New Machine Reccomendations

Check your PM box...you have one new that I sent this morning and one I sent quite a while back that is still unread.
Let me know if you don't have them.

Pugsy, read both your PM's and thanx.

Et all,
Yesterday afternoon I washed both the old and new machines in preperation to put the old in storage and new machine in service. After all parts dried put old System One Biflex into its bag and the new 960ASV on the nightstand. About 7:30 I decided to verify function before bedtime so I laid down, put on mask and turned the machine on. After I got settled into a comfortable positkon and before I picked up my magazine I fell asleep. I woke this morning af 5:45 am when the alarm went off still laying in the position I started. Never took my sleep medication nor my normal middle of night sleep booster meds. Just slept over nine hours straight without meds or sleep disturbance. Normally I wake up minimum half dozen times, often takes one to two hours and additional medications to get back to sleep. It was just like the night in lab for my ASV titration. My wife said it was the first night in 20 years I have not tossed, turned, kicked, snored and generally ran her out of the bed into the spare bedroom by midnight. Her first night of good sleep in the same bed with me. Heard so many people say adjusting to ASV was difficult bad a bit of concern but if the study and first night at home are any indication this may be my miracle. Now to get tbe software and confirm good numbers and it may be in the bag for the moment.

After years of AHI of 50 to 140 last night witb ASV 1.86.

Huey, I'm really happy for you! Sleep well!

hueyville wrote:Heard so many people say adjusting to ASV was difficult bad a bit of concern but if the study and first night at home are any indication this may be my miracle.

Just a voice of recent experience: as JohnBFisher points out frequently, it really does take a while to *fully* adjust to ASV.

Like you, I had an amazing initial experience, finally getting actual sleep. So my first few weeks were a dream (har har). After I got past the initial exhaustion, though, it's been a little more challenging. Rarely terrible (except for the occasional aerophagia), but some nights are worse than others.

So don't be discouraged if, after the honeymoon period, things regress a little. My AHI never shot up, but there were definitely less restful nights sprinkled throughout.

That said, I'm really happy for you! You are lucky that your initial experience was so good!

Software obtained, AHI so low past two nights and slept so well that I almost feel like the other shoe is yet to drop. Hope I can keep riding the wave. I appreciate the software link and all the help. Pugsy's value here iz unmeasureable.

hueyville wrote:AHI so low past two nights and slept so well that I almost feel like the other shoe is yet to drop. Hope I can keep riding the wave.

It's all down hill from here. You might still have an occasional less than ideal night but even those will be much better than what you were having before this machine was introduced. I was so hoping that you would have the easy adjustment and not the difficult adjustment because I felt you earned it with all you have gone through and looks like I got my wish.

Regarding using your old bipap for back up or travel or whatever...it doesn't come close to adequately treating your issues.
Keep an eye out for another ASV machine used and/or maybe older....they do pop up every now and then or check with secondwindcpap.com for a gently used one. Even an older model would be better than using the plain bibpap you have. Sometimes those older machines can be found for little more than a song.

This would be the older model in the Respironics line of what you are using now. We call it the Legacy series
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/remsta ... chine.html
There was no M series equivalent in this model. M Series models were after the Legacy series and replaced by the PR System One series.

Not sure of the equivalent in the older ResMed models but I think this one
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... chine.html

Though I would suggest keeping with the Respironics line if at all possible so that the settings can be better matched.

Secondwindcpap.com has a Legacy model ASV Advanced but I think it's a little pricey at $1025....
Just keep an eye out and watch the forum...sometimes there are some killer deals to be had.
You might also private message forum member mcdover and see if he has something along those lines that is gently used.
Just make sure of the model that you specifically need. I bought my first BiPap from him...while not the ASV model bipap (I don't need something to treat centrals) I was totally satisfied with my purchase. He is trustworthy. The machine I got was "used" but looked brand new and only had 34 hours on it. That qualifies for new in my book.

I appreciate everyones help. Since BC/BS picked up entire tab on machine think I can justify looking for a good used machine. Will try to stay with Respironics so now its a wait and see what I trip over.

I now have Respironics Encore Pro 2 Version 2.12.7.0 installed on my computer. It is not a very intuitive piece of software and I cannot find the instructions other than the help files. I have searched the Respironics web site and Google searched the heck out of it. There has to be a pdf technicians manual for this software but I cannot find it. Anyone know where I can find the manual for this software?

