope that this might still work out. I am definitely disconcerted about the rapid pulsing when I'm awake and breathing normally, but at least I know I can probably sleep through it for now.

I'm afraid I don't have much faith in our local Lincare being able to do much of any kind of trouble-shooting. A few years ago I took my Resmed S8 in because I wasn't sure it was delivering the pressure it said it was. I don't think they even had an actual pressure gauge. That would be great to have.......but is pretty expensive.

Anyhow.......thank you all very much for your help. I'll keep you posted in case I find anything else out about the pulsing. I like to tell people when I find something that could decrease their problems too!

And Dori.........I'm still thanking you! The difference in the air delivery when the tubing setting isn't correct is unbelievable. Your my new BFF. hahaha

[Pugsy]

What's interesting, is that I had the lowest AHI and leak rates I've ever had.......in 7 years.
My AHI was .5 and my leak was 2. My question now is........can I compare those numbers (apples to apples) with the numbers I would get on my Resmed S8 autoset?

Leak rate...your S8 resports in Liters per second
the S9 reports leaks in Liters per minute.
So to compare the S8 leak numbers to S9 leak numbers it's easier to multiply by 60 seconds because ResMed uses liters/minute for where large leak territory begins.
24 L/min is the red line area on ResScan software where we want to stay below.

24 L/min..on a S9 machine is 0.40 on a S8 machine.

Can't really compare AHI all that much because since the algorithm was changed they aren't the same thing but most S8 users who go to the S9 will see a drop in AHI especially the hyponea index.

[Country4ever]

Thanks Pugsy.

Just to check my math......if I had a 2L/min today....on my S8, that would have been something like .033L/sec?

[zoocrewphoto]

How long is a normal breath? The OP stated, "I inhale and exhale.....then when I'm ready to inhale again (which is about 4-5 seconds later), this rapid, soft clicking noise happens just before I take in the next breath."

I don't know what is normal for other people, but my normal breathing, just sitting here is 3-4 seconds. Somebody else mentioned that breathing extra slow could confuse the machine. Perhaps the OP breathes slower than what is typical, and that is what is confusing the machine?

[Country4ever]

I wondered that too, but I know 12-20 rpm (haha....resps per min) is considered normal. I think the mystery might be solved, once I get the software installed.

[DoriC]

Here I go again...wondering, have you checked your mask, are you using the same mask as you did with the S8(pillows mask), have you replaced the headgear, cushions,etc lately? Is everything connected correctly? Just wondering??