Please help Apap question from newbie

pivot · Post by **pivot** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:15 am

I have been diagnosed with OSA w/only Hypopneas. I just started on APap Monday night w/the Mirage Swift Nasal Pillows and Resmed Vantage S8. The Apap is just to find a good pressure and then I am supposed to get a Cpap.It has been taking me a lot of time to fall asleep and have only managed about 2 hours a night so far. I notice when I am laying in bed the pressure has been going up. At one point it got up to 12. I thought the Apap would only go up in pressure when I was asleep and I had obstructions. Does the fact the pressures are going up when I am awake mean that I have an obstructions all the time not just from my throat relaxing when I am sleeping. I need some advice.
Thanks!!!

zzzaoem · Post by **zzzaoem** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:46 am

Apap will register hypopneas as most any slight change in your breathing pattern. These machines are not THAT smart (they don't know if you are asleep or not). You could increase the settling time on your machine (time before the APAP will start looking for breathing interruptions).

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:34 am

Do Respironics Auto units have "settling time"? Seems to me they should, it's a great idea to avoid all the "pre-sleep noise" in the data.

pivot · Post by **pivot** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:45 am

It has a settlin time of 20 minutes, but it has been taking longer than that for me to fall asleep. I am still confused why the apap would go up to 12 if I am not sleeping yet, meaning aren't there only obtructions when I am sleeping or is it my anatomy in my mouth.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:48 am

Anonymous wrote:Do Respironics Auto units have "settling time"? Seems to me they should, it's a great idea to avoid all the "pre-sleep noise" in the data.

No, but I can't recall reading about (or have personally experienced) the problems to the extent that it seems the ResMed machines pose.
I think they sometimes do show some false hypopneas, but not to the degree that the ResMed machines do.

Den

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:53 am

"I am still confused why the apap would go up to 12 if I am not sleeping yet, meaning aren't there only obtructions when I am sleeping or is it my anatomy in my mouth."

It means that you are probably uncomfortable, have somewhat erratic breathing patterns as a result, and the machine tries to correct for this as it doens't know that your are not asleep.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:58 am

I think what may be happening is that your Vanatage has been set for a Minimum pressure of 12 cm and a higher value for the Maximum.

For the Settling time, it starts out with a value lower than 12 cm (4, 6, 8 or what ever it was set to) and it will gradually "ramp" up to the minimum of 12 cm over a period of 20 minutes. In other words, your machine is set to work at a minimum of 12 cm and will add pressure if it senses the need for higher pressure to prevent an apnea/hpopnea.

You should be able to easily set the settling time for up to 45 minutes (I think?).

Hope that make sense. Perhaps a more experienced xPAPer will chime in and explain it better.

- roberto

pivot · Post by **pivot** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:58 am

I have the Resmed for my OSA which is only Hypopneas. Is this not going to be a good machine to test what pressure I will need on my Cpap that I will eventually get. Which is a good machine for Hypopneas???

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:34 pm

[quote="pivot"]I have the Resmed for my OSA which is only Hypopneas. Is this not going to be a good machine to test what pressure I will need on my Cpap that I will eventually get. Which is a good machine for Hypopneas???