Must the machine be below your head?

Hi everyone,
Awhile back I posted about how hard it was to get my 7 year old failing machine replaced. Well, I finally got my new machine, which was supposed to be the same as the old, so they let my husband pick it up (I can't drive anymore). Therefore, I've had zero instruction in how to use it. The machine is not at all the same. I had to watch a video and read two thick booklets. It's complicated as heck, and has me wishing my old one would last forever. I've figured out what I have to do, which is much more daily work than what I had before, and am esp. upset that I must remove the itty bitty computer card to use the machine to dry my headgear, which will not air dry on it's own....it gets moldy if I try. I already made the mistake of washing the heated tubing by immersion, and only read later on that the plug in end should not be immersed. Oops. I used the machine to dry it and it seems to be okay.

But I still have one question...... must the machine be sitting lower than your head like it says in my booklets? I had no problems with my old one being even with my head as long as the tubing was raised up, and it worked for 7 years.

Several times in the booklets, it mentions that the connection of the heated humidifier hose must be lower than where the other end connects to the headgear. BTW, I was lucky I had an adaptor on hand, since the heated hose I did not even know I was going to get did not fit my nasal pillow headgear. It mentions proper "tube pressure" being important and based on size of tubing, so I hope the change in tubing size when hooking to my headgear will work out, because I have a chemical reaction to silicone and cannot use any other headgear but the Breeze, which I love anyway.

Back to the subject, I have a nightstand that is even with the top of my bed. I could put the machine in the top shelf to lower it, but it is a closed in shelf, and the filter would have to be in back, so all the air would be coming in through the small area at the back of the nightstand. I also would have a hard time turning the unit off and on when I get up, which is 6 times a night on average. I do have my tubing hoisted up and run through a large rubber band attached to a plant hook on the shelf over the bed, since I was always told to keep the tubing higher than my head. However, the tubing joins my headgear very close to my head, and about even with the machine, which is now sitting on top of the nightstand, which is where I would really like to keep it. I called the DME, but they did not call back today, and I don't want to screw up this machine on my very first night. What do you experts think?

Oh, my old machine was a Respironics RemstarPro M Series with C-flex and heated humidifier. My new machine is a Respironics Auto A- Flex System One with heated humidifier and heated tubing. (I've tried to edit and add my machine below, but it's not working, sorry).

Thanks for any help with this.
klutzo

The machine that I'm using is actually about the same level as my head, on a normal bedside table. This works just fine. I do have a "hose hanger", but that's for convenience rather than condensation/rainout. I haven't had a problem with condensation yet, but live in a pretty mild climate area. So I wouldn't worry about that one, just deal with problems as they occur *smile*.

Thanks, RogerSC!

That's a big relief. Thank you. I also live in a mild climate, or more accurately, a stinking hot, humid climate.

Re: your comment on rainout. I had constant rainout problems with my old machine even in slightly cool weather (lows in 60s), but since my new hosing is heated, I hope that I will not be getting a face full of water anymore. I will certainly have to clean the tubing a lot more than the once a month I used to though, since heat = raised mold chances. I have lost one headgear to disgusting brown mold, despite daily washing, when I used to air dry, which is why I use the machine to dry it now, but of course must remove the computer card to do that. I lost 2 humidifiers to pink mold, despite daily cleaning with original blue Dawn and cool water, so now I also use a vinegar spray and air dry on the kitchen rack all day. This new machine says to use nothing but the dish soap, so I'll have to lose the vinegar, which is too bad, since that is what made the difference before.

Thanks for your input, and I love your Avatar!

klutzo

I've had 2 machines so far and am picking up a new one tomorrow. None have had to be below my head. In fact the ResMed Vantage I use now is slightly above my head with no problems. I am wondering why you got the same old machine when there are so many advantage to the newer machines. I know it's great to have a predictable machine but sounds like the only thing predictable about yours is that it's hard to use. I guess it would help to know what machine it is and if that is part of the instructions - to have it above your head.

klutzo wrote:which is why I use the machine to dry it now, but of course must remove the computer card to do that.

This is an unnecessary step for you to do. The SD card doesn't have to be out of the machine at all.
Any hours of use that you accumulate while drying your equipment will just be added to the SD card when you put the SD card back in the machine anyway. Might as well just leave the SD card in the machine to start with.
The machine stores a good bit of data in its internal memory and will just write it to the SD card anyway.
The time you use the machine to blow dry the equipment will show up as machine run hours. It won't affect therapy hours at all.

