Newbee

I'm a new CPA user and I'm looking for a little advise to get off to great start.

Here's the system I just purchased on-line from cpap.com:
* ResMed S8 AutoSet Vantage™ w/ HumidAire 3i Humidifier
* ComfortClassic Mask (small) with headgear
* Autoscan 5.7 software
* Cardreader for the ResMed S8

I'm having it overnighted to me so I'll try it out tomorrow (Friday) night. I purchased this after hearing from a colleague as well as after reading so many posts here recommending an auto-CPAP machine over a single pressure CPAP. Also I confirmed that the local brick-and-morter DME's were charging close to twice as much for machines as cpap.com or that they were pushing much lower end machines. My insurance for an out-of-network purchase will require me to pay 30% so (assuming no insurance payment problems) a purchase from cpap.com should be a much better deal.

My prescription is for 8cm of H20 CPAP pressure. I'm 5'10", 180lbs and fairly fit. Just can't sleep!

I'm looking for some good practical advise to get off to a great start with this machine. I can just read the manual and will but I'd very much appreciate any practical advise.

* Those of you who are very experienced... How would you start off? As I'm sure you'll understand, I want to get to the best result possible in the least amount of time.
* what do I look for as the best metric of how well this system is working to improve my spleep apnea problem?
* I recognize that the mask I ordered is not the most favored mask but I'm not sure what to look for in a mask. The mask I ordered was explictly specified on my prescription but I understand that I can buy anything. What mask is most generally liked?

Thank you very much in advance!
Bob

This is a hard one to answer, but I'll try to give you a few suggestions. It sounds like you've already made a good start, especially by getting the card reader and software.

Don't get discouraged. Some "hoseheads" take to therapy like a duck to water - others have problems. If you have problems, come to this forum and ask or just vent. We all support each other.

If you have problems adjusting to your mask - and the mask is usually the biggest hurdle, you might try wearing it a couple of hours while watching TV. When you are adjusting your mask straps, get them adjusted, and then test them lying down and turning over - with your pressure on to test for leaks. I've not used that particular mask, but others here have, so they can give you helpful hints.

There is a "newbie info site", but I don't know where it is. I'm sure someone does and can post it for you.

Do a search on this forum for specific problems.

And read the info in FAQ on CPAP.com (here is the site):

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-faq/ALL.html

And lastly, welcome. You've come to the right place.

Good Luck,
Linda

Hi Bob 123 and welcome to the forum. Looks like you purchased excellent equipment. I am 5' 10" but 170lbs (use to be 189lbs) and have a pressure level of 8 to 9 so very similar to you.

From all my reading and it has been lots I would set your pressure level up at 5 or 6 for the low end and about 10 or 11 for the high end. Crunch the raw data from your card and make adjustments based on this charted data. You can post your data here and people will be more than willing to help you out. Base your adjustments on data from at least 4 nights use.

In the search function enter your mask type and you should find some good info on it and how people make it work for them.

Good luck.

First and formost thank you, both Linda and Darth Vader. I appreciate your kind responses!

I receieved my Resmed S8 Vantage today from CPAP.COM and my initial observations are that;

1) cpap.com came thru. I got everything I ordered without any probs. I left a message for them about a question I had and they called back gave an answer and and offered help in the future. cpap.com gets an A grade so far. A couple of the men I spoke with were outstanding and very helpful and knowledgeable.
2) after spending a couple of hours reading and testing the equipment the Resmed S8 Vantage with humidifier my impression is that this is a very well-engineered system and one which gives me very high confidence in it's ability to deliver. ( I'm an extremely careful & thoughtful physicist/engineer/software expert who has worked at the very extremes of technologies for decades. I know product quality. )
3) the software package AutoScan 5.7 is still questionable however. On a scale of 0 thru 10 it not above an 8 and may be lower. It certainly has room for improvement. ( I'm very particular about analysis. A small amount of improvements can improve it greatly.)
4) The machine itself is very quiet. I'm very sensitive to noise but the noise from the system was not an issue. It's very quiet! The mask was far more of an issue.

I tried out the whole works for a few hours this afternoon as my day was wasted due to bad previous night's sleep. The software was problematic. The hardware was very intuitive and worked well.

I will take Darth Vader's suggestions with regard to auto-cpap setup as I could feel the advantages of using the pressure varying mode immediately from short trials and from reading. Thank you again!

Bob

Your observation about the autoscan software pretty much gels with all I've read here at cpaptalk. Rested Gal summed it up well in another thread when someone solicited opinions about which manufacturer to go with:

rested gal wrote:You mentioned wanting to use computer software with a machine. My personal opinion, having used all three of the major manufacturer's autopaps and their software, is that Puritan Bennett Silverlining software is the best. Respironics Encore Pro software a close second. ResMed's Autoscan software, a distant third.