Resmed S8 question

tracywag · Post by **tracywag** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:05 pm

I am a new user of this machine, and was suprised to read Chuck's review that said the sleeping data could be read on the LED. I have the LED, but only limited menu (it tells me days and hours used). How do I see more extensive information?

It took weeks for a referal, weeks to get an appointment, weeks to get the sleep study and the weeks for the follow up, where the doctor told me I was severe, gave me O2 and auto-CPAP that day, and told me not to drive or have anyting alcoholic under any circumstances. Then he's so concerned I don't see him again until the middle of next month? Whatever. I want to know what's going on *now*.

Thanks for any help.

Tracy

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:09 pm

Tracy,

Depends on which ResMed S8 machine you have. Only the Vantage and Elite support the sleep data information in the window.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:10 pm

Tracy,

Guest is right. If you have one of the less-involved or smaller models, such as my S8 Compact, the menu is extremely limited and won't give you many more options than changing the ramp duration/speed and to tell you how many hours the machine has been used.

I can well appreciate your interest and need for information before the 1-month mark. Four weeks is a long time to endure such a restricted change in lifestyle but, from what I've heard and read, especially from people on this forum, it will take at least that long for you to become accustomed to the machine and to see any sort of results or change in your sleep.

Since you don't have a machine that gives you date and probably can't get in to see the doctor before the magic 1-month date, please feel free to share your experiences and feelings with the members of this forum and I'm sure you'll get some interesting and hopefully informative feedback. Of course, if at any time you feel like you're at risk or having medical complications, a call to the doctor or a trip to the emergency room is the way to go. Don't grin and bear it. It's not worth it!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Kurtchan

kurtchan · Post by **kurtchan** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:12 pm

Sorry, I can't get the computer to keep me logged in, so the reply above is actually from me -- Kurtchan. Also, I seem to have developed a case of the "Cpaptalk typing dyslexia" and meant to write "data", not "date" in the first line of the last paragraph of my previous post.

Bookbear · Post by **Bookbear** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:21 pm

Could you look at the machine and tell us what model you have? Compact, Elite, Vantage, etc. all these are ResMed S-8 machines, but differ in their features.

_________________

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

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:52 pm

FWIW, the first "guest" was actually ME......forgot to log in.

Den

Rastaman · Post by **Rastaman** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:45 pm

Hold the down arrow and the right arrow down at the same time for a few seconds, then the clinical menu pops up. That's what I do. I can access settings but I don't use those except to change mask setting. But you can access "settings" or "results" and results is what you want. It will give you the Pressure, leak, ahi, ai, and hi. To access this menu after the down/right buttons you use the left button. That button also doubles as the enter key. The right key allows you to exit each sub-menu.

Others might be able to explain this better than I have. But I don't need any software to view those results or to make a minor change. On the other hand, I like how the buttons stay lit up and if you push one the screen lights up also. I don't know if the Remstar Plus M Series I had did that or not. I seem to recall having a flash light nearby but maybe I didn't need it.

Tracywag · Post by **Tracywag** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:47 am

It's a Vantage. I read some data off if it:

D W
HI 8.5 6.8
AI 1.5 1.3
AHI 10 8.6
Leak 15 .36L
Press 11.2 11.4

Are these events per night or per hour? My initial sleep study showed tons of hyponeas, few obstructive apneas.

One of the reasons I am anxious to have this under control is just over two months ago my healthy 38 year old brother died in his sleep or a cardiac disrythmia. I am thinking he had undiagnosed apnea. Thanks, this forum is a lifeline.

Rastaman · Post by **Rastaman** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:53 am

Those are per hour numbers.

GoofyUT · Post by **GoofyUT** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:14 am

As RM said, the events are per hour.

AHI is an index of total events per hour on average and is calculated using the formula: total events (apneas+hypopneas)/total minutes/60=mean events/hour.

AI is the same formula using ONLY apneaic events=mean apneas/hour.

HI is the same formula using ONLY hypopnic events=mean hypopneas/hour.

Ideally, you want an AHI of less than five which is considered to be normal.

Looking at your data, it looks like your S8 is controlling apneas well. You are high on hypops but that may be an artifact. Do you have "Settling" turned on, and if so, for a period long enough to allow you to fall asleep? Otherwise, the S8 will score a LOT of hypops while you are awake and will artifactually inflate your HI, thereby inflating your AHI. I was able to break the AHI<5 barrier simply by turning "Settling" on, and have been <5 since.

On elast thing. I'd look at your mask. Your leakage of 15 liters/sec is HUGE (you must have had the mask off, or a break in a hose connection). Even the 0.36L/s is large, and I'm told be others here that the algorithm degrades at 0.4L/s or more. That's why ResMed has a mask bias rate setting in its set-up menu, to accurately calibrate the S8 for leakage beyond mask bias.

