Flow Runs? (with 420e)

ghmerrill wrote:with IFL1 off and the 8-15 range, the pressure rarely if ever goes above 12, centers around 9, reduces the snores, and I feel much more rested. It just doesn't seem to be the case (at least on the basis of what last night showed) that I have more CAs. My CAs with the broader range are typically between 1 and 5, and it looks like the average is 3.

I'm no doctor, but I agree with -SWS that the sprinkling of CA's your machine is reporting are well within a normal range and are nothing to worry about -- not that you were. Nor would I be worried even if there were a few more happening that weren't getting reported. From what I've read about centrals, it's perfectly normal for a handful of scattered ones to occur in some people's sleep. No big deal, imho.

A very good post by christinequilts about "normal" centrals is here:
viewtopic.php?t=5331

ghmerrill wrote:I understand that higher pressure can trigger more centrals. I just don't feel I have any evidence that in my case it is triggering more centrals.

Exactly. "Can", but won't necessarily do that...and higher pressure probably won't cause them OR increase them for most people. I think you're absolutely right that the few that show up consistently in your data are not a problem, nor a warning to not increase your pressure if you choose to. Just my non-medical opinion.

Many people report getting smoother treatment from their autopaps by setting the minimum pressure up fairly close to the "recommended single pressure from the sleep study". In your case, if you were to have another PSG study right now, you might very well be prescribed 8 or even 9 instead of 7. For that matter, the recommended pressure back then could have been different had several titrations been done on consecutive nights, or the titration have been done in a different lab, or with a different tech handling the titration. It was a one night snapshot. Even if right on target for that night, it was still "one night."

What your autopap is doing for you is part of the beauty of "auto-titrating" night after night after night at home.

ghmerrill wrote:Using the 420e, with IFL1 off and a range of, say, 8-14 or so, I seemed to be getting some pretty good results and the actual pressure used seems to center around 9 as the mode. What started this thread was my concern about "runs".

I think you've done an excellent job of zeroing in on a range that suits you. IFL1 "off" seems to suit you better, too. The number of runs don't seem to be causing any problem....imho. I see twice as many on my data.

I have never received an "NR" event in the years of using two generations of RemStar Autos. However, I receive about as many central apneas on my Silverlining reports as ghmerrill reports.

Moral of the story? The 420e and Silverlining will report central apneas, including normal and incidental ones that are rather "fleeting" in nature. The RemStar Auto and Encore Pro will only report "non-responsive" (NR) events that did not go away after three rather long pressure increment attempts above 8 cm. The NR category never cleanly translates to incidental and "fleeting" central apneas for most of us.

My guess is Snoredog assumes those two data categories from two different manufacturers are each other's equivalent???

[quote="-SWS"]I have never received an "NR" event in the years of using two generations of RemStar Autos. However, I receive about as many central apneas on my Silverlining reports as ghmerrill reports.

Moral of the story? The 420e and Silverlining will report central apneas, including normal and incidental ones that are rather "fleeting" in nature. The RemStar Auto and Encore Pro will only report "non-responsive" (NR) events that did not go away after three rather long pressure increment attempts above 8 cm. The NR category never cleanly translates to incidental and "fleeting" central apneas for most of us.

My guess is Snoredog assumes those two data categories from two different manufacturers are each other's equivalent???