I like to use the ramp feature do you.

SickAndTired · Post by **SickAndTired** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:16 pm

snork1 wrote:I have a Remstar Auto.
The ramp only works as a ramp when in straight CPAP mode.

BUT I like to use it to reset the machine back to its lowest setting in the range, when it gets stuck at the high end, even though I am wide awake and breathing normally. This is a feature (and a problem) they do NOT mention in the literature.

I use my Remstar Auto in exactly the same way!

I think the use of ramp is pressure dependent, at least subjectively. If the pressure you are at seems uncomfortably high to you when you are awake, then using the ramp as pressure relief to get to sleep, at which point we seem to be able to tolerate higher pressures, only makes sense.

It doesn't really matter whether your comfort level ends at 8cm or 20cm, or whether you use the ramp for CPAP, or as snork1 and I do with APAPs, if you need the pressure relief, it can be very nice to have it.

wb9tpg · Post by **wb9tpg** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:52 pm

yawn wrote:The pressure started at 4 and ramped up to 8...I was always asleep before I got to the 8. Now that I'm used to the CPAP, I don't feel the need to use the ramp anymore. A pressure of 4 leaves me feeling like I'm gasping for air so I just turn on the machine and start at 8.

I have the same settings, a ramp of 4 to 8. Starting at 4 leaves me feeling starved for air so I've never used it. I always start the machine at 8 - it only haves a minute to adjust to it.

BTW: Visited the sleep doctoy Tuesday and I've 100% compliance since day one. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones. They did another sleep test on Tuesday night (they had an opening, lucky again) and they will likely readjust by pressure to 10 or 12 (pending doctor review). I slept 7 hours this time compared to 1 or 2 the first sleep study.

I've asked them to also readjust the ramp to start at 8 if they do up the pressure.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 5:23 pm

They did another sleep test on Tuesday night (they had an opening, lucky again) and they will likely readjust by pressure to 10 or 12 (pending doctor review).

That kind of thing -- having to go through another sleep study titration just to see if a prescribed pressure needs to be raised a few notches -- is one of the many reasons so many users prefer having an autopap instead of a straight single pressure cpap.

The autopap, set for a range of pressures, could have been finding the pressure needed, at home.

Even if a person does better on a single pressure, it's pretty simple to let an autopap find that pressure, then set the autopap to operate in "cpap" mode at the new pressure you want to use.

seagull · Post by **seagull** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 5:32 pm

Rested Gal, I was wondering where you were.

wb9tpg · Post by **wb9tpg** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:23 pm

I started working on the doc to let me switch to an APAP machine even if we run it in CPAP mode only. I'd been renting the Remstar Pro but I want to purchase a more flexible machine if I'm going to buy it. Why buy a discontinued machine that can't give me the data I want to see.....

The doc told me the DME generally just sold you the machine you were renting and that APAP was more for people who could not tolerate continous higher pressure. I'm not sold on that and I'm still insisting that I be allowed to get an APAP when it comes time to buy - I'll find another doctor to prescribe it if necessary.