AHI Improvement

I am a 2 year CPAP user with a REMSTAR M Auto with C flex and humidifier. I use a FF Quatro Mask. Have had three sleep studies with diagnosis of severe sleep apena @ 123 events per hour iwithought CPAP. Last study suggested levels between 4-13 cfm with an auto. Before I had the auto I had a standard CPAP with settings of 13 cfm. On the auot I set the C flex at level 2 and the humidifier at level 2. The leak rate is 39 lpm. The data recently is 7 day AHI of 4.9 and a 30 day of 5.7. The 90% rate is 9. I have had the UVV surgery (don't ever do this) and have seen great improvements over the two years. (don't fall asleep at stop lights) However, I do not think I am getting the best results yet. I still feel tired and think there are areas for improvement. I do tape my mount and try to sleep on my side to try and help and almost excercise daily. I have also raised the head of the bed (supposed to help if you have any acid reflux). The Dr. tells me level 5 is good and I usually show using the CPAP at least 8 hrs per night. I disagree with the Doc however and see others working towards getting the AHI to 0. Can anyone see something I might be missing to try. I was going to raise the lower level to 6 and see what happens but I thought I would ask first.

Stutz wrote:I am a 2 year CPAP user with a REMSTAR M Auto with C flex and humidifier. I use a FF Quatro Mask. Have had three sleep studies with diagnosis of severe sleep apena @ 123 events per hour iwithought CPAP. Last study suggested levels between 4-13 cfm with an auto. Before I had the auto I had a standard CPAP with settings of 13 cfm. On the auot I set the C flex at level 2 and the humidifier at level 2. The leak rate is 39 lpm. The data recently is 7 day AHI of 4.9 and a 30 day of 5.7. The 90% rate is 9. I have had the UVV surgery (don't ever do this) and have seen great improvements over the two years. (don't fall asleep at stop lights) However, I do not think I am getting the best results yet. I still feel tired and think there are areas for improvement. I do tape my mount and try to sleep on my side to try and help and almost excercise daily. I have also raised the head of the bed (supposed to help if you have any acid reflux). The Dr. tells me level 5 is good and I usually show using the CPAP at least 8 hrs per night. I disagree with the Doc however and see others working towards getting the AHI to 0. Can anyone see something I might be missing to try. I was going to raise the lower level to 6 and see what happens but I thought I would ask first.

If you can handle the increase and still wish to use your machine in Auto mode (as opposed to straight CPAP mode), I would suggest you move your minimum pressure up to 9 and see how that goes. You might find that your 90% will move up and you may want to move your minimum up accordingly. You should also see your AHI drop, too.

Do you have software to monitor your therapy? (or are you getting your figures from the LCD?)


Den

Do you know how to make changes to your machine?
Here are the instructions and at the end, the instructions to clear out the totals (after you've written them down) so each morning's information will be for that night only.


Den

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Menu for M Series Auto

1. Hold down the <- -> buttons while plugging in the power on the back, wait for 2 beeps, release buttons.
2. Press the + key. <- -> buttons move to next field, -/+ keys decrement/increment
3. Check the following field(s):

-Therapy Mode = (CPAP/Auto)

-Auto:Max = (default=20.0cm)

-Auto:Min = (default=4.0cm)

-C-Flex Setting = 2 (options are off, 1, 2 or 3)

-AutoRamp Time = (options are 05 to 45 min)

-AutoRamp Pressure = cm (4cm->AutoMin)

-Mask Alert Feature = (On/Off)

-Auto Off Feature = Off (On/off)

-Split Night Time = Off (off, 120, 180, 240)

-Show AHI/Leak Feature = On (On/Off)

Press On/Off button to exit.




==========Resetting LCD Display Data====================

To reset LCD Therapy data (does NOT erase any data from SmartCard):

1. Hold down the (<-) (->) buttons while plugging in the power on the back,
wait for 2 beeps or 5 seconds, release buttons.
2. Press the (->) key and navigate to Therapy screen.
3. Press and HOLD down the (-) minus key for 5 seconds and/or until therapy data is reset to Zero.
4. Press the (->) key to scroll back to main menu, press (+) key to enter Setup or
On/Off button to exit.