Seeking Advice for New Autoset II machine

Hello everyone, I'm just new to the board here, but have been a CPAP user for 5 1/2 years. I finally got tired of my old Resmed cpap machine my insurance covered and purchased for myself a new Resmed S8 Autoset II. In reading some of the stories, I'm finding similar experiences with wanting to be in charge or my treatment. I love the feedback function, too, so I can keep monitoring it. In my original study, my AHI was 82. I've had 3 other studies since then and had pressures ranging from 10 (when I had actually lost weight) to 19 (my original setting and my most recent one, having put back on all the weight). I think I'm starting to feel a difference with the new machine, but still getting AHI readings from 17-21 every night, though had a 10 one night. Does anyone have any tips on things I need to look for/change to get an improved result. I've had the machine exactly one week, so I'm still trying to figure things out. I'm glad to have the help, support, and insight of other sleep apnea patients.

Thanks,
Troy

What are the ranges of the machine (low and high settings)?

What range of pressures (minimum/maximum pressure settings) do you have your Autoset II set for?

I don't recall if the Autoset II allows EPR to be used in auto mode. If it does, what EPR setting are you using?

settings are between 4 and 20. I set the EPR at 3.

I've been running it in auto mode and am getting a pressure reading in the morning between 10.6 and 11.2.

If the lowest pressure I ever used on CPAP was 10, and that was when I was much lighter, my first step would be to set the AutoSet's minimum pressure at 10 for a few nights - about a week I'd say.

How is your AHI divided between AI and HI?

O.

ozij wrote:If the lowest pressure I ever used on CPAP was 10, and that was when I was much lighter, my first step would be to set the AutoSet's minimum pressure at 10 for a few nights - about a week I'd say.

How is your AHI divided between AI and HI?

O.

First week's results:

AI: 7.8
HI: 12.8

That's definitely too many apneas. The AutoSet II tends to report a high Hypopnea Index for almost all its users - but that's often accompanied by low AI - not your case at this point.

See how you do with a minimum of 10 for some nights.

TRap1680 wrote:I've been running it in auto mode and am getting a pressure reading in the morning between 10.6 and 11.2.

If you're running EPR at 3, that would imply your 'actual' pressure is btw 7.6 and 8.2 -- the reason being on exhalation the pressure increases to off-set the EPR 3 setting.

Not sure why you are on EPR 3 -- this isn't meant to imply it's good or bad. I started at 3 but lowered to 1 and was quite comfortable. Other's like it higher

Assuming you do keep the EPR at 3, I would suggest you adjust the apap range to 10 to 13 and see what happens after 4-7 days. The ResMed has a bias and you'll get higher Hi readings. I normally now get Ai <1, Hi <5, and total AHI would be 6. But most of us halve the Hi number, so actual AHI is really <4. I consider the Ai number the more important target.

Thanks for the help!!! I will put those suggestions into effect tonight and see where it leads me.