Ventilator Reports - Anyone Familiar with Them?

-SWS wrote:

Madalot wrote: But -- one of my biggest questions is the alarms. I haven't tried them lately, but the last time I did, the apnea and low tidal volume still went off numerous times during the night. Maybe I'm missing something, but if I'm receiving effective treatment, shouldn't we be able to set those alarms and NOT have them go off at least 6-10 times each night? Or am I just being dense?

I don't think you're being dense... But since I share that same opinion, my answer is undeniably going to be biased.

This is one point I am planning on making with her today. My DME had spoken with the vent rep and claimed their position on it is that the alarms are really only applicable in a hospital setting and weren't important in a home situation. Frankly, I found that just weird, but didn't push it with him. I'm going to let my doctor be the decision maker on that issue. I'm not sure she's aware of the alarm situation.

-SWS wrote:Are you sure it's not feasible to head back into the lab for an AVAPS S/T titration? I'm thinking they should be able to come up with better titration results for you---now that your body feels acclimated to the vent. I recommend that you reconsider a PSG for a round of tweaks since your DME currently does not have an RT to facilitate at-home tweaks. You've never had a PSG for this machine so they owe you one...

Well, it may be worth visiting again. She had said a while back that this might be necessary, but I am resistant to it because of my disability AND the distance we have to travel to get it done. On the other hand, if that is necessary to get the settings more optimum, I need to suck it up and do it. Again, something I will bring up today when I see her.

Thank you, again, for this input. Just having you validate some of my thinking and concerns helps me. I've learned so much about all of this, but I know I haven't begun to scratch the surface I what I need to know. Sometimes I think my DME and doctor would prefer for me to just do what they say in blissful ignorance, but if I did that, I'd probably still be using the bipap with it not working properly!!

I really do appreciate the input. I'll update in a new thread after my appointment, but it may have to wait until late tonight or tomorrow. I'll try to post tonight if I can muster the energy!!

MidnightOwl wrote:Madalot,

I hope the doctors visit today goes well.

Thank you. I'm not anticipating any problems. I'm going to make a list of concerns and issues I want to discuss to make sure I don't forget anything.

MidnightOwl wrote:Perhaps, along with everything else, you can find out what the alarms should be set at, if they need to be on at all for your condition since you're not a typical vent user. If they are anything like the alarms on the ventilator I've encountered they are too *@#$^% loud.

This is a definite part of my plan. Yes, the alarms are loud, but I think they probably have to be to get attention. We turned them off because they were disrupting my sleep so much, plus they were waking up my husband.

But my fuzzy brain is saying that if the alarms are going off, we still have a few issues that need to be addressed. But we'll see what she says about that today.