Well it's been 2 months

Hi all,

Haven't posted in a while but was wondering something.

I've been using my Remstar Auto with a full face mask for about 2 months now, Just the other day I went to see a follow up appointment with my sleep Dr. who wanted to how i was making out.

Well needless to say there has been a change no haven't woke up with a headace or heavy head or groggy, ( as much as i somewhat fight with myself about wearing a mask and a hose to my face ), needless to say the Dr. was happy to hear this. I had brought to him my data from my machine and not to say that he wasn't interested but did say that I shouldn't get caught up with all the numbers as much as how I feel.

I wondered why so far why I couldn't get a low AHI as in my sleep study..I mean I did have one day that I matched which was 3.0 but not many.

I also asked him that how would I know if at some time in the future if I need a setting change....? or what? He told me that if I did change my settings and it was in the range of which my sleep study was i would be okay. To me that was kind of invasive answer. I asked when is the next time he would want to see me again and he told me about 6 months to a year.

To be honest I feel like I been cut loose and in limbo not knowing what the future brings. I mean will I be staying on my setting forever? How do I know if I would ever need a setting change..?

Does more pressure reduce AHI's?... and if so how much more is enough?

Well, geez, at least you HAVE a sleep doctor! I've been through the whole shebang of sleep study (which I asked for) and diagnosis and prescription of CPAP (and I told the doctor how to write it based on this site). And I don't have any followup visits to go to. Oh, I'm supposed to go back to my internal medicine doctor, but she really doesn't know much. She was rather shocked herself to find out she was the one who was supposed to write the prescription for the CPAP!

So you have the Remstar Auto....what were you titrated at? And what range are you using now? That should give you some idea of where to go and how to experiment. How high are your AHI's right now? How much improvement are you going for?

Jan in Colo.

RAMBLINMAN wrote:To be honest I feel like I been cut loose and in limbo not knowing what the future brings. I mean will I be staying on my setting forever? How do I know if I would ever need a setting change..?

Ken,

Like Bruce Willis said in "Die Hard".........."Welcome to the party, pal!"

Now you're in the boat with most of the rest of us.....but we're not necessarily adrift......we have the collective knowledge of this forum to help us.
This is when you take charge of your own therapy......because after all, it is YOUR therapy......and that's (hopefully) why you have an APAP and the software to monitor your results.
Now you have to analyze your data and see if the settings need to be "tweaked". It can take some time for the everything to come together. If you're feeling better......give it some time......or make whatever adjustments you feel might help (pressure, pressure range, mask, humidifier, etc.).

Good luck with YOUR therapy.

Den

At least you have the necessary tools, I have a Pro Dr. and he doesn't use the REMstar software and the DME can't get it to work.

You have a APAP, I just have a CPAP, but with it and the software I feel I can handle my treatment better that a Dr. and DME that only cares about $$$. They have got me on the right path with the REMstar equiptment, The only thing that might work better is a APAP like yours.

The advantage Of APAP is where it's running will show you what pressures work best for you. (As shown by the software.)

If your AHI stays good you are OK, If the pressure goes to the top setting of the APAP most of the time, I would be tempted to up the top setting a notch at a time and check the results. The APAP should only go as high as it's top limit and your need for it.

I was lucky the DR.'s guess seems to work for me, If it doesn't I'll correct it.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP, DME, AHI, APAP

With the Pro 2 you can still find your best pressure, but instead of the machine changing it, you have to. Not as convenient as an APAP, but not useless either. The best part is that you are getting treated! I am for whatever it takes for someone to stay on therapy. If someone feels its necessary to have an APAP, then so be it, as long as they GET TREATED, its all good! But people shouldn't get discouraged because their insurance won't pay, and they can't afford an APAP. The need for treatment doesn't change based on machine selection. If the stars align and you can get APAP, its great and will give you great treatment. If the stars are outta whack and an APAP isn't in your future, don't despair, people were well treated on old vacuum cleaner motors run backwards! For some of us the need to tweak and analyze are required for therapy, for others not. Just do what you need to do personally to get therapy and stick with it.

Cpapper Incognito wrote:With the Pro 2 you can still find your best pressure, but instead of the machine changing it, you have to. Not as convenient as an APAP, but not useless either. The best part is that you are getting treated! I am for whatever it takes for someone to stay on therapy. If someone feels its necessary to have an APAP, then so be it, as long as they GET TREATED, its all good! But people shouldn't get discouraged because their insurance won't pay, and they can't afford an APAP. The need for treatment doesn't change based on machine selection. If the stars align and you can get APAP, its great and will give you great treatment. If the stars are outta whack and an APAP isn't in your future, don't despair, people were well treated on old vacuum cleaner motors run backwards! For some of us the need to tweak and analyze are required for therapy, for others not. Just do what you need to do personally to get therapy and stick with it.

ABSOLUTELY!!!


Den



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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): APAP