question about altitude changes

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:50 pm

I live near Dallas, Texas, and am going to be spending some time in Durango, Colorado, in the next couple of weeks. I have a straight cpap machine that doesn't have automatic altitude adjustment. Does anybody out there know roughly what changes you should make in pressure due to altitude changes?

Wulfman... · Post by **Wulfman...** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 4:39 pm

Look up Durango in a map or on the Internet. The altitude should be there, somwhere. According to the manual, the altitude setting should be accessible and changeable from the patient menu.

Den

ablong · Post by **ablong** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:38 pm

I went to Durango 2 years ago and stayed at the Iron Horse Inn
I took my Cpap a Remstar Plus. The book told how to change the altittude
setting to about 7000 feet. The Noaa.gov web site say the altittude is
aprox 6600 ft It worked fine. However the book said if you go
higher to call sleep Dr and find out how much to raise Presure
to offset the thin air. I will say when I went up to Silverton
I needed suplentary O2 next time I will go Prepared. I have a pulse OX
and several small O2 bottles If you do not get all the info from
this forum. Give me a PM and I will give you a phone # for Arlington TX
my cell has nationwide Longdistance. Also I think the folks at our
host ( CPAP.com ) could give you some spefic advice.

Have a good trip I hope you ride the train.

Allen

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:17 am

Thanks for the info Ablong. Unfortunately, my machine does not have a "menu" for altitude settings. All it has is a button that lets you raise the pressure either up or down. I do intend to ride the train from Durango to Silverton and back. I'm going to ask the DME that sold me the machine what I should do but I don't expect any help from him. My pressure is 12 now. Maybe the people at cpap.com can give me some advice. I don't really have a sleep doctor now. I'm on Parkland Health Care and I would have to go through all of the departments to get to someone who knew something about sleep disorders and that would take 6 months or so. I'm really looking forward to this trip anyway. I love the mountains and I love steam engine trains! I'll be leaving Saturday morning. I can hardly wait!!!!!!!

tuna · Post by **tuna** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:27 am

Yes it does. turn unit on , then push and hold the select key (the bottom one) for about 3 sec. the alt icon will start flashing then push select key till you get to the alt. setting.

Wulfman... · Post by **Wulfman...** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:45 am

tater pie wrote:Thanks for the info Ablong. Unfortunately, my machine does not have a "menu" for altitude settings. All it has is a button that lets you raise the pressure either up or down. I do intend to ride the train from Durango to Silverton and back. I'm going to ask the DME that sold me the machine what I should do but I don't expect any help from him. My pressure is 12 now. Maybe the people at cpap.com can give me some advice. I don't really have a sleep doctor now. I'm on Parkland Health Care and I would have to go through all of the departments to get to someone who knew something about sleep disorders and that would take 6 months or so. I'm really looking forward to this trip anyway. I love the mountains and I love steam engine trains! I'll be leaving Saturday morning. I can hardly wait!!!!!!!

Betcha it does!
Is there a "Mode" button.....bottom one to the left of the screen.....looks like a triangle pointing to the right? That's the mode button. According to the manual, if you press it, it should take you through the various settings like humidity, altitude and pressure. When you get into the altitude thing, you can change it with the ^ or v buttons.

If you want to PM me with your e-mail address, I'll send you the manual in pdf form.

Den

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:16 pm

Wulfman, no it doesn't have that button. Only a pressure setting button and a ramp setting button. Nothing else. I have a Fisher Paykel 221 LE very plain vanilla cpap. I looked through the owner's manual and it didn't say anything about altitude changes. I've got a call into customer service from the DME I bought it from a few years ago. I really don't expect much from them but I thought I would try anyway. Thanks for your reply anyway.

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:20 pm

Tuna, it doesn't have a bottom button. It has two side by side buttons, one large and one small. I'll hold the small button down and maybe it's the altitude button. I always thought it had to do with the ramp but I could be wrong. Thanks for the tip. I know the large button is for setting the pressure.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:27 pm

FP 230 Series Manual

Instructions for setting the altitude on page 7 and on.

You can even select feet or meters for the setting - it has a mountain icon.

O.

tuna · Post by **tuna** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:29 pm

tater pie wrote:I have a Fisher Paykel 221 LE very plain vanilla cpap.

Okay you have a HC 234 for your machine listed.. Thats what we were going by.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:39 pm

tuna wrote:
tater pie wrote:I have a Fisher Paykel 221 LE very plain vanilla cpap.

Okay you have a HC 234 for your machine listed.. Thats what we were going by.

The problem with the profile listing is that it links to cpap.com's database, and it changes automatically when they change their data - they no longer have that older machine therefore it is not longer on tater pie's profile.

Is your machine so plain vanilla the it doens't even have a disply window?

O.

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:40 pm

Sorry, I have the wrong one listed. I do have the Fisher Paykel 221 LE. I just talked to a service rep from Sleep Meds which is the company I bought it from and they didin't know how to do it. That wasn't a lot of help. Oh well, I won't let it spoil my trip anyway. I'll just suck it up and adjust it either higher or lower and see what happens. I don't have a page 7 in my owner's manual. It only goes to page 6.

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:44 pm

Ozij, I have a display window but all it displays is pressure that it is set at and compliance, nothing else.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:50 pm

Check the link I gave you - that was page 7 of the pdf on my computer.... there are button cominbations that when you press them will show you more on the screen - it's a 230 series manual - so it may be irrelevant. but on the other hand, it may give you ideas.

By the way, most machines I've hear of max at 7000 ft. - I doubt yours can do more - so if you know how to raise it - why not try to take it to max?

O.

tater pie · Post by **tater pie** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:53 pm

Ozij, that's what I plan to do. I don't have a display window like the one on the 230 series. I had just wondered what the rule of thumb for altitude was if there was one. I guess not. I'll just experiment with the pressue and see what happens.

question about altitude changes

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