And it begins.

FINALLY got to see the Respiratory Therapist today. Whoohoo! Couldn't wait to get home and get the mask set up. First results are horrible! I figured this would be the case, woke up several times (was sleeping during the day, wife woke me up 3 times, I woke up a couple more times for no reason). The mask wasn't that bad. I hope to somewhat improve things by getting back on a sleeping schedule. Despite the poor numbers (listed below) I DO feel a tiny bit more rested surprisingly.

Suggest you edit your title to include ASV so those who know about ASV therapy will be more likely to see your post. It's just my opinion, but it appears you need help sooner rather than later. Is your data electronically sent to your provider? If not, and tonight's data isn't markedly better, I'd call them tomorrow and give them your numbers. Hopefully you get this sorted out and start having better nights soon.

Looks as your leak rates are thru the roof. With leak rates that high, your machine's readouts can be suspect. Try to reduce them.

Sheriff

AHI 69. Oh my goodness, you are just not getting any therapy.

Sure wish I knew how to help you.

kteague wrote:Suggest you edit your title to include ASV so those who know about ASV therapy will be more likely to see your post.

Good idea. He does need help in a hurry.

There's nothing wrong with the leak rate. This is a Respironics machine and not a ResMed machine so the leak numbers are reported differently and what is horrible for a ResMed user is NOT at all horrible for Respironics user.
Remember how each brand reports leak...ResMed is excess leak only...Respironics is vent rate plus any excess leak.

Excess leak is NOT the problem.

The problem is with the settings. The machine isn't dealing with the centrals. Hell, that PS could be causing the centrals.
Who came up with the setting choices?
What was your official diagnosis? which of these?
Central Sleep Apnea....Complex Sleep Apnea....Obstructive Sleep Apnea

The official diagnosis was central, but I had lots of obstructives as well on the test. You'll notice above that the obstructives and hypopneas are practically gone, but the centrals appear to be really bad. I did feel better after I slept with the mask oddly enough, despite the results. It wasn't perfect by any means, but still...

My doctor specified the choices, but I need to double check the machine config to make sure the respiratory therapist didn't forget something. I will do this when I get home.

It was also my very first time with the mask and I woke up several times due to various reasons, I don't know if that throws the readings off or not.

Sheriff Buford wrote:Looks as your leak rates are thru the roof. With leak rates that high, your machine's readouts can be suspect. Try to reduce them.

Sheriff

remember to *first* look at what type of machine the person has, THEN look at the leak chart... as pugsy says, for a respironics machine, those leak rates look good.

betam4x wrote:My doctor specified the choices, but I need to double check the machine config to make sure the respiratory therapist didn't forget something. I will do this when I get home..

based on those settings, your doctor is incompetent.

that machine is configured completely wrong. your MIN EPAP should probably be higher, and more importantly, your MIN IPAP should be much lower, probably 2-3 more than your MIN EPAP

as it is, those setting are almost completely wasting the power and ability of that machine.

It's entirely possible that the machine wasn't set up per the docs instructions...
Compare what you might have in terms of settings with what the machine actually is set at.
And go into the clinical menu to confirm the settings...don't rely on SleepyHead just in case SH has the settings wrong (sometimes SH does that).
If you don't know how to go into the clinical setup menu this explains how.
http://www.apneaboard.com/pr-system-one ... structions

Unless you have some sort of other health condition that requires that PS....normally PS is set in a range like 4 to 15 and not fixed so high like yours is now.
Too high of a fixed PS can actually cause centrals...makes it like you sort of hyperventilate.

If your doctor did come up with these settings...perhaps he needs to read up on how the machine is supposed to work.
http://www.isetonline.org/yahoo_site_ad ... 190318.pdf

This needs to be fixed sooner than later. This is not one of those things where we say "give it time".

Thanks Pugsy! You rock. Will look at the settings when I get off work.

Min PS is 10 and max is 20 the doctor put 20/25 on the prescription.

betam4x wrote:Min PS is 10 and max is 20 the doctor put 20/25 on the prescription.

20/25 what?

Psmin/psmax

Okay, here is night 2. Based on earlier conversations and the fact my doctor's office was closed,I've taken the liberty of changing my settings.

Original Settings:
Min EPAP: 4, Max EPAP: 15
PSMin: 10, PSMax: 20 (doctor said 20/25)
BPM: 4 (!!!)
Ramp: On, 40 minutes

Change Settings (Numbers in Sleepyhead will be off because i played with it for a bit to get the right settings)
Min EPAP: 8, Max EPAP: 15 (might tweak this a bit more)
PSMin: 6, PSMax: 20
BPM: Auto
Ramp: Off

Note that i tweaked settings a bit more (BPM Auto, EPAP a bit more up, PSMin a bit more down...to the above settings.) when i woke up at around 11:30 due to feeling like I wasn't getting enough air. That's when the CAs stopped. Does anyone know how to get rid of the hypopneas? More pressure? Also I swallowed air a couple times last night and it woke me up. I woke up a total of 8 times. I think part of that is I'm not used to the mask.

Got my AHI down to 7.70! Whoohoo! Still getting hypopneas...think i need to adjust my PSMin/PSMax levels a bit more. Apneas have been long since gone. Also having an issue keeping my mouth shut at night and it's not waking me up.