Bman: Spirit Overnight Indices

You said:
This makes my nose itch. That's more annoying to me than leaks.

I hate that. One reason I like the Swift/Breeze so much, you can itch your nose!

Thanks to all of you for the detailed explanations. I want to assure you that I am not about to start jerking around with settings if I end up buying a 420E. My goals in asking these questions about the machine are:

1) I want to know as much as I can about the treatment capabilities of the different machines so that I buy the one that is MOST capapble of delivering appropriate treatment. The ability to "adjust" the machine, if necessary/appropriate, is a factor.

2) Once using an auto machine and reviewing the data it produces, I want to know what I am looking at so that I can compare how I feel during the day vis-a-vis what the data printout says happened during the night before.

3) If I identify a problem, I want to have some sense of what I am talking about when I approach the Dr. or tech. at the equipment provider place. Thus far, I've not been at all impressed with the Dr. and while the tech. has been wonderful to deal with, her lack of knowledge has, at times, been found wanting.

So, thanks again for all the insight. I'm really looking forward to reviewing the data that I'll be getting from the 420E in a few days. I'll compare it to the data from the onther two automachines that I have tried and the notes that I took (while using the machines) of how I felt after each nights sleep.

Thanks again to all of you.
P

it's always a good learning exercise to read through above info.

few practical points and questions:

-shallow breathing may be coming from blocked nose and that can elevate the pressure too high

-fixed pressure settings will eliminate any unfavourable responses from the machine's inefficient algorithms

-higher pressure may imrove my AHI reading but I am reluctant to try higher pressure for obvious reasons ie discomfort. Furthermore I am feeling extremely well already with AHI of 5-10. Any double blinded prospective studies supporting the end point treatment of <5 in terms of outcome

-I am curious in terms of if one is able to find the upper setting of autopaps right then really there is no difference between 420e and autoset spirit ie the autoset is already runnning at the upper limit and it does does not need to react to hypopnoea

-then the next question is if AHI is similar for upper pressure of 10, 11, 12,14 or 15, ?that's the indication for a bipap, ?when would one decide a bipap for central apnoea

-I am also seriously considering losing lots of wt bringing my BMI to 20, would that help with sleep apnoea, my bmi is 25-30 at the moment

Sorry for the questions, would be keen to get some answers and suggestions.
Many thanks.

I am looking through my sleeping chart again.

It appeared median value is the most important figure for my resmed autopap.

It is about 9-11. Average is around 10. Generally a higher pressure of upper settings like 15 does not seem to be more effective then 12 as the AHI is still between 5-10. As I am used to my machine the AHI is coming down to approaching 5.

I am now setting my machine to 6-11. Hope the AHI would stay the same.

It is very tempting to get a remstar c-flex autopap for easier breathing but I am quite getting used to pressure of even 13 now.

My feeling is the resmed autoset spirit is quite behaving like a fixed autopap and it is really not too different from the 420e like what crisp said. The required pressure to maintain an opened airway is at a set pressure and different algorithms may not make a huge difference for my breathing as the breathing chart showed my median value is also the pressure to maintain my opened airway.

Did anyone manage to lose a lot of weight and then the sleep apnoea is better?

Is sleep apnoea worse with age like high blood pressure? I am young <40 and also curious to know about long term cpap users' wellbeing ie someone without the associated comorbidities.

In light of those numbers, Bman, I'd be curious to see what a pressure range of 7 to 12 does for your AHI. Sometimes increasing the bottom number does much more toward lowering AHI than increasing the top number.

thank you so much for your help

I look at my data at 6-11 setting and found that both my ai and ahi increase slightly and then somehow it improved a bit over a few days albeit still a higher value.

I wondered also the throat will get too complacent and one may need higher and higher pressure with autopaps in the future.

I was planning to stop playing with the settings and thought it may improve a bit overtime with various measures ie getting used to it, losing weight etc

your suggestion is such a good idea. I am going to try icreasing my lower pressure setting and see whether it will improve my hi. I somehow lose track of following your initial suggestion in the midst of all these info.