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Duckdog wrote:Son and I decided this machine is the perfect size for use as a 300m target for high power rifle shooting.

Before you destroy the machine as you suggest on a target range why not let the good Samaritan side of you show. You can always donate it to someone on this forum who is in need of a perfectly good machine, that is if you are quitting before you've even really started.

Or, you could learn how to set the auto range to a fixed pressure or set it to cpap mode so the varying pressure isn't a problem. I don't know how to do that on your machine as I have the S9 Auto but I'm sure someone here does.

Excellent suggestion, Squid.
Also, Duckdog..if you've only been on the machine a week and your insurance company has been billed,,...??
You might consider waiting a little while to make sure you actually own this machine before having target practice.

justpam wrote:You might consider waiting a little while to make sure you actually own this machine before having target practice.

Or perhaps (depending on your insurer) until after the initial 30 day compliance report (which apparently will be "0") and they come looking to get their machine back.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:
I wish you wouldn't. It's not clear to me (1) what machine you actually have (as noted above some System Ones are top-of-the-line); (2) what setting it is you're trying to change; (3) what problems you are having with using the machine; (4) what you mean when you say "this nonsense."

You do realize, don't you, that untreated sleep apnea is a very serious condition? What did your sleep study say your AHI was?

Are you giving up on yourself after a week?

Let's see if I can get the quote correctly done. I hate phpBB for this.

1. Remstar System One Auto w/CFLEX+ set at 11.0 pressure constant

2. I have tried the ramp up, changing the pressure, quiet mode, everything. I hate the mask being on my face, and I especially hate the air flow against my airway.

3. This whole thing is so foreign that I consciously and sub consciously fight it. I'm waking up more fatigued than when I go to sleep. I am also finding that I am more irritable than I have ever been, and expressing anger around almost everybody in my life, which is completely unacceptable.

4. "This nonsense" means learning to deal with a cpap machine, simply put.

5. Yes, I realize that I am going to ignore a serious problem, but I am not willing to deal with this much stress.

6. AHI according to the sleep study was 40.9

7. Its actually been two weeks. And yes, I'm giving up.

I'm beginning to think this is a prank.

Or sympathy. Sooooooooo........

"You poooor baby!!!!!"

Duckdog,

I'm hopping into the discussion late, and for all I know you've already used the System One for target practice.

But I'll throw my two cents in anyway.

Duckdog wrote:New here and just one week on the above machine. My questions are:

1. How do you turn off the auto setting? Is that in a software edit or in the machine menu. I think it is called CPAP, but I can only choose from a 1, 2, or 3 setting.

Near as I can tell from the discussion you may have a System One AUTO PAP (mode 460 or 450) OR you could be complaining about a combination of Auto On/Off and/or C-Flex. Exactly what you have and what you are complaining about is still murky.

So: What is it about the "auto" setting that is driving you crazy? Are you noticing pressure increases during the night that are waking you up? (Points to not liking APAP mode.) Are you noticing an irritating change in pressure every time you exhale----the pressure first drops and then it increases before the end of the exhalation? (Points to not liking Flex.) Or are you noticing annoying beeping when the machine turns itself off and then back on because it thinks you've taken the mask off and then put it back on? (Points to not liking the Auto On/Off "feature".)

Regardless of which of these things is the problem, you control them through settings that are available on the clinician's setup menu. That's the setup menu the DME won't tell you about, but we will---if you're still interested in trying to make a go of this crazy, but life-saving therapy.

If the problem is APAP mode, you want to switch to straight CPAP mode with an appropriate pressure.

If the problem is Flex, you can turn it off completely from the clinician's set up menu, but you can't always do that from the patient's set up menu. (Whether the patient set up menu is allowed to turn Flex completely off is controlled via the clinician's menu, which is driven by the need for some DMEs and sleep docs to treat us like we're idiotic fools incapable of understanding anything about our machines.)

If the problem is Auto On/Off, you can turn those off completely from the clinician's set up menu, but you can't always do that from the patient's set up menu. (Whether the patient set up menu is allowed to turn Auto On/Off completely off is controlled via the clinician's menu, which is driven by the need for some DMEs and sleep docs to treat us like we're idiotic fools incapable of understanding anything about our machines.)

2. Anybody else think this machine is a piece of junk?

Depends on the model

If you've been sold a model 250 or 260 (System One REMstar Plus with C-Flex), then, yes it's a piece of junk because it records no efficacy data.

If you've been sold a model 450 or 460 (System One REMstar Pro with C-Flex Plus), then you've got a nice straight CPAP machine that delivers quality therapy and records full efficacy data. It's just a matter of learning how to get into that clinician's menu and tweak the so-called comfort settings they've locked you out of doing from the patient's set up menu.