The suggestion to have the machine lower...that's just to allow gravity to help with any condensation in the hose. It isn't a critical issue at all. Also lessens the chance of someone pulling the machine down and onto one's head.

klutzo wrote:Thanks, RogerSC!

That's a big relief. Thank you. I also live in a mild climate, or more accurately, a stinking hot, humid climate.

Re: your comment on rainout. I had constant rainout problems with my old machine even in slightly cool weather (lows in 60s), but since my new hosing is heated, I hope that I will not be getting a face full of water anymore. I will certainly have to clean the tubing a lot more than the once a month I used to though, since heat = raised mold chances. I have lost one headgear to disgusting brown mold, despite daily washing, when I used to air dry, which is why I use the machine to dry it now, but of course must remove the computer card to do that. I lost 2 humidifiers to pink mold, despite daily cleaning with original blue Dawn and cool water, so now I also use a vinegar spray and air dry on the kitchen rack all day. This new machine says to use nothing but the dish soap, so I'll have to lose the vinegar, which is too bad, since that is what made the difference before.

Yeah, Florida is a much different climate than here. I'm right by the ocean, but the ocean is only about 55 degrees, so we get cooling from that in the summer and in the winter it prevents us from getting freezes. On the other hand, we can't grow much in the way of fruit that needs a lot of heat or chill, but I really like the mild weather, myself. Haven't seen much mold here on the cpap stuff, but we do get it in the bathroom, etc. Seems to like the humidity here, and I'm sure that you get as much if not more humidity in Florida, plus the heat. Club Med for mold, I guess *smile*.

Hi Grace62,

If you reread my post you'll see it IS a newer machine, and so different from my old one that I don't know how to use it without instructions. My doctor ordered the same old model, but despite that, I DID get a much newer one. The DME mistakenly thought I'd know how to use it, since it apparently is the newest version of what I had, but it has a whole lot more bells and whistles on it.

Also, yes, the instructions say in several places that the machine must be BELOW where the tubing joins up with my headgear. Right now it is even with it, since the machine is on top of my nightstand. Since nobody who has answered is having trouble with that, I will take my chances and hope it works out.

Thanks for your input,


klutzo

Hi Pugsy,
Thank you for telling me I can leave the card in. From what I read, I thought if I ran it to dry it, I would start hearing an alarm and seeing a message that I had a "Big Leak". In the booklet, there are over 3 pages of possible things that will cause an alarm to go off! What fun (not). I am not looking forward to being shocked awake by an alarm in the middle of the night. I am glad to know it can be dried without removing the card.

Thank you for the info!

klutzo

There's a video explaining the basic features of the PR S1 machine...it pre dates the heated hose option which your machine has but the rest of it is the same.
http://www.cpaplibrary.com/machines.html
Just scroll down till you see the PR System One machine.

You can request a pdf copy of the provider manual here
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual

You can use SleepyHead or Encore software with it too. See my signature for links.

You will need to turn the Auto OFF feature to the Off position to keep the machine running.
You can also turn off the Leak Alarm to stop the beeping.
If Auto Off is set to the On position...then the machine will sense no breathing and think there is either a large leak or the mask has been removed and will turn itself off. Normally it starts beeping after about 30 seconds and continues to beep for another minute or so then just shuts itself off.
So to do what you want to do you will need to turn the Auto Off setting to Off.

Hi Pugsy,
I see that to turn the Auto Off, it appears I must choose it every time. In my list, it has two lines, one says Auto on and one says Auto Off and they both look exactly the same. I don't see any way to permanently turn it off, so I assume I must choose the set up screen, then scroll down to auto off and leave it there while drying, except how can I make it turn on and run to dry it if I am on the setting screen rather than the therapy screen? I am really confused now. It seems like it would be a whole lot easier to just remove the card to stop the alarm.

I do have the two manuals and have read them, but I will go watch the video link you gave me right now. Thanks.

klutzo

P.S. The video in the link for System One is not my machine, but after watching it, I had the option to see a video of my machine, which I just learned is a System One 60 series, on Vimeo.com, so I watched it and learned more about the humidity settings. I also learned my adaptor is probably blocking the new humidity sensor in the hose connector! I can't help that, I have to have the adaptor, since the end of the tubing is to fit a wide mask hookup, not a small nasal pillows tube hookup like mine.

No, you don't have to go to the clinical setup menu every time you want to dry the equipment.

Auto On...this is for when you put the mask on and take a breath...with this set to "On" then the machine will start automatically with just a couple of breaths. If this isn't set to "On" then you have to push the round button to start the machine.

