Does machine self adjust?

I am wondering why it seems like I am being "blown away", when I first put on my mask (so I use the ramp to start out) Then for some reason....I later feel like I'm "suffocating" ....due to lack of air coming in? I even try taking deep breaths to sorta "prime the pump"....but it doesn't seem to matter? I think that I read somewhere that the pressure will adjust to a person's breathing patterns...?
I HOPE NOT? What is that supposed to mean? i.e. if we have "lighter breathing" it gives us" less air"? Hopefully, nobody wth APNEA ever puts one on, then???? The feeling I have of "not getting enough air" seems to come on long after the ramp has run out....when I am trying to sleep.....I know that I have a tendency to have very shallow breathing..... I will put my hand over the place where the air is coming back out of the mask and it feels like a nice, steady stream? So mask seems to be working? Sometimes I think that my body is ignoring the mask? I KNOW I need to read my card...my husband says he will help me with this soon. Honestly, I haven't even worn the mask for the last three nights.... so I can get some much needed sleep? I don't think the card will have very much to report , yet? I guess my question, here, is: Do the masks "self adjust" the pressure or does the pressure stay the same?

no

Your machine (the Pro) will not self-adjust. However, it is common to feel that there is more air blowing when you first put on the mask. When I started cpap, I would wake up in the morning convinced that the machine was not working because I had no sensation of it blowing air, and I was getting 14 cm pressure at the time. You get used to it.

As long as you do not feel like you are suffocating, you should be fine.

If you are in autopap mode (I'm not sure if your machine offers autopap or not), your machine will have a low pressure and a high pressure setting. The machine will stay all night at the low pressure setting until an apnea event is detected. Once an apnea event is detected, the machine will increase the pressure enough to treat the apnea event. Once the apnea event is treated, the machine will back down toward the low pressure setting. Sometimes (usually a few hours before you awaken or during a period of hight apnea events) the machine will stay up at the "higher" pressure and never get back down to the low pressure setting. Sometimes this will awaken a person.

What are your pressure settings?

If the lower pressure setting is suffocating you, you should bump it up a little to prevent the suffocating feeling. The autopap mode is a comfort thang' as opposed to straight cpap mode. Some folks respond better to the autopap mode than the cpap mode.

Sheriff

When people first start using cpap, they wonder if they will ever get used to the pressure blowing on them (that "dog with it's head out the window" feeling). But with use, we DO get used to it. When that happens, some people start to think that the machine is not working properly, and do exactly what you did - put your hand in front of the exhaust vent on the mask to determine if there really is air flow.

If you have have an autopap, what the sheriff says is correct, but I would add that the lowest pressure setting IS therapeutic. The lowest setting is supposed to prevent apneas, but sometimes they happen anyway - like if your AHI untreated is higher while sleeping on your back and you roll over onto your back while asleep. When that happens, the pressure increases.

SOMETIMES, getting used to the pressure can cause a psychological feeling of air hunger, especially with new users. We find out we have sleep apnea, and then using the machine reassures us that we are being treated. Then when we are no longer hypersensitive to the air pressure, we miss that comforting (albeit sometimes annoying) feeling of the air rush. And get that suffocating feeling.

I believe the 460 model..the Pro 60 series does offer auto adjusting pressures for 30 days but the adjustments it might make are in response to events it senses. Has nothing to do with the mask. It all depends on the settings if you are in the auto trial mode.

What are the settings on the machine? Do you know how to find them? They are in the clinical set up menu.

We need to see a copy of the reports to get an idea what might be going on during the times where you feel like there isn't enough air movement. It's entirely possible that the sensations later on in the night are maybe apnea events happening because the pressures aren't quite effective during periods of REM sleep or maybe supine sleeping.
It is of course also possible that the pressure never changes and no events happen and what you are sensing is more of a response to being anxious.

Does the Series 60 Pro work like the old IQ now?

RandyJ wrote:Does the Series 60 Pro work like the old IQ now?

That's what I have been told by people who have the 460. They sent me screen shots showing the Auto trial thing.
I am assuming that they all (the 460) are that way until I get a confirmed report that they aren't.
Kinda nice though...since I know how to make it full time APAP. The reset to zero works on the 460s too.

I have found out myself that the longer i have used the ramp feature, I have had to raise the starting pressure a little at a time to lose that suffocating feeling when starting out. I guess sooner or later I will get to the point where I dont even use it

The next time you feel you're suffocating, don't touch anything on the machine. Look on the display on the machine and see what pressure it's blowing at. You'll need a light in the room or a flashlight.

If you're using the "ramp" function, stop using it.