Pressure Support for Aircurve VAuto

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Nick-username
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:36 pm

Pressure Support for Aircurve VAuto

Post by Nick-username » Sat Jun 18, 2022 8:20 pm

Hi. I am new to CPAPs and have a prescription for 4-20 cm APAP, but I have an AirCurve 10 Vauto.

Is there a way to mimic 4-20 cm autopap with Aircurve 10?
I can set the VAuto to 4 min EPAP and 20 max IPAP, but what number would I use for pressure support? The only thing the prescription says besides 4-20 cm is “titrate to comfort”.

User avatar
Pugsy
Posts: 63941
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 9:31 am
Location: Missouri, USA

Re: Pressure Support for Aircurve VAuto

Post by Pugsy » Sat Jun 18, 2022 8:27 pm

Pressure support of 0 would make the settings mimic the apap assuming EPR wasn't turned on in the APAP.

But the RX also says titrate to comfort...and most people don't like the 4 cm starting minimum. They feel air starved.

4 to 20 for the APAP isn't really much of a "setting"...it happens to be the factory defaults.

My suggest would be to add in 3 or 4 PS (whichever feels the best to you) and start with those settings.

Get OSCAR and then titrate not only for comfort but efficacy as well.

_________________
Machine: AirCurve™ 10 VAuto BiLevel Machine with HumidAir™ Heated Humidifier
Additional Comments: Mask Bleep Eclipse https://bleepsleep.com/the-eclipse/
I may have to RISE but I refuse to SHINE.

If you want to try the Eclipse mask and want a special promo code to get a little off the price...send me a private message.

Nick-username
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:36 pm

Re: Pressure Support for Aircurve VAuto

Post by Nick-username » Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:28 pm

Thank you for the reply. I never thought of using 0 PS.

Can you please explain how to titrate? I’m going to start using OSCAR once I get an SD reader for my computer.

I am wondering the process. Do I increase the bottom pressure, decrease the upper, change the PS? Or change one at a time and look at the average AHI?

User avatar
Respirator99
Posts: 339
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2021 12:39 am
Location: Australia

Re: Pressure Support for Aircurve VAuto

Post by Respirator99 » Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:34 am

You can start at 4 - 20 then use Oscar to see where the machine is trying to take you in order to treat your apnea. Oscar will show you the minimum, median, 95% and 99.5% (max) pressures experienced. Typically, you should then adjust your minimum pressure up to the median shown by Oscar. There should be no need to reduce the maximum - the machine won't normally go higher than it needs to. Once you've done this you can adjust as necessary for maximum comfort and minimum AHI.

You can link a shot of your Oscar daily page here so people in the forum can have a look and make comment. As an alternative to Oscar, you can try SleepHQ https://sleephq.com This is not as comprehensive as Oscar but it has the great advantage that you can provide a link to your data and when people look at it they can zoom in and pan around to see things in detail.

As Pugsy said above, you might find 4.0 to be too low, in which case bump your minimum up to 6 or 7 and start again. You might want to bump the PS up to 2 or 3 - I like it at 3, as that provides a nice comfortable inhale/exhale support.
* Download Oscar
* Oscar help
* An alternative to Oscar - try SleepHQ

I have no medical training or qualifications. Take my advice for what it's worth.