How to read the numbers

Greetings,

I have been using some settings as suggested here on my 420E for about 10 days now and I beleive the results have been basically positive. Last night, I began using a new Breeze mask so I don't have numbers for several days to evaluate but what I would like to know is if the results show say, 16 apneas what does that mean? Does it mean there were 16 apneas that were not prevented or there were 16 apneas that were detected and then prevented?

Here are the results from last night. By the way FL1 is off. And I do suffer from allergy congestion so that may contribute to the large number of runs and FL cycles?

Thanks, Trout

Hi Trout,
16 apnea are apneas that happened. The machine responds after they occur, by raising the pressure, after the obsturction has been identified. It will drop the pressure back down after it figures an "all clear" has sounded. However, as on most automatic machines, that "raise the pressure after an apnea has occured" is limited to raising the pressure to 10. Unless you tell the PB otherwise. I would set the "maximum pressure for command on apnea" at - or very close to - what you had your 420G on. Check what that does. With response to apnea high enough, you may have less apneas.

Since moving the initial up to 9 hasn't made much of a difference (if this night is representative of others) I'd also move the initial pressure to 11(very close to the 90% recommended), the minimum to 8 or 9, and the maximum to 14 or more. You're spending far too much time above the initial pressure - which means you're getting slow responses to events for much of the time, and fast drops (that's what happens above the initial). With a higher initial pressure the machine wont' drop you so quickly to where the events return.

By the way, snores (you don't have many) will drive the machine to the max - and it is often driven high because too low pressure lets snores happen. With a higher initial and a higher minimum you may find yourself feeling better, and getting better results.

Allergies and congestion may definitely contribute to the large number of runs and flow limited cycles -have you tried sinus irrigation? http://www.neilmed.com .

O.

Thanks so much Ozij - this is very, very helpful information. I do use nasal irrigation and it helps. I am going to make your suggested changes and see what happens. If it seems to help I will then go for a week of it and get back to the forum with the results.

Again, Thank you.

Trout

Ozij,

I do have one more question. After looking over some of the posts here I did raise the Max pressure for command on Apnea to 12 a few days ago. My recommended pressure from the study and the 420G is 9. Should I lower max pressure for command to 9?

Thanks, Trout

That really depends on how you feel.
Your recommended for the 420G may have been correct for its time -and may even still be. Now that you're running a functional, data reporting machine, you may learn a lot by keepin it at min=max=9 for about a week. By leaving it on APAP and setting min. = max. you'll get fixed pressure with,and all the data you would get on APAP (but wouldn't get if the machine were set on CPAP).

O.

O - I'm kind of hijacking this thread but wanted to ask - can your suggestion of Minimum and Maximum being set at the same pressure be done on all APAPs? Am I right that this would be like being in cpap mode but being able to get the data as in auto mode?
Thanks.

P.S. - If the minimum and maximum were set at the same pressure in auto mode, could A-Flex be used on the M Series Auto with A-Flex?

Hawthorne wrote:O - I'm kind of hijacking this thread but wanted to ask - can your suggestion of Minimum and Maximum being set at the same pressure be done on all APAPs? Am I right that this would be like being in cpap mode but being able to get the data as in auto mode?
Thanks.

Yes.

Hawthorne wrote:If the minimum and maximum were set at the same pressure in auto mode, could A-Flex be used on the M Series Auto with A-Flex?

I don't know for sure - but I guess yes - it would only make sense that AFLEX will function of the machine is in APAP mode, regardless of the pressure setup.


O.

My opinion:

1. Normal cycles are too low, if you can get that above 80% the better off you would be.
2. You have IFL1 disabled (command on FL), you show 321 FL's, another 17 with hypopnea.
3. No need to be limiting pressure at 12 cm, put it up at 20 cm.

I would:

1. Set up Ramp at 7 cm for 30 minutes if you like starting at that pressure.
2. Increase the Maximum pressure to 20 cm so the machine has the pressure available if needed to dislodge a stuck tongue.
3. You have Vibratory Snore, that can drive up pressure by itself so I would ENABLE IFL1 so it can pre-treat some of those FL's possibly
reducing some of the FL's, and Hypopnea before they ever turn in to apnea.
4. Increase A10 or Command on Apnea from 10 cm to 12 cm.
5. Keep an eye on your leak rate, try and get that Normal cycle % seen up doing so will be seen as an improvement. With the higher
command on apnea, keep an eye on the CA count seen on line 2. If the CA count increases in frequency you may have to lower Command on Apnea down to 9 cm. Observe from your 96-Hour report at what pressure the CA showed up, if you see that repeat on other nights at the same pressure that is probably your threshold and where you would want to set Command on Apnea pressure.

Thank you Snore Dog,

I am going to try your recommended settings for a week and see how things come out. Last night my CAs shot up so I lowered the min to 7 the initial to 9 and raised the max to 20, turned FL1 back on and lowered the max pressure on command to 9. I will hold here for a week and see how things look.

Thanks, Trout