ASV users: the everything ASV thread.

[ameriken]

My wife is awoken by the squeals coming from my mask and she wakes me up to adjust it. The Quattro FX has been a great mask and I generally have no problems with leaking, except for nights like this. Now I see why: the bottom literally fell out on my PTB's, driving the pressure support way up and blowing out through the seals. Despite that, AHI is only 6.

Go figure. Obviously the machine is doing an awesome job with my array of breathing issues and is keeping me alive and breathing at night.

[JohnBFisher]

... I don't use an ASV, but I have noticed on my data from any machine I use, AHI is often reported much higher from a short nap session (like the 30 - 45 minute naps you mentioned) than from a sleep session of two hours or more. I completely disregard the short nap AHI's. ...

I agree completely.

One reason this probably occurs is that your machine can not determine if the apnea occurs during the transition to and from sleep. Those apneas would almost always be discounted during a sleep study. In a longer sleep session they have little bearing on the statistical AHI average. But with a shorter nap, it is almost impossible to discount them. They have more weight due to less data in the data set that creates the AHI average.

That's just one reason this AHI during naps may be higher.

[adipasqu]

My wife is awoken by the squeals coming from my mask and she wakes me up to adjust it. The Quattro FX has been a great mask and I generally have no problems with leaking, except for nights like this. Now I see why: the bottom literally fell out on my PTB's, driving the pressure support way up and blowing out through the seals. Despite that, AHI is only 6.

Go figure. Obviously the machine is doing an awesome job with my array of breathing issues and is keeping me alive and breathing at night.

Ken,

I had the same exact problem with squeaks and mask farts. Get yourself the Pad-a-cheek mask liner. It will prevent that from happening and make your therapy much more comfortable. Get two, so you can wash one and use the other one while it dries.

Antonio

[ameriken]

My wife is awoken by the squeals coming from my mask and she wakes me up to adjust it. The Quattro FX has been a great mask and I generally have no problems with leaking, except for nights like this. Now I see why: the bottom literally fell out on my PTB's, driving the pressure support way up and blowing out through the seals. Despite that, AHI is only 6.

Go figure. Obviously the machine is doing an awesome job with my array of breathing issues and is keeping me alive and breathing at night.

Ken,

I had the same exact problem with squeaks and mask farts. Get yourself the Pad-a-cheek mask liner. It will prevent that from happening and make your therapy much more comfortable. Get two, so you can wash one and use the other one while it dries.

Antonio

I've been thinking about pad-a-cheek anyway just because of the marks on my face in the morning. It's otherwise been a great mask and never leaks except under those high pressures.

[ChrisT]

I have questions about emergency power for my BIPAP auto SV Advanced Sytem One. I normally run it with a humidifier but I suppose in an emergency that could be bypassed although I think that would require resetting the humidifier to off. We live remotely and electricity can go off for a week or so at a time in winter. We even get some outages in summer. While we have a generator I don't think the cost of running one all night is the best solution.

Has anyone tried batteries without an inverter?

Has anyone tried an inverter?

Has anyone used solar power to keep a battery charged?

ChrisT

[justbreathe]

I went for my ASV Titration last night. Not sure how it will come out by the numbers because I will not see anything for 7-10 business days. But my impression was:

1. I did not sleep as well as I have been on the straight cpap.
2. Sometimes I felt like I was fighting the thing to breath at the pace I wanted. It forced me to breath more rheumatically. But I think that is my problem.
3. A few times I woke and did not think it was even working. I would put my hand out to feel the air blowing from my mask and about that time I would be breathing erratically again and get the blast of pressure in my face till I would straighten up and breathe right.
4. When I woke my head felt strange. It did not hurt or have any pressure. It was an unusual felling that is not normal for me.
5. I felt sleepy much of today. I could have fallen asleep if I was permitted to do so.
6. Part of the adjustment was using a FFM for the first time with congestion and no humidity till 1AM. I woke up needing water and they turned on the humidifier.

All in all I am just wondering if this is what will help me achieve AHI less than 5, days feeling rested and get some of my working memory back.

[ameriken]

Why are they titrating you on ASV if the CPAP was doing ok?

[BrianinTN]

Why are they titrating you on ASV if the CPAP was doing ok?

He's got another thread where he's showing mostly treatment-emergent centrals, so the ASV makes some sense.

justbreathe, I would say your ASV experience isn't uncommon. It's a different type of therapy, and while some people take to it like a fish to water, for others it's more challenging.

However, what was the rationale for the FFM? As I indicated in a previous post, that's definitely not a call I would have made...

[ameriken]

Can anyone make heads or tails with what is going on here? This was last night. I don't feel too bad, however I woke up about an hour later than usual. I did hurt my knee yesterday to the point where I have to nurse it today, I don't know if the pain and stiffness added to this or not.

[JohnBFisher]

Well, it sure seems that you need an ASV unit. You had a longish period of what the machine thought was periodic breathing, followed by a long period of poor patient triggered breathing. I'm guessing that the switch indicates a switch from one sleep stage to another. For example, you might have switched from REM to NREM sleep.

But unless you took some SERIOUS pain medication, I doubt your bum knee had much to do with that. But do keep an eye on it.

[ameriken]

Thanks John, I do take methadone for back pain in the morning, and the sleep doc thinks that may have something to do with my CSA and low PTB's, however my PTB's generally run higher than 90% and I have never had a red bar for that long on the PB's.

[JohnBFisher]

Thanks John, I do take methadone for back pain in the morning, and the sleep doc thinks that may have something to do with my CSA and low PTB's, however my PTB's generally run higher than 90% and I have never had a red bar for that long on the PB's.

Isn't it fun watching things get worse? Yuck! I *do* know the feeling.

Hopefully it's just a one day thing and won't get much worse. But you definitely want to keep an eye on your therapy numbers.

[moresleep]

Has anyone been able to do a hands-on comparison of the legacy Respironics Bipap AutoSV Advanced with the new System One ASV? Does the System One ASV provide any advantages other than flow data and smaller size?

[Mr Bill]

The single only time I had PB for 23% of the night was after eating Tai food at 8pm. I think it was the MSG.

[ozze_dollar]

I feel that I have a success story with my Resmed VPAP ASV. I never have any problems with it. It just does the job. My AHI is usually less than 2. My Resmed Mirage Nasal Mask is almost perfect. Hardly ever leaks. A little redness on the nose sometimes. My original sleep test put me in the severe range and it was only the ASV that would bring the AHI down.

I guess my only problem is my mouth breating. I cover this by using a chin strap,which I am not that happy with as it pulls my chin back a little.
I have tried tape once,I lasted most of the night but finally in a terrified state I took it off.
I guess you get used to it.