APAP either doesn't work how I think or I'm doomed.

I tried PAP therapy users ago and gave up. Because of other health issues I wake up often at night and once ramped up if I could ever actually get to sleep with it on the pressure would be so high I could never get back to sleep again.

FAST FORWARD to this last month. My apnea has gotten worse. I go to a doctor desparte. Long and short I talk him into giving me an APAP even though he acted as if he wanted me to jump though every type of machine but that first. I picked it because people I've talked to who use it kept saying. "You can breath our pefectly fine and it gives you only what you need when you need it."

Mine doesn't.

RESMED S9 Autoset

Yes its in APAP mode.
goes from 4 to 15 in a 45 minute ramp and never ever backs down. Even if I'm awake and breathing normally.
Everytime I wake up I'm drowning in air, half awake I yank the thing off my face.

I'm getting only maybe 1 to 2 hours of treatment a night.

Am I misunderstanding something?

Hi, and welcome. What mask are you using? And are the settings of 4+15 prescribed, or just random?

Do you have your min.pressure at 15 cmh2o ?

It sounds like it set with a ramp of 45 minutes starting at 4, and the actual pressure setting is 15.

Is that what the doctor wanted? Do you have a copy of your sleep study and prescription? It sounds like you need a much different setting, and it would help to have an idea where to start, such as 8-15 or 10-15, or whatever. The minimum is important as you want it to start at a level that will take care of a good amount of events, and not have to increase too far to fix the rest of them.

If you don't have that info, you can set it for a smaller range and then use the data after a few nights to get a better idea of what to change it to. Also, make sure your EPR is on at that lowers the pressure when you exhale. You can set it of a reduction of 1, 2, or 3.

I'm no expert, having been using my machine only a little over a week and still struggling with adjusting to the whole thing. That being said, one thing I did learn was that if you wake up, all you need to do to start the ramp process again is to turn the machine on & off quickly. (I have the same machine as you...) So, if I wake up & find the pressure too much to relax into sleep, I simply reach over and push the power button twice, causing the machine to go back to the beginning of whatever ramp has been set. (Now, if I could only stop waking up so many times each night!) Hope this helps & good luck.

flaystus,

Your description makes it sound like your APAP is set in CPAP mode at 15cm H20 with a 45 minute ramp period and a beginning ramp pressure of 4 cm.

So you really need to check the therapy settings. You need to get into the Clinical menu to do that.

In particular, you need to check:

• Mode: Is the machine set to CPAP or APAP mode?
  Pressure setting(s): If the machine is in APAP mode, what is the minimum pressure set to? If the machine is in CPAP mode, what's the pressure set to?
  Ramp settings: Is the ramp ON? If the ramp is ON, what is the ramp start pressure? What is the ramp time?

Next, do you have a copy of your prescription? If not, you need to get one, particularly if you want to run your APAP in Auto mode: Running an APAP wide open (4-20cm) usually does not make things easier if the user's pressure needs are much above 8 cm because of wide and often sudden swings in pressure. So if your titrated pressure was up around 15cm, then starting with a min pressure of 4cm is not going to make things better in the long run.

You say you have an autoset therefore you have data. Download sleepy head and read the data card and see what is really happening.

Video tutorial for your S9 Autoset will show you how to access the clinical menu and see all the settings -- the link is in my signature box below.

flaystus wrote:I tried PAP therapy users ago and gave up. Because of other health issues I wake up often at night and once ramped up if I could ever actually get to sleep with it on the pressure would be so high I could never get back to sleep again.

FAST FORWARD to this last month. My apnea has gotten worse. I go to a doctor desparte. Long and short I talk him into giving me an APAP even though he acted as if he wanted me to jump though every type of machine but that first. I picked it because people I've talked to who use it kept saying. "You can breath our pefectly fine and it gives you only what you need when you need it."

Mine doesn't.

RESMED S9 Autoset

Yes its in APAP mode.
goes from 4 to 15 in a 45 minute ramp and never ever backs down. Even if I'm awake and breathing normally.
Everytime I wake up I'm drowning in air, half awake I yank the thing off my face.

I'm getting only maybe 1 to 2 hours of treatment a night.

Am I misunderstanding something?

Sounds like they gave you an APAP and set it up in CPAP (straight pressure of 15 cm.) mode.......with a lengthy ramp starting at 4 cm. Maybe that's what your prescription called for and that's what the DME had to set it to (by law).

You need to investigate what your settings really are and become familiar with your machine.

Here are some abbreviated instructions for getting into and out of your machine settings.

ResMed S9 AutoSet & Elite:
Plug in machine and turn the Push Dial until the device is showing the Home position (Home Icon illuminated).
In Home position, press the Push Dial and the Setup Menu buttons down simultaneously for 3 seconds.
The clinician menu will appear.
Select parameter(s) you wish to modify with the Push Dial (push down to select, turn to modify).
When done, select the <<home choice from the displayed menu and the adjustment is saved.


Den

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