First night with CPAP

Tonight will be my first night with my CPAP. I'm from the US, and my insurance company has a wireless compliance device attached to the back of the device. Something about 7 hours of use for 30 consecutive days. Otherwise they won't pay for it. It's a resmed machine. I have it on a TV table. Not the best idea, but it will work for now. Wish me luck tonight.

Todd

Usually the insurance requirements are not that strict. In most cases it's 4+ hours a night for 20 - 24 nights out of 30. Check with your insurance company if your DME is not sure. TV table is not a good idea. Put it on the floor if you do not have something more stable.

Good luck tonight, but I'd double check the compliance figs as any I've ever heard of (from the U.S.) are for 4 hrs, not 7.

Welcome, Todd, and good luck tonight!

What model ResMed machine were you given? The name is right above the Start/Stop button.

It says escape auto above the start button. That's a weird name for a model.

What's the chance of my blood pressure dropping tonight because of CPAP? Wondering if these machines perform miracles overnight.

I don't like the idea of a TV table, for tonight I don't have much of a choice. My bed sits up kind of of the high off the ground. I don't think sitting the machine on the ground will work.

Todd,

You have been taken, the Escape Auto is nothing but a Brick, no data, so its impossible to properly manage your therapy. You need to take that back & demand a data capable machine. Read the link below, it gives a wealth of info you badly need:

http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/

You also will need to register and fill in your info under the User Control Panel. For the machine, fill in the Escape for now & change it after you run, not walk to that DME tomorrow & get another machine.

Also, you can use the machine tonight since you are mentally psyched to get going, just be sure to take it back tomorrow! Sorry to be so negative, but this is really important - your therapy can succeed or fail & without data, you won't know what its doing and can't help us help you.

Jen

Good luck! Don't count on first night miracles. Please share your joys and frustrations with us. Although we're all different, we've all been there and someone on here has probably experienced whatever it is that you experience as you get used to the machine.

Jen's right. Insist that your DME swap out the Resmed S9 Escape Auto for the Resmed S9 Autoset (they are very different with respect to the amount of data they collect). From the DME's point of view, they make an extra $50-$100 on you by giving the the cheaper machine (they get reimbursed he same amount either way). You can't determine how effective your therapy is without the data.

It was one of the worse nights I've had in a long time. I tossed and turned all night long, even after I took off the mask after 2 hours. I put the machine on the floor, as others have suggested. The weird part is, I had so much energy. Plus a lot of pit stops to the bathroom. I think I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night. I thought about calling the sleep specialist and asking for a sleep aid. Do you think that may help or is this normal?

First nights can be tough in the best of situations. It will get better...I promise.
Some people slap the mask on and turn the machine on and take to it like a duck to water but most people don't.

The S9 Escape Auto has one little tiny bit of data available...the AHI for the night which is an hourly average of the apnea events that occurred. It uses an older and less optimal algorithm for event detection which I won't try to explain right now because your eyes will glass over.
The S9 Escape Auto doesn't offer leak data which is critical to making sure your therapy isn't leaking out into the air and causing sub optimal pressures which then could allow events to pop up.

While this manual isn't exactly for the S9 Escape Auto...the basics on how to get into the clinical menu and other basic menu features are the same.
http://www.apneuvereniging.nl/forum/pdf ... manual.pdf
To see the AHI...you have to turn on SleepQuality in the clinical menu setting...the default from the factory is for "Usage" and that only gives hours of use. You have to change it to "On" to get the pitiful amount of data the Escape Auto offers. I would be pushing the DME for the S9 Autoset
See this blog here especially the part down the bottom..."help I have been given a brick"
http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/

Since insurance is involved most likely they don't purchase the machine outright and you will have more leverage to use to push for the AutoSet.
Oh...check with your insurance company directly about what their requirements are for compliance...Most require only 4 or more hours a night for 70% of the nights out of a 30 day period. DMEs have been know to tell people the requirements are much higher in an effort to put the fear of God in them so the people use the machine.
So check with your insurance...don't rely on what the DME says...they don't always tell the truth.

If this DME won't swap out the almost brick...check with your insurance company as to which other DMEs in your area you could use and find someone who will give you a full data machine and simply return the brick....or threaten to return it and often the DME will start back peddling and give you what you want.

Even if you only sleep half the night with it on, just remove the mask and keep the machine on. It will still register as being used!

jannimay wrote:Even if you only sleep half the night with it on, just remove the mask and keep the machine on. It will still register as being used!

Not anymore can we cheat by doing this. These new machines have sensors that can tell if breathing was/is present and what they now report is "machine was on but no breathing detected" and thus no therapy hours recorded"