If you've been sold a model 550 or 560 (System One REMstar Auto with A-Flex), then you've got one of the top two APAPs on the market. And it's not at all clear that switching to the other top APAP (the Resmed S9) would increase your comfort levels: Most people just can't tell that much difference between the two brands. But a few can and it's possible you might be one of them. But the S9 AutoSet is even more expensive than the System One Auto.

3. Since my deductibles were maxed out for once, I elected to purchase this machine, can I send it back to the supplier and get something else?

Given that you're thinking of using the machine for target practice, I assume that the answer from the supplier was a big fat NO.

Alternatives to literally shooting the machine up: You could try to sell the machine on Craigslist. (Ebay won't let you sell it since it requires a prescription.) You could contact a company like SecondWindCPAP (http://www.secondwindcpap.com/) that specializes in selling used CPAP equipment. Since your machine is very lightly used, they may be willing to buy it from you and then re-sell it to someone who needs a machine but cannot afford to buy a new one because they've got no insurance.

If you really want to quit then don't bother reading the rest of what I have to say.

If you want to try to make it work send me a private message and I will help you try to sort out whatever issues you are having.
For some people this therapy is easy and for some people it is difficult. Looks like you got the short straw and it is difficult.
You aren't the only one though. It can be hard work and if you don't like hard work then so be it. We can't do the work for you.

The PR System One machines are excellent machines. Not junk at all. There are things that can be done to make things easier but it is still hard work. If and when you decide you are willing to try to do the work send me a private message and tell me the model number that is on the bottom of your machine. It is a 3 digit number usually preceded by DS or REF. I can't help without knowing which model machine you have.

I used a Respironics machine of some type for nearly 3 years and that includes two PR System One machines.
So I know how they work.
As long as someone is really trying to make this therapy work then I will also try to help them but I don't waste my time on people who are afraid of hard work.

If you are just yanking our chains...well maybe someone else who really is having problems will read this thread and learn how to help themselves.

Seriously folks, thanks for showing you want to support me. No, this is not a prank. What it is is me throwing my rage out on an online forum so that I don't vent it on my family.

I can honestly say that this is not a prank. I am not setting this up to be one, I just got carried away with frustration and rage, and in my experience with forums, this type of venting is better than taking it out on my wife and adult son.

I'm really going to make this work. Too much of my insurance company's money (and mine) are wrapped up in the sleep study ($2300), and the machine. I haven't been billed yet, I'm sure that will be substantial as well. I will make this work. I just need to get to where I'm feeling like I'm getting some positive ground, and that hasn't happened yet and it is so frustrating. The last two weeks have been nothing but one flub after another.

Then let's figure out exactly which machine you are using first.
Tell us the model number off the bottom of the blower unit.

Duckdog wrote: Let's see if I can get the quote correctly done. I hate phpBB for this.

1. Remstar System One Auto w/CFLEX+ set at 11.0 pressure constant

So you're running in straight CPAP mode, but the question is whether C-Flex is turned ON or OFF. Since you were complaining about something with a choice of 1, 2, or 3, my guess is that Flex is ON and you don't like it. Get into the clinician's menu and turn it OFF.

2. I have tried the ramp up, changing the pressure, quiet mode, everything. I hate the mask being on my face, and I especially hate the air flow against my airway.

Yes. Not many of us like it at the beginning. I'm two years into my adventure and I still hate the feeling of the air flow at the beginning of the night when it's pressurizing the system. But c'est la vie. And I'd rather live than die a slow, incremental death of a thousand cuts each night in my sleep.

The sad fact is: Learning to sleep with a six foot hose attached to your nose that's blowing air down your throat is NOT easy. But sleeping while stopping breathing 20+times an hour is far, far worse for your body in the long run. So you have a choice: Suck it up and teach yourself how to sleep with the hose on your nose (even though it may never become totally comfortable) or give up and let the OSA continue damaging your body every night and literally "sleep" yourself to an early grave. (Or worse---an early stroke that leaves you totally incapacitated and dependent on others for many years.)

3. This whole thing is so foreign that I consciously and sub consciously fight it. I'm waking up more fatigued than when I go to sleep. I am also finding that I am more irritable than I have ever been, and expressing anger around almost everybody in my life, which is completely unacceptable.

Again, these are NORMAL reactions to the beginning of therapy. It's a huge change in your life. And it takes a lot of work to get used to it. It's not as simple as taking a pill each day. It's not as pleasant as trying to increase the amount of daily exercise by taking a nice bike ride somewhere. But it is critical for your long term health.

