Calibration needed? Or not?

Hello!

My husband has been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and we purchased his machine today through a medical supply store with a prescription. They told us that the machine did not need to be calibrated. The staff said the machine auto-sets according to my husband's breathing. Is this possible? We thought that was the reason he had to get a prescription was to have the machine calibrated. We could use some help. The machine is a Phillips BiPAP Auto Bi-Flex with heated humidifier.

Thanks!
Pam

It doesen't have to be calibrated but it does have to be set to his prescribed pressures. The DME usually sets the machine to the pressures. Do you know what his pressure settings are?

PamelaM wrote:My husband has been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and we purchased his machine today through a medical supply store with a prescription. They told us that the machine did not need to be calibrated. The staff said the machine auto-sets according to my husband's breathing. Is this possible? We thought that was the reason he had to get a prescription was to have the machine calibrated. We could use some help. The machine is a Phillips BiPAP Auto Bi-Flex with heated humidifier.

it's complicated, but, the machine does auto set itself based on what it senses, however, for best results, you need to pull the data off of it, and and adjust the settings.

that way the machine ends up starting up closer to where your hubby will need it.

it's got a little computer inside, and they've gotten pretty smart over the years.

and, for what it's worth, 'calibration' means adjusting the machine to a reference standard, what you're referring to is just setting the machine behavior to suit his needs, as okydoky said.

Hi Oky Doky,

IPAP is 16 and EPAP is 11. Can we set this ourselves?

Thanks to you too, pale rider! This forum is a huge help. We have the set-up guide, but it says it should be handled by the provider and not the patient, but they didn't do it. If we can do it ourselves, that would be great. Is it fairly easy if we follow the guide?

Yes you can but are you sure they didn't set it? Have him put the mask on and turn it on. When he breathes in it should say IPAP 16 and when he breathes out it should say EPAP 11. So if you don't see this on the machine screen come back and someone will help you.

We're plugging it in now, but we didn't see them even turn it on at the medical supply store. Checking....

It says 6 and 4...

We're setting the IPAP and EPAP now. He's got it set for 15 minutes ramp time. Is that long enough for most people?

It's really unbeliveable that they didn't know to set it. I'll try to help but PR and others may also chime in. You have to get into the clinical menu to set your pressures. You do this buy holding down both of the buttons on the top until it beeps and then go to the settings. Scroll through them until you get to the IPAP push down on the knob and then turn it until you get to the 16 then push it again. Scroll down to EPAP and do the same for 11. Then you scroll to back and push on the button to get back to the main menu.

Here is a link to get the clinical menu but they email it and may take a while to get it. http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual You have to scroll down to the third section and follow instructions

I see you figured it out. Ramp is for comfort and a lot of people don't use it after a while. Some people feel like they don't get enough air starting out at 4 so if that is the case you can raise it or turn it off.

Thank you so much for your help, Oky Doky. We went through the steps again just to make sure we did it the way you said. Think we've got it figured out. I totally agree that it was weird they didn't set it up for us, but I'm certainly glad I found you. We'll be members here from now on out...

Thanks again!!!!

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