Hello Guest, Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.

or Create an Account


New Posts   Today's Posts

[CPAP] Change in Pressure
#1
Change in Pressure
Hi Everyone

My husband has been using the Philips Rem Star Pro for approx a year with a Quatro full face mask. His original pressure was set at 6%. He has been snoring and choking over the last few months and so has just had a new sleep study done (last night) Firstly, I was a little surprised that they did not want to even check his machine to see if it was working correctly, or even read the card. Surely the whole purpose of having a card in the machine that is recording this data is important to look at.

Anyway, the tech told my husband that he had finally got the pressure set at 12% and to me that seems a huge increase from 6% to 12%. Also the tech advised that the pressure is dependent on the mask type also. So now he has to go back to the Dr to read his test results and prepare a new script, but I am a little concerned about the huge increase in pressure and the fact that if the pressure depends on the type of mask, what was the point in them asking him to select 2 different ones for home use.

Is there software available that will read your card from the CPAP machine and tell you what is what if you do not have a degree in CPAP card reading?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Mirry
Post Reply Post Reply
#2
RE: Change in Pressure
G'day Mirry, welcome to the forum.

Yes indeed, the data is important and I really wonder why medical people often seem to ignore it in these times of evidence based medicine. There is a very good freeware software available called SleepyHead. You can download it from here: http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...e-software

The pressure is measured in centimetres of water (cm H2O) rather than as a percentage. The jump from 6 to 12 cm does seem rather large. However it could be that the original titration was wrong or else your husband's apnea may have changed over time. As most of us on CPAP are aware, no two nights are exactly the same and it may well be that one of the titration tests was done on an atypical night. One way to overcome this problem is to use an auto-titration machine (APAP) which adjusts the pressure as required depending on the number of apneas experienced. I'm not familiar with the machine you mentioned, so I don't know if it is an APAP but other members will be able to confirm that.

I don't believe the comment about different pressures for different masks is necessarily correct, either. It is necessary to tell the machine what type of mask is used so that it can adjust for leaks. All masks vent or leak a proportion of the air to ensure that carbon dioxide is flushed out of the system. A full face mask will have a higher intentional leak than a nasal or pillows type, and can be expected to have a higher unintentional leak as well (all else being equal).

The important thing is to play an active role in your own therapy and not just leave it to the "experts". There is an enormous amount of good practical advice to be had on this forum - get your husband to read up and get an understanding of what's happening. That way when he sees the doctor he'll have a better idea of what questions to ask.

Post Reply Post Reply
#3
RE: Change in Pressure
Hi Mirryt,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
What DeepBreathing said.
Hang in there for more answers to your questions and best of luck to you and your husband.
trish6hundred
Post Reply Post Reply
#4
RE: Change in Pressure
I suspect it's a matter of changes in your husband over time. What is right for him is indicated by the sleep test they did. I would not be alarmed going from 6 to 12 anymore than he was going from zero to 6 in the beginning or I was alarmed when they first gave me a machine and I went from zero my whole life to 14.

Post Reply Post Reply
#5
RE: Change in Pressure
(06-07-2014, 07:32 AM)Mirryt Wrote: Is there software available that will read your card from the CPAP machine and tell you what is what if you do not have a degree in CPAP card reading?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Mirry
DeepBreathing gave you the link to the software, also the machine report data on the screen, AHI and leak
AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index) tells you how many apnea/hypopnea events that the machine scored per hour
Score of 5 events or less per hour is normal while on PAP, also higher score might indicate an adjustment is required providing leak is within acceptable range

Here are some pictures and video explain all of that http://www.apneaboard.com/pr-system-one-...structions

The clinical manual also available via Email, scroll down to section three ... Philips-Respironics Manuals
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual

The machine in your user profile "Philips Rem Star Pro', the Pro is data capable machine
Just to be sure, remove the water tank so we don,t spill any water and turn the machine upside down, there should a label with numbers printed on it ... 450 or 460 correspond with the Pro model

Post Reply Post Reply
#6
RE: Change in Pressure
Thank you everyone for your help. I have installed sleepyhead and imported the data.... good lord, think I may need to pour myself a drink before I tackle this, it's very detailed at the information it has produced, but I have no idea how to read it. Looks like I know how I am going to be spending some of my time Smile
Post Reply Post Reply
#7
RE: Change in Pressure
At least you got started........my Mac won't allow me to download the Sleepyhead stuff. Says it's from an unauthorized user (not from a Mac store) or some such nonsense. I'm a dork when it comes to that stuff anyway, so it's pretty typical for me unfortunately. I love numbers and so wish I could see the data.

I am getting the basic stuff from the LCD screen on my machine but would love to see the graphs.

I think if you cruise around here like I plan to do, you can learn alot about the various measurements/readings.

Post Reply Post Reply
#8
RE: Change in Pressure
Buckeyedog -- While I'm not a Mac person, I do know that there's a way to turn that restriction off and allow you to install 3rd party software on the Mac's. You may want to investigate that.

MirryT -- Since your unit is a Pro model (Fixed CPAP) Don't worry at all about the Pressure graphs and the AHI graph is kinda useless there's something weird going on with the AHI.

Concentrate on the leak graph first and if it looks good (fairly straight line) then look at the breakdown of the events.
Post Reply Post Reply
#9
RE: Change in Pressure
Thanks Bama and you are exactly right! ShelaghDB helped me last night and I did have to change the security setting, so I now have it loaded on there. Now just have to see if it'll read my card today after work. Thanks again for your help.
Post Reply Post Reply
#10
RE: Change in Pressure
@buckeyedog,
Sleepyhead works great with my Mac, sure helps to keep track of how you are doing.
Post Reply Post Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
Question Help - Mask change causing fatigue? coffee9724 0 24 2 hours ago
Last Post: coffee9724
  Airsense 11 Time Zone Change ScottZZZ 60 17,435 03-26-2024, 11:56 AM
Last Post: somewherein413
  [CPAP] Prisma 20A - Change of machine and regression elliott.981. 17 1,711 03-21-2024, 10:25 AM
Last Post: Macka
  Any change recommendations to machine? NativTxn 2 319 02-17-2024, 03:28 PM
Last Post: NativTxn
  [Symptoms] Recent Symptom - Settings Change? MamaK55 1 164 02-10-2024, 06:03 PM
Last Post: Deborah K.
  [Pressure] I just started apap therapy 3 weeks ago and I feel worse.Should I change settings? AndreiChivu 1 324 02-03-2024, 08:08 PM
Last Post: Sleeprider
  [Pressure] Pressure max/min clarification and change I made richapple 5 366 01-28-2024, 04:03 PM
Last Post: richapple


New Posts   Today's Posts


About Apnea Board

Apnea Board is an educational web site designed to empower Sleep Apnea patients.