Attitude is very important here: You don't have to like anything about the whole process. You do have to be willing to face the fact that you do NOT breathe normally at night and the fact that you do not breathe normally at night will kill you in the long run. And then you make a choice: You either care enough about your life (and your loved ones) to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to figure out how to make this crazy therapy work. Or you chicken out and say it's too hard and that you'd rather just cope with declining health for many, many years and then ultimately die several years earlier and in much poorer health than you would if you just found the courage to stick with therapy.

And just to let you know where I'm coming from: The first three to four months of CPAP therapy were a living hell for me and the next six months were very difficult, but no hellish. Hands down, learning to sleep with a CPAP machine was the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life---far harder than either of my two pregnancies; far harder than taking care of a newborn; far harder than completing a PhD in mathematics; far harder than taking care of my hubby and daughter when they were involved in a serious car crash and hubby didn't come home from the hospital for three months and when he did come home, he had casts on all four limbs.

4. "This nonsense" means learning to deal with a cpap machine, simply put.

5. Yes, I realize that I am going to ignore a serious problem, but I am not willing to deal with this much stress.

6. AHI according to the sleep study was 40.9

7. Its actually been two weeks. And yes, I'm giving up.

Almost no-one is feeling better in two week. Studies have shown that it takes the average newbie about one to two months to get to where their brain fully trusts the alien on their face. And until that happens, they typically feel worse. But once their brain has learned to fully trust the alien, the newbie then starts to sleep better and feel better. And a few of us (like myself) are unlucky enough to have an adjustment period that is much longer than a couple of months.

Since you intend on giving up before you've even given CPAP a fair trial, you need to be aware of what will happen: In the years to come your apnea will get worse. Your daytime symptoms of OSA will get worse. Your nighttime symptoms will get worse. If you snore, eventually you'll probably drive your spouse out of the bedroom. Your health will start to deteriorate slowly but surely. You will develop one or more comorbid conditions that will affect the quality of your life in ways that are as profound (or more profound) as you currently perceive the negative impact of CPAP to be.

And ultimately someone else will have to deal with the stress of taking care of you when you are no longer capable of taking care of yourself because you've developed multiple health problems that could have been prevented if only you'd found the courage to take proper care of yourself by taking the time to teach yourself how to sleep with the damn machine.

Duckdog wrote:Seriously folks, thanks for showing you want to support me. No, this is not a prank. What it is is me throwing my rage out on an online forum so that I don't vent it on my family.

I can honestly say that this is not a prank. I am not setting this up to be one, I just got carried away with frustration and rage, and in my experience with forums, this type of venting is better than taking it out on my wife and adult son.

This too is NORMAL behavior for CPAP newbies. Yes, throwing your rage our way is indeed a good way to vent so that you're not yelling and screaming at those nearest and dearest to you. (Lord knows I did enough of both in Fall 2010; feel free to search my earliest posts if you want to see some of my own rage.)

But---keep in mind that we tend to be overprotective when it comes to folks who say, "I'm throwing in the towel": We try our absolute best to get them to reexamine that decision for what it really is. And sometimes we use harsh language when we're telling a newbie who's telling us they're throwing the machine in the closet ...

I'm really going to make this work. Too much of my insurance company's money (and mine) are wrapped up in the sleep study ($2300), and the machine. I haven't been billed yet, I'm sure that will be substantial as well. I will make this work. I just need to get to where I'm feeling like I'm getting some positive ground, and that hasn't happened yet and it is so frustrating. The last two weeks have been nothing but one flub after another.

As I said before: It takes the average newbie somewhere between one and two months to unconsciously accept the need for the mask at night and to start noticing positive things about therapy.

And those early positives may be subtle: For some folks, the first sign that CPAP is doing some good is less frequent trips to the bathroom at night. For others, it's a decrease in the severity of morning headaches. For me the first signs came about four months into therapy: I was noticing that I was no longer waking up with hand and foot pain every single morning.

So do keep in mind that most of us do NOT suddenly wake up one morning feeling like we're on top of the wold with tons of energy that we've never had before. It just doesn't work that way. Our energy levels slowly, but surely increase over weeks and months---once we start sleeping well with the machine.

I think most people here understand your frustration, we've all been through it. If you give them clear direct answers to the questions, they will help you work through the issues.

I'm on week 6 with it sounds like the same machine - I went into it thinking this sucks, but that's life, sometimes things happen that are crappy and I needed to deal with it. Ignoring it or fighting it was not going to make it go away. So I needed to make peace with with the machine and the mask. Cause like it or not we were going to be together for the rest of my life.

Good luck

Ok Duckdog, if you're done ranting for the moment how about following up with the model of your machine and the type of mask you use. Maybe we can suggest an alternative mask that we find more comfortable or, ways we've found to make the whole process a little less awful.