Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset vs Aircurve 10 VAuto

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:20 pm

My Airsense isn't showing RERA data on OSCAR. Does it even matter? My previuos Philips System One ReMaster showed a lot more info than the Airsense for some reason.
Am I missing any way to get more data out of the Airsense?

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:25 am

But the Aircurve 10 VAuto cannot be run with EPR disabled, can it? That's how I'm using my Airsense currently, Pressure from 4-20; EPR disabled.

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:20 pm

My Airsense isn't showing RERA data on OSCAR. Does it even matter? My previuos Philips System One ReMaster showed a lot more info than the Airsense for some reason.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:29 pm

Unfortunately what I don't have is a crystal ball to see what pressures someone may or may not need in the future.
I lost some weight a few years back and actually found that I needed a bit less pressure overall....but I also have read about people losing weight and ending up needing more pressure. Go figure that one but I have seen it reported here more than just a handful of times
Likewise while we assuming that a weight increase might cause the need for more pressure...it is possible but not always a certainty.

Do airway tissues continue to worsen in terms of patency so that more pressure might be needed as we age?????
It's a possibility but again no certainty. I have been on cpap 13 years now and I just celebrated my 70th birthday last month and with the exception of a minor reduction in pressure needs which I attribute to the 20 lb weight loss...there really hasn't been a marked change either way. I still sometimes need pressures in the mid teens during REM (where my OSA is documented much more severe) but it does seem to happen less frequently.
What would have happened if the weight change had gone up and not down? I don't know but it wouldn't have surprised me if I gained that 20 pounds and started seeing pressures trend higher.

You may not technically "need" the additional features that the AirCurve 10 VAuto offers at this point....but there is simply no way to know if you will NEVER need/want those features or not. When someone can come up with a good working accurate crystal ball this cpap therapy would be so much easier.

How much time do you have before you lose the chance of making the easy decision to go to the bilevel device?

I tend to always adopt the "it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it" approach to just about everything....but that is me and how I look at life. There are people who would kill to be in your shoes because they drastically want/need the bilevel machine for any number of reasons and can't get it.
I think I would still advise getting the bilevel because there's really nothing that you can't do with it when compared to the AutoSet in terms of settings and mimicking the AutoSet settings. It can easily be "dumbed down" to function exactly like the AutoSet functions if that's what a person wants BUT if their wants/needs change sometime in the future then it can easily be changed. It's not always so easy to change models in the future as in go buy/get a different model machine.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:43 pm

machine is doing a better job preventing things from happening due to a more responsive algorithm.

Old video that compares the algorithms but the AirSense 10 and the S9 algorithms are the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzCCgNLya_g

palerider wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:16 pm

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:25 am

But the Aircurve 10 VAuto cannot be run with EPR disabled, can it? That's how I'm using my Airsense currently, Pressure from 4-20; EPR disabled.

The Aircuve 10 VAuto does not have EPR

EPR is a limited, reverse PS. Where EPR is a pressure drop, PS is a pressure rise.

The VAuto has PS that can be set between 0 and 22.

palerider wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:23 pm

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:20 pm

My Airsense isn't showing RERA data on OSCAR. Does it even matter? My previuos Philips System One ReMaster showed a lot more info than the Airsense for some reason.

Oh, it had more rows of little tick marks, but the Resmed machines shore more info.

for instance, instead of just a tick mark that says "flow limitation" resmed gives you a chart, showing you how *bad* the FLs are, same with snoring, so that's three rows of tick marks that are gone.

If the Resmed senses what it thinks is a RERA, it'll show you a flag for it, until there's flags, Oscar won't show the strip for them.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:44 am

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:07 am

I'm curious about one more thing, do you get an improved AHI when you use the Aircurve when compared to the Airsense. I'd really appreciate if you have it with you and can share the comparison for various pressure support, or whatever's possible.

No...there was never any real change in AHI between the 2 models.
I don't target AHI so much anyway. I target overall sleep quality first because my sleep has always been fragile and not from issues related to the airway. I have other medical issues that mess with my sleep.

I am sorry but it's been quite some time since I used the AutoSet and I no longer have that model as a back up either.
I don't have those old, old reports on this computer to compare them.

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:07 am

Also, my Airsense EPR setting was off and last night I had the least ever AHI of 0.29(auto pressure setting Min=4 and Max=20) and the AHI is always ~1, still was reasonably comfortable even though I was needing higher pressure support. It peaked at 19 and was 13-14 on an average. I'm going to try it with EPR 3 and see if that feels comfortable and the AHI stays under 1. I'll post the data after trying this night.

When you use any form of exhale relief that means the pressure drops upon exhale. It may or may not drop to a point where the airway is no longer held open optimally and apnea events of some sort can happen. When it does happen then the person has a choice...do without exhale relief or use exhale relief and maybe increase the minimum pressure a little bit to compensate for the drop.
There are always options available and as the old saying goes...more than one way to skin a cat.

TheSeaOtter wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:07 am

The only reasons I hadn't tried EPR earlier was because I was able to manage and that I came across a video on YouTube where he said EPR can cause Central Apneas. That youtube video was also another reason why I didn't go for the Aircurve straight away.

While using any form of bilevel pressures can sometimes be a trigger for central apneas it isn't nearly as common as that video makes it out to be and IMHO that causes more people to maybe have problems exhaling and adjusting to cpap than is needed. I think it does more harm than good.
The number of people who find that bilevel pressures or any sort of exhale relief will cause centrals is actually very, very small percentage of people who start cpap. I don't know the exact numbers though.
Overall about 10 to 15% of the people who start cpap will have treatment emergent central apnea pop up for various reasons...reasons aren't limited to bilevel/exhale pressure relief.
Of that 10 to 15% who might develop centrals in the numbers that are worrysome...maybe 1% of that 10/15 % might be bilevel pressure related central apnea cause. It's not very common.

If it does happen though...there are ways to deal with it. I have a friend who gets about 15 central apneas (per hour average) at the PS of 4. Now her starting minimum pressure is 16...so she really needs some exhale relief but luckily when she uses PS of 3 her central numbers are reduced to a less than 1.0 hourly average.

Besides...an occasional central is normal and to be expected anyway. All this panic over central apneas is unwarranted anyway. Centrals can be dealt with easily if they are present in numbers large enough to be a problem.

Another besides....do you know what they normally do for people who develop treatment emergent central apneas just from any cpap pressure???? Usually the very first thing they try is a simple bilevel machine like the VAuto. Going to regular bilevel has always been the first step in trying to fix treatment emergent central apnea....because sometimes it works.
If it was so common that bilevel itself was the cause of central apneas...do you think that putting someone on a bilevel machine would be the first attempt to resolve the issues.????? It's really not all that common.