Self-titrating

If you were given an apap machine, how would you go about self titrating? I have read the study about self titrating but they don't give any specifics that I can find. Where would you start the numbers or how would you preceed?

About the same way that I did it with my Pro 2 CPAP.....I took an educated (and maybe lucky) guess.....and then watched my software readouts carefully. Fortunately for me, I was a pretty good guesser. I tried my prescribed pressure of 18 for about an hour and knew that that was WAY too much pressure for me. So, I reset it to 10 and that's where it stayed for 10 months. Since March of last year, I've been to 12 and back to 10 and 11 and back to 12. I also used my Auto for a week (last July) at 10 - 15 and it verified that pressures of 10 to 12 were a good "fit" for me.

With an Auto?......Try to decide what your minimum pressure needs to be to breathe. For some it may be about 6 or 7.....for others it might be higher....8 to 10. If you're a "heavy duty" snorer, you'd be wise to limit the upper pressure for the time being......maybe 15 or 16.....till you study the software reports. If you are seeing events at the lower pressures, raise it gradually (unless it's really bad and raising it by several cm's is warranted).
Try to narrow the pressure settings till you find the optimum pressure or range.
If you're using the S8 Vantage (as pictured in your profile), I would suggest turning on the "Settling" feature for about however long it takes you to get to sleep.
If you like the EPR feature, you can still do this in single-pressure mode (since EPR isn't functional in Auto mode).

Above all......USE THE SOFTWARE! (Don't rely on the LCD information)

Best wishes,

Den

Self-titrating:
1) Locate a summary of your last PSG. Note: your weight, If "centrals"
were detected, and your titration pressure.

2) Get the PC software for your APAP.

3) Set the range of your APAP to cover your last know titration +- 3 cm/H2O.

4) Using about a month's worth of results, located your average pressure.
If that pressure does not approach your maximun pressure, then the average pressure, is the the "sweet spot".


Split Night:

Many APAP's may be set-up to do split-night studies. During a split-night
study, you are to go to sleep, with the APAP attached, and
the APAP starts out at a low pressure, stays low for 4 hours, then switches
into treatment mode. Then the maximum pressure recorded, is often reported as the "titrated" pressure.

NOTE: If you have gained considerable weight, since your PSG, or if
"centrals" were recorded on your first sleep study, it is usually a good
idea to get another sleep study.

Please note: At the present time, I am not a medical professional.