Switched to machine with autopap capabilities - basic advice please

What pressure range would you recommend when i have been on 6 steady for years?

I have been using a cpap from fall of 2009. A respironics system 1 with a cpap pressure setting of 6. Also using a mirage quatro full face mask.

I tried a s10 or s9 (don't remember) for a week or two and it just didn't work for me. Honestly i didn't really have time to ride it out then, so perhaps it may have just taken time. But i felt pretty rough for the 10 days i tried it.


Recently i purchased a dreamstation autopap and simplus full face mask as my ancient cpap machine was becoming unreliable.

So far the transition has been fairly good (3 days). I tried 5 to 10 for autopressure last night - had a leak for an hour - felt like i slept pretty good though. Are high pressure and leaks a normal thing for apap?

Would it be better to experiment with 5, 7, 8 etc on fixed?

Anyhow any thoughts on a good way to find my optimal settings would be appreciated. As stated in profile im at 10.1 AHI untreated. I have almost only sleeping on back related issues and its almost exclusively hypopneas.

When i get back from work (9 days) - i will try and post more meaningful data but for now general advice would be greatly appreciated.

You know in your situation I think I would start with Auto mode and set it so it works like your old cpap machine did.
So minimum of 6 and maximum of 6 and then evaluate the software reports that you can get off of it.
The reason I say still stay in auto mode is that in auto mode you get Flow Limitation flagging turned on and in cpap fixed mode FL flagging is turned off. You may or may not have any FL flagging happen but if you don't you will at least know it is because they didn't happen and not because that data point is turned off in cpap mode.

Get yourself used to the machine and the new mask and then if you want to experiment with auto range of pressures start small and see what happens...like 6 to 10 or something like that.

If you use the Flex exhale option...you for sure need to start with at least 6 cm because it doesn't engage unless the pressure is at least at 6 cm.

Given that you've been on straight 6 for years, I would suggest the following:

Set it to 6-20.
Use it for a few days, then post your graphs. Then looking at the behaviour of the machine your therapy can be optimized.

Nobody here can tell you how to optimize without looking at your graphs.

Even though you've been a member for quite a few years, I suggest you read through the pinned topics on using OSCAR/SleepyHead and posting graphs.


EDIT: Pugsy posts while I was typing. Her advice of starting at 6-6 is better than mine.

Thanks, I will try pugsy's advice. I don't completely understand the flagging stuff, but that will be a start since i don't have a ton of time to research at the moment.