I've been following your saga from the beginning because I was so worried about you. I need to say sincerest congratulations and best wishes going forward. And I agree, Pugsy is to be cherished! There is no way to thank the many other people who contribute so much encouragement and support here, also.

Only thing I have been able to find is this
http://www.healthcare.philips.com/pwc_h ... _Guide.pdf
which doesn't help much with actually navigating around in the beast.

I have used enough Pro versions through the years that I can pretty much tame it now.
Was there something in particular you were having problems with? I have a cheat sheet that I composed for back when we had no choice but to use it and tried to make it at novice computer level.
If you want it let me know.

Main things that seemed to confuse people that need to be done....
Change the GMT time zone to your time zone and forget about when DST change happens because it is going to be an hour off no matter what you do.
Change the password expiration time frame to never expire...the default is for 90 days and don't ever, ever mess up 3 times in a row with log in ID or password because then the whole software locks up and Respironics won't give us the the unlock code since we aren't supposed to have this software. When I messed up...2 times was the max I would even try...don't risk the 3rd attempt..close the program and then open it again and you have 3 more strikes available.

All the instructions for how to manage the software is in the Help section but if you don't know where to look then it isn't much help.
If you have specific questions or problems...just ask and I will try to explain/answer.
Most of the stuff in Pro is related to DME office stuff and we don't need to input all that stuff to get the reports.

Pugsy,
I found that one but as you say, not the most complete info for how to use the software. I have printed up all of your tips and implemented them. What my main questions I wanted to look up was the proper way to set up a new patient and whether or not I should import my data for the last two years on the bipap machine? Will that just add confusion or should I start fresh and just use the pro version starting from day one with the 960 ASV Machine? While I would like to import my past years data for reference if it has potential to monkey up things I will just leave it in Encore Viewer and Sleepyhead so as not to mess up my EncorePro data for the 960. I really do appreciate you hooking me up with the software and all the advise thus far. Now I just need to get somewhat comfortable using Pro so that I can track my numbers so if an issue arises I will be able to scream for help.

I think that you should be able to put your PR System One 750 data under the same user profile as your 960 data.
I know that we can't mix M series data with PR S1 data...I did that and Encore kept telling me "you don't want to do that" and I wouldn't listen and lost all my M series data because I didn't play it smart.

Just create a new user profile for the experiment. Import the 750 data..and then import the 960 data. It will tell you that the 960 SD card "doesn't belong to this patient" but ignore it and tell it to download anyway. When we download, it automatically assigns the patient profile to that SD card. I actually have probably 5 PR System One machines data under one profile in Pro.
My first 550 APAP...a 650 BiPap...the 750 bipap...a 660 BiPap and finally my latest machine the 760.
I don't bother with all the adding of the various equipment stuff into the Profile...I don't need it or all the pressure setting stuff.
That's just unneeded work and it is easier to just manually change something on the machine anyway. The only thing needed in the user profile setup is the name...that's all you have to input. Remember this software is mainly for doctors and DME offices where they have to keep track of hundreds of patients so they put all that stuff in there to have it available at a glance. We don't need anything other than the name.

By making a new user profile for the experiment you won't be taking the chance of messing up the 960 data...though I think you will be fine. Hurts nothing to have more than one user if it works out and if it doesn't work out you can simply deactivate that profile and won't have to look at it.

Thanx to knowledge from this site, its users and finally a decent sleep doctor I feel more empowered to make better decisions reguarding the treatment of my apnea. So after spending the last six months twisting the screws on my multiple issues througb education, asking questions, finding a sleep doctor willing to work with me and four fresh visits to the lab I have more information than in the firsf two plus years of diagnosis and treatment. So while I know there is more to learn and improve my treatment other than being diagnosed I have made more progress since taking personal control of my issues rather than sticking a mask on my face and following doctors orders.

First I bought Encore Viewer and started Google searching. I found the technicians manual for my machine and abandoned cpap for bipap expirimentation. Initially it was difficult. Encore is not the most intuitive software thus I was mostly flying blind. Then I found this site and its references to sleepyhead. I downloaded it onto my sacricificial computer. (as i have been a beta tester for three different companies, installed tons of freeware and even worse hacker utilities such as network stumbler and packet sniffing tools I never install an .exe file on a needed machine. Anyone with skills can add a malicious payload to a seemingly friendly piece of software. Just my 2 cents which I hope saves someone a lot of problems. An employee downloaded a piece of trialware once that propegated through the network killing five machines and corrupted three days work
as we only ran full backups on Fridays.) Once I had sleepyhead I was actually able to understand the data from my cpap/bipap machine. I spent a couple months learning how my body reacted to setting changes.