Auto Off...this is for the machine turning itself off automatically...so if it is set to On..then the machine will turn itself off if it doesn't sense breathing...if it is set to "Off" then the machine will blow as long as you want it to and until you push the button to turn it off.

These two settings are poorly worded. Once you make a change to either setting it will stay that way until you go back and change things.

Leak alert...that is the beeping...just turn it off. It has nothing to do with the SD card being in or out of the machine.


So here is what you do...go to the clinical setup menu and make these choices.

Auto On....set it to "off"...then you have to push the round button to start the blower and you can do it with or without the mask being on...so you can dry your equipment.

Auto Off...set it to "off"...then the machine will keep blowing until you push the button to turn it off. This has to be set to off for the machine to blow any length of time to accomplish the drying that you want.

Leak alert...turn it off then it won't beep if it senses no breathing or large leak.

The only disadvantage to these settings is no leak alarm available during the night and you have to manually turn the machine off or on each night. These settings will stay this way until if/when you elect to change them.
I guess you realize that the humidifier needs to be turned off also...otherwise while the machine is blowing the air..it is blowing humidified air....

Or one other idea...do you still have your old machine? If you do why not set it up to dry out the equipment?

Hi again Pugsy,
I don't think I want the no breathing alarm turned off for obvious reasons!!! I take some very heavy drugs so I can get some sleep. I have two other sleep disorders, one of which prevents deep sleep and it takes enough drugs to kill a normal person for me to get two hours of sleep at a time before I wake up. In fact, the drugs may be the cause of my hypopnea (I do not technically have any apnea, just hypopnea, but pretty severe).

I already dried the headgear tonight with the humidifier still on, since I couldn't figure out how to turn it off, and instead of the 20 minutes it took with my old machine with it's humidity off, it only took 3 minutes, even with humidity on!

The problem I am having with your instructions is where you tell me to "set" it to this or that. How do I "set" something? Sorry to sound so dumb, but my old machine had no such things. It was so easy. Just a button for on and off and a ramp button and a dial to pick your humidity. I really don't need all this extra fancy stuff, and with the brain damage I have from Lyme Disease, my head is spinning. Even the videos I've watched assume the person knows how to "set" things and don't show how.

Lost in the past,
klutzo

When you go to the clinical setup menu and find the Auto On and Auto Off selection options just push the round button and it clicks over to the On/Off choices then turn the knob to which ever setting you want...off or on...then push the round button and it takes you back to the menu where you turn the knob to scroll to the next selection option.

See if this helps explain things better.
http://www.apneaboard.com/pr-system-one ... structions

The manuals you got....Machine user manual and likely for the humidifier...did you get the provider manual for the machine?
If so this is all explained in the provider manual with pictures. If you didn't get it (most DMEs remove it) then request it from the link I offered earlier.

You can leave the leak alert set to "on" if you want to.

Hi Pugsy,
Thanks so much. That helped a lot and I was able to turn the Auto Off to off, I hope. I did not realize there was a menu within a menu and I needed to press both those buttons at once.

The Auto Off is the one I need to dry the machine, though I just figured out another way to hang my headgear where it might air dry without getting mold, which I will try tomorrow.

When I read the other previous link about set up you gave me, it said I had to remove the card before making changes, or settings would revert to default. That was not in the link that showed me how to do it, so it was not done. I guess I'll find out soon enough which is correct, because it is definitely bed time!

The links you sent had me wishing I had an APAP, since they sound so great, but my AHI is so good, I guess it doesn't matter. For the entire 7 years I've used CPAP, it's run between .8 and 1.8.

Thanks again, and sweet dreams. I will call the DME tomorrow about my adaptor covering the humidity sensor to see if there is a solution.

klutzo

klutzo wrote:
the heated humidifier hose
klutzo

Well it sounds like you are getting good help to solve the new problems.

But let me question why a heated hose in Florida? And why a humidifier in Florida?

I live in Atlanta and never use a humidifier (except when traveling in an arid area) much less a heated hose. The climate is humid enough here even in the winter and I assume it is more humid wherever you live in Florida.

You might want to have a one night trial with both humidifier and heated hose turned off. One way to do this is to turn your settings down one notch night by night and see what happens. You may find that you don't need the humidifier or the heated hose. It makes life simpler.

The caveat is about your air conditioning ducts. They should not be blowing in the direction of your CPAP. It is not good for your lungs and nasal passages to be getting a big dose of this cold, drier air.