Need help with CPAP Stats

robysue,

I haven't looked at my detailed stats by myself. I don't have a card reader and doubt I want to drop money on a device that I'll be obsoleting when I purchase a new machine. I'm about ready to pull the trigger, just doing some comparison shopping, trying to find a good deal. They don't give these machines away.

The only stats I see on the display are the ones I've provided (there is also an average of hours of operation). The Doc showed me a multi page printout of some of the stats of the machine but those appeared to be mostly averages of different stats. He didn't show me anything with a timeline of a night's sleep.

Leak. If I begin to breathe through my mouth and the air simply passes through my nasal passages out my mouth would that adversely impact the leak averages?

Hi, not Roby Sue here, but...

Why would you not need a card reader (e.g. to use Sleepyhead) with a new machine? The readers are not expensive and would be needed with any machine you buy.

Any air meant to help keep your airway open - coming from a Cpap mask - that is lost out of your mouth instead, would impact the leak stats.

Thanks Julie,

Sorry, to clarify. I don't want to spend money on a card reader for the Encore style card in my current (old) machine.

Aren't the new machines with an SD card readable in a laptop's SD card reader? Or do I need to buy a device to read the SD card that would come with a new machine?

FYI, I pulled the trigger and bought the Respironics REDS560HS - REMstar unit that Amazon was selling. It'll be here Thursday!

Julie wrote:Any air meant to help keep your airway open - coming from a Cpap mask - that is lost out of your mouth instead, would impact the leak stats.

Thanks. That is what I was thinking was the case.

I assume when I get my new machine and read its stats I'll be able to determine that it is mouth breathing that is throwing off my leak stats. I have to rectify that problem. I wake every morning after about 4 to 5 hours of sleep with my mouth open, horribly dried out. So I end up turning of the machine and resume sleeping without it.

tazmania wrote:robysue,

I haven't looked at my detailed stats by myself. I don't have a card reader and doubt I want to drop money on a device that I'll be obsoleting when I purchase a new machine. I'm about ready to pull the trigger, just doing some comparison shopping, trying to find a good deal. They don't give these machines away.

Don't blame you at all for feeling this way. Since you are going to upgrade shortly, it's reasonable to wait until you have the new machine that doesn't record a special and expensive card reader.

The only stats I see on the display are the ones I've provided (there is also an average of hours of operation). The Doc showed me a multi page printout of some of the stats of the machine but those appeared to be mostly averages of different stats. He didn't show me anything with a timeline of a night's sleep.

Doesn't surprise me. Most DME/doc offices only run the summary report in Encore rather than the longer, detailed data report, which includes all the summary stuff plus detailed data for the last seven days of the selected date range. If the doc's office is not too inconvenient, you could ask them to run a Detailed Data report instead of the usual report.

Leak. If I begin to breathe through my mouth and the air simply passes through my nasal passages out my mouth would that adversely impact the leak averages?

Yep. It would adversely affect the leak average. Because when this happens, it's a major unintended leak. And when the air goes in through your nose and out through your mouth, it's not going down the windpipe and so it can't prop open your upper airway. That's why we worry so much about mouth leaks here when someone is using a nasal mask or nasal pillows.

Aren't the new machines with an SD card readable in a laptop's SD card reader? Or do I need to buy a device to read the SD card that would come with a new machine?

I pulled the trigger and bought the Respironics REDS560HS - REMstar unit. Will I be able to simply load up SleepyHead on our laptop, plug in the SD card and away I go?

tazmania wrote:Aren't the new machines with an SD card readable in a laptop's SD card reader? Or do I need to buy a device to read the SD card that would come with a new machine?

If you have a new CPAP and a new computer, the SD card reader in the laptop will be able to read the SD card that came with the machine.

I pulled the trigger and bought the Respironics REDS560HS - REMstar unit. Will I be able to simply load up SleepyHead on our laptop, plug in the SD card and away I go?

Yep. That's pretty much it. Download SH, launch SH and insert the SD card and SH should find it when you ask SH to import data.

Excellent!!!!

Thanks for all the help!

Julie wrote:Hi, not Roby Sue here, but...

Why would you not need a card reader (e.g. to use Sleepyhead) with a new machine? The readers are not expensive and would be needed with any machine you buy..

her old machine doesn't use SD cards like the new machine does, it uses credit card sized smart cards.

smart card readers cost about 5 times as much as sd card readers, and only one model works.

I ordered a collar today. It will show up Friday.

Does it make sense for me to not use the collar at first until I can check some of my daily stats with the new machine and Sleepyhead (hopefully starting tomorrow night!!)?

Right now I'm curious to see if my leak average is so poor because I end up breathing through my mouth. Maybe it's moot if the collar eliminates the mouth breathing but being curious I'd like to know what has been happening during sleep for the last umpteen years. I'm looking forward to monitoring my daily sleep stats.

tazmania wrote:I ordered a collar today. It will show up Friday.

Does it make sense for me to not use the collar at first until I can check some of my daily stats with the new machine and Sleepyhead (hopefully starting tomorrow night!!)?

Right now I'm curious to see if my leak average is so poor because I end up breathing through my mouth. Maybe it's moot if the collar eliminates the mouth breathing but being curious I'd like to know what has been happening during sleep for the last umpteen years. I'm looking forward to monitoring my daily sleep stats.

I'd say, yes, sleep without the collar for a few days to see what your leak graph looks like without the collar. The only way to figure out if the collar is doing you some good and how much good it's doing is to have some base line data without the collar.

Will do. Thanks RobySue.

My new machine shows up today and I just realized I don't know if there is anything I need to know before I start to use it.

The new machine is a Respironics PR System One 60-Series REDS560HS - REMstar Auto with humidifier.

Is there any configuration I will need to set prior to using it or is it plug-and-go? It says it is an auto therapy device which senses my needs but is that a true statement?

I'm reading the user manual as we speak.

tazmania wrote: Is there any configuration I will need to set prior to using it or is it plug-and-go? It says it is an auto therapy device which senses my needs but is that a true statement?

Set the new machine to your current pressure level(s) and choose a humidity level that suits you and then sleep with it a couple of nights before doing anything else. If you used Flex on the old M-series, set the Flex the same way on the new machine.

If you put the 560 machine in Auto mode, it will automatically increase/decrease the pressure as needed. If you want to try Auto right away, I'd suggest setting the min pressure 1-2cm below your current pressure setting and the max pressure 1-2 cm above your current pressure setting.