I need help, please!

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Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:22 pm     Post subject: I need help, please!
Hello everyone,

I was just diagnosed and a Respiratory Therapist loaned me an AutoSet Spirit to try out for seven days. It seemed to work fine the first night but I had a tough time adjusting and finally took it off (and turned it off) after 1 a.m. so I could get some sleep.

I haven't been able to get it to work the last two nights and it's now the weekend so I can't get hold of the therapist. I hate to waste Saturday and Sunday because that would only leave me with three more days in the trial and they say I need a few days to figure out if the machine will help me.

I got the humidifier part to work fine and I can get it to say it is "settling" for 5 minutes. But after the five minutes are up, it continues to blow air at a pressure of 4 no matter what I do. I can hold my breath and the machine doesn't react.

Can someone take the time to send me some brief instructions? Something like, Push the button on the right and it will say....and then...

I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks very much if you can help me.

I'm sorry that I don't know anything specific about that machine. However, an auto machine does what its program tells it to do in response to your breathing. I wouls suggest you look for more educated replies here, but also trust that if you just turn on the humidifier and turn on the APAP, it is pretty much impossible that you "broke it".

I'll see if I can find some information on the net and get back.

Edit, couldn't find a manual, but my auto acts pretty muck the same. Try to just turn on the humidifier and machine and go to sleep, it won't crank up the pressure unless you need it.


TerryB

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Just holding breath doesn't usually make machine react. I tried it too, at first to see how pressure would rise. Just didn't happen. But when I would awaken in the night it would be on higher pressures. So probably nothing has changed since the RT set your machine. I used the AutoSet Spirit for 2 weeks once and it was set for 4-20. So it probably only rises after you are asleep. It is not unusual to not be able to sleep but a portion of the night with the mask when it is so new. It was about 3 months before I finally slept from the time I went to bed until I woke in the morning without taking off the mask in my sleep. So just keep trying. Sorry, but I don't remember the settings for this particular machine to be able to help you with what buttons to push. Surely someone who still uses the Spirit will see your post soon and be able to help you.

Good luck to you!! Don't give up and keep us posted.

Thanks for the advice EllieJose,
Maybe the thing is working fine. On first night the machine kept waking me up, pumping up my lungs. It was kind of scary. Apparently my apnea is very mild, but I do things like falling asleep at stop lights when I'm driving so the doctor figured I should try out a machine. I'll put it on tonight and see how it goes. Thanks again.

Bluelady

4cm is the minimum or lowest pressure the machine will deliver. This is usually too low for most people (you may feel like your starving for air). It will go higher as you need it automatically but you should be asleep when that happens.

The "Settling" feature means the machine will NOT respond to events it sees until that Settling timer expires.

You cannot really "fake" out the machine, the machine monitors your breathing pattern over a period of time, stores that in memory then if it sees a change it will respond with increased pressure if necessary.

If you want to fake the machine out, just snore, it will blow the top of your head off

The machine will still record events it sees if you use the machine. They should have given you a Owners manual to read, it explains all the features of the machine.