Ramp or no ramp?

I appreciate the ramp feature and use it.

Improperly used, it will feel miserable, but if you use it properly it adds comfort to falling asleep.

It only takes me a few minutes to fall asleep, so my setting is for 10 minutes. The starting pressure is set to a level that is very comfortable and does not give any indication of a lack of air.

It does take some trial efforts to find the right adjustment but I put that effort in and think it helps me.

There is no right or wrong ramp setting. It is a personal choice. If you don't want to invest the time to find the optimum settings, leave it off.

To use ramp or not to use ramp is a very personal decision. I used it at first but I felt like I wasn't able to get enough air so I turned it off after a week or so. If it feels good and works for you, use it and discontinue if it doesn't do do what you want it to.

Hi There
1) I use ramp just because I am new to the machine.
2) I may turn it down or off after reading all these posts!!
3) Thanks.

I hated ramp from day one. I fall asleep almost the minute my head hits the pillow. The low beginning pressure allowed me to sorta snore and I kept waking up with events that the low pressure allowed. I turned ramp off on day three and have never used it since. That's 12+ years of CPAP use.

It is totally a personal decision, but i'm in the No Ramp club. The first night the DME set it low (based on the prescription) and I could hardly breathe. So I shut it off that night. even after the ramp was shut off, i realized the minimum pressure that was prescribed (6) was too low for me and I finally had it increased.

If I had to ramp up to a high pressure my answer would probably be different. I start at 7 now and hang in the 8.5-11.5 all night. I find it easier to fall asleep when I feel like I'm getting enough air.

I'm another who used it at first and now no longer do. It was set to 20 minutes, starting at 4. I felt like I wasn't getting enough air and I was breathing too deeply or too fast. But when I started CPAP, my pressure (10cm) was definitely too much all at once. Now I've adjusted and if I time my breath in with the pressure coming on, I have a couple of breaths where I have to breath out harder than usual and then everything is fine. I also feel like I relax into the pressure better without any ramp, so I didn't bother to just shorten it or raise the ramp pressure. Of course I think 10 is a bit of a lower pressure, and I am not on auto.

It's really whatever works for you.

XPAP Ode to Hamlet
To ramp, or not to ramp, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the hose head mind to suffer
The apnea's and hypopnea's, a outrageous mis-fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubled sleep
And by opposing to end them. To not die—to blissfully sleep...

I started off with using the ramp, but now I don't use it. I just start my blower at my low end APAP setting of 14 cmH2O. After a few breaths I don't even notice the pressure and drift off to sleep .

John

It's definitely a personal comfort decision.

Like a previous poster who uses the ramp feature, I have asthma. My lungs don't like to be blasted with an immediate pressure of 13, but using a ramp of 10 -> 13 gives my lungs time to adjust as I fall asleep quickly and in comfort.

The goal is successful therapy. Some of us need to use the ramp feature and some don't, just as some of us use full face masks, some use nasal masks and others use nasal pillows. Why belittle the ramp as 'training wheels' ? And what about expiratory c-flex? Should I belittle people who need to tape their mouths shut when I don't? Why? Just use whatever tips and tricks you need to get a good, therapeutic night's sleep.

-Lyn

I use the ramp for middle of the night adjustments. If i wake up and the pressure has increased due to leaks i will reach out, hit the ramp button, adjust the pillows and go back to sleep. it is much easier getting the pillows readjusted with 4 cm of pressure than with 15.

I followed ktaegue's advice last night and set my ramp to start at 11.8. My min pressure is 12. Pushed it out for 10 minutes because sometime the wife likes to talk a short while after I strap up. Worked great. No data events during that time like usually happens when talking.

My Ramp is on (a new CPAPer and that was the way the machine was set up).
Originally, was on for 20 minutes, I cut that down to 5.
I may turn it off completely, just not sure.

Ramping is more useful for CPAP and not Auto type users.

I think a big problem with the machines is I want an "initial pressure" setting, not a minimum. I'm ok with 5 if I'm very relaxed, otherwise I want a six but auto will drop down to 4 from time to time if its configured that low. My personal belief is that change in pressure may help with high blood pressure issues if there is a wide enough range.

So I don't use a ramp.

I would like a setting of "keep it above 6 for the next 1/2 hour please"...

The whole goal to this therapy is to make things comfortable so that a person can go to sleep and stay asleep and sleep well without things disturbing their sleep. Gotta use the machine to have any chance of feeling better.

Comfort features are not training wheels. People who want to use comfort features shouldn't be made to feel that they will grow up soon and not need/want them. Nor should it be hinted at that therapy is "better" if they don't use a comfort feature. They aren't less "grown up" if they like a particular comfort feature...wanting is a good enough reason to use it.
That's why they are there for use to choose to use in various modalities.

Not everyone does better with EPR off. Some people do need a little pressure adjustment to allow for the drop in pressure using EPR but not everyone does. Not everyone can go to sleep easily with a hurricane blowing up their nose or into their mouth so they use the ramp.

This is not one size fits all therapy. We are all individuals and need to figure out what works for ourselves and not what works for someone else. To hint that someone who happens to like or use some sort of comfort feature is less grown up or my balls are bigger than yours because I don't need a comfort feature is not what I would want to convey to a newbie.

I didn't care for CFlex but I really liked AFlex....decided one night to go without AFlex...want to see what happened?
Look here at link below. Sometimes therapy is better with some sort of comfort option being used. It all goes back to doing whatever it takes to sleep well with this alien being stuck on our face. Everything is fair game to use.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=67883&p=631376&hili ... mb#p631376

Never used the Ramp, started at 14 CM, while healing from Open Heart By-Pass. Never blew out any staples. I did use a training wheels on a 24 inch bike when I was a kid for one day, until I ran into a tree, after falling on the extra wheels I found them a waste of time.

If you need crutches fine, I prefer to get on with life, never had time to make it easy, sometimes easy really makes things harder to adjust to. Jim

I start with wide open 14 cm