I reviewed the previous years data learning my average treated AHI was 52. Once a week there would be a night with AHI in the 100 to 138 range. That scared me silly to the point of being scared to sleep. Armed with my data from sleepyhead and months of dial winging. I found a sleep doctor willing to work with me. Four nights in his sleep lab over a two month period culminated in getting a bipapASV machine last week. Six nights into the new machine I am averaging 8 hours 17 minutes sleep per night. After 7 years of using prescription sleep meds I have not taken a pill since starting ASV treatment. Three nights have slept from tbe time I laid down till alarm clock. The other three woke once to use bathroom then right back to sleep. My average AHI thus far is 10.62 with worst night of 15.3. That is a far cry from averages in the 50 to 70 range, three pills per night, waking dozens of times and waking every morning tired and mad. So we are at AHI 10 first week with high hopes of lowering that as we work wkth the new machine. So I feel like a success story and hope that others with extreme complex apnea will take personal contrll of their treatment. My first three doctors gave up on me and said there was no way to treat heax injury related apnea. Do not listen to them and find a doctor that will recognize your ability to participate in diagnoses and treatment. Fight a good fight. I still have a way to go to my personal goal of averave AHI of 5. Doctors said that number was impossible for me and when I hit it I am going to hand deliver them my report.

I am so happy for you Hueyville.

Yeah, definitely hand deliver that report to that naysayer doctor. Too bad you can't videotape it so you could share it with the forum.

49er

hueyville wrote:Thanx to knowledge from this site, its users and finally a decent sleep doctor I feel more empowered to make better decisions reguarding the treatment of my apnea. So after spending the last six months twisting the screws on my multiple issues througb education, asking questions, finding a sleep doctor willing to work with me and four fresh visits to the lab I have more information than in the firsf two plus years of diagnosis and treatment. So while I know there is more to learn and improve my treatment other than being diagnosed I have made more progress since taking personal control of my issues rather than sticking a mask on my face and following doctors orders.

First I bought Encore Viewer and started Google searching. I found the technicians manual for my machine and abandoned cpap for bipap expirimentation. Initially it was difficult. Encore is not the most intuitive software thus I was mostly flying blind. Then I found this site and its references to sleepyhead. I downloaded it onto my sacricificial computer. (as i have been a beta tester for three different companies, installed tons of freeware and even worse hacker utilities such as network stumbler and packet sniffing tools I never install an .exe file on a needed machine. Anyone with skills can add a malicious payload to a seemingly friendly piece of software. Just my 2 cents which I hope saves someone a lot of problems. An employee downloaded a piece of trialware once that propegated through the network killing five machines and corrupted three days work
as we only ran full backups on Fridays.) Once I had sleepyhead I was actually able to understand the data from my cpap/bipap machine. I spent a couple months learning how my body reacted to setting changes.

I reviewed the previous years data learning my average treated AHI was 52. Once a week there would be a night with AHI in the 100 to 138 range. That scared me silly to the point of being scared to sleep. Armed with my data from sleepyhead and months of dial winging. I found a sleep doctor willing to work with me. Four nights in his sleep lab over a two month period culminated in getting a bipapASV machine last week. Six nights into the new machine I am averaging 8 hours 17 minutes sleep per night. After 7 years of using prescription sleep meds I have not taken a pill since starting ASV treatment. Three nights have slept from tbe time I laid down till alarm clock. The other three woke once to use bathroom then right back to sleep. My average AHI thus far is 10.62 with worst night of 15.3. That is a far cry from averages in the 50 to 70 range, three pills per night, waking dozens of times and waking every morning tired and mad. So we are at AHI 10 first week with high hopes of lowering that as we work wkth the new machine. So I feel like a success story and hope that others with extreme complex apnea will take personal contrll of their treatment. My first three doctors gave up on me and said there was no way to treat heax injury related apnea. Do not listen to them and find a doctor that will recognize your ability to participate in diagnoses and treatment. Fight a good fight. I still have a way to go to my personal goal of averave AHI of 5. Doctors said that number was impossible for me and when I hit it I am going to hand deliver them my report.