Hope this helps!

Chuck

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:39 am

Wulfman wrote:FWIW, the first "guest" was actually ME......forgot to log in.

Den

good thing you posted that, I was just getting ready to suggest you become a member where everyone would know who you are even though the member name you probably would have chosen would be anonymous and bogus anyway. Glad you cleared that up.

ah the benefits of being a member, forgetting to sign in, then posting another message saying you forgot to log in. Membership does have its privileges, I just haven't figured them all out yet.

Tracywag · Post by **Tracywag** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:53 am

I appreciate you looking at the data.

The apneas seem controlled, but then again my initial sleep study showed very few apneas, and lot of hyponeas (in 325 minutes of sleep, 2 CA, 14 OA and 471 hypopeneas). The Settling is turned on, to ten minutes. Is there a particular machine, mask or treatment that controls hyponeas better than others?

As far as the mask, the mask setting is 'standard'. Since I switch between two masks I don't know if there is a better setting. Now that I know how to look at the data I can keep an eye on it. I have been trying to get used to the nasel swift pillows, as recommended by my DME guy, but I am a confirmed mouth breather with nasal issues. So I may get 30minutes with that, the longest is two hours. At that point I change to a full face mask (mirage). The numbers may be high from me changing masks in the middle of the night. I think I'm going to just stick with the mirage until the nasal issues can be fixed.

Thanks for any insight.

GoofyUT · Post by **GoofyUT** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:04 am

Actually, I think that the S8's algorithm is very effective with regard to hypops. It just scores and manages them in a very different way than Respironics does. I'd try increasing your settling time a bit, just to make sure that the hypops it IS scoring aren't artifacts.

I wish that I could offer you more help with regard to the masks. I am a confirmed SWIFT user and I love mine. I have no tolerance/compliance issues, no leakage, and good clinical results with my Swift. I know that there are those who are plagued with mouth-breathing, and I feel humbled that I've been spared this. There are others here (Linda, RG, Goofproof, Ozij, Wulfman........) who have much more experience than I and who can advise you better. I do wonder about the mask bias setting on the S8 since I believe that this setting is pretty critical for the algorithm to work properly and for the S8 to accurately score events. So, it might benefit you to actually change the setting between your Swift and your UMFF, which I believe have VERY different bias rates. I know that this may be a pain and might interfere with your going back to sleep, and you'll have to evaluate for yourself whetehr this will be worthwhile for you. Others here can help you with that decision better than I can, too.

Sorry that I couldn't be of more help.

I will tell you that I too had LOTS of hypops that concerned me mightily, until I enabled "Settling" at 30 mins., and since then, they've basically gone away (telling me that they were artifacts that the S8 scored when I was awake and it thought that I was snoozin'). So, DON'T FRET!!!!

Chuck

birdiebaby · Post by **birdiebaby** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:12 am

Wow, Tracy, those are some impressive numbers from your sleep study!

It's possible that the high leak rates are from mouth breathing when you use you Swift. You should have relatively low leak rates when you switch to your UMFF. It's important to remember to change the mask settings when you switch masks. The S8 Vantage uses those mask settings to expect that your mask is leaking a certain amount of air. It compensates for that air loss by bumping up the pressure enough to cover that. So, if you have your machine set for a mask that has a lower leak rate than the mask you are wearing, you won't be getting enough pressure.

I think it's a good idea to stick with that Mirage for a while. It's important that you check your mask fit. I found that my Ultra Mirage nasal was much more comfortable and I got much better leak rates when my mask looser. I can fit several fingers between my mask strap and my face.

To give you a comparison, my leak rates with my UMII nasal mask generally run from .02 l/s to .06 l/s, and once or twice have been .00 l/s. I do on a rare occasion have a mouth leak that wakes me up.

Keep at it! It will be worth it in the end!

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:18 am

Anonymous wrote:
Wulfman wrote:FWIW, the first "guest" was actually ME......forgot to log in.

Den
good thing you posted that, I was just getting ready to suggest you become a member where everyone would know who you are even though the member name you probably would have chosen would be anonymous and bogus anyway. Glad you cleared that up.

ah the benefits of being a member, forgetting to sign in, then posting another message saying you forgot to log in. Membership does have its privileges, I just haven't figured them all out yet.

Since YOU posted as "Guest", I presume you were being facetious.

Kind of like "CHEERS", huh?........where everybody knows your name.....?

Best wishes,

Den

Resmed S8 question

Resmed S8 question

Thanks!

Events

Thanks

Hypops

Machine	Mask

Additional Comments: Avg. AHI .4