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Changing Settings reccomendations
#1
Changing Settings reccomendations
Greetings everyone
I'm a newbie and please forgive me if I am posting in the wrong area, but I wanted some general info regarding my current situation and any ideas. I found this forum while looking at the site that offers manuals so one can change their settings. I've been on a Resmed s8 compact for about 7 years and it has made a huge difference in the quality of my life. I recently had another sleep study and the center is reccomending going to an 18 setting from my current setting of 11. I'm waiting for my doctor to review and then send the results to the medical supply company that services my machine (A familiar story I'm sure to many of you) I've requested a manual to change it, but part of me feels like this is sucha huge change in settings that I should see the sleep center again and possibly request a retest. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Blake McCrary
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#2
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
sonorandigital, welcome, going from 8 - 11 isn't a huge leap, do you know what your AHI was at your latest sleep study? The is how many times on average per hour you stop breathing for 10 secs or more. Also in your profile you say you are not using any software, is your screen telling you what your AHI is per night? You want it to be as low as possible but below 5, they may be raising the pressure because your current pressures do not keep your AHI low enough. A pressure of 11 is about average these days.
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#3
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
(11-18-2013, 11:14 PM)Tez62 Wrote: sonorandigital, welcome, going from 8 - 11 isn't a huge leap, do you know what your AHI was at your latest sleep study? The is how many times on average per hour you stop breathing for 10 secs or more. Also in your profile you say you are not using any software, is your screen telling you what your AHI is per night? You want it to be as low as possible but below 5, they may be raising the pressure because your current pressures do not keep your AHI low enough. A pressure of 11 is about average these days.

Thank you I apologize as I do not have the report to know my AHI, but I meant to say that I am at an 11 and the technician who was sending my data to my primary physician said they were making a reccomendation of going to an 18 from my current 11 ( a change of 11 to an 18) Thank you for your help Blake
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#4
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
Sorry Blake, my fault I misread it, it is a fairly large jump then but maybe necessary, if you could check your AHI's it would be good. There is software called sleepyhead that you can download and use to look at your data, it does work on most Resmed CPAP's. I'm not familar with the S8 CPAP's is there a model number on it? The other thing is how you are feeling, do you feel refreshed in the mornings and have the energy for most of the day?
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#5
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
There are likely reasons why you need a higher PAP pressure...
Gotten older; gained weight; and a few other things. 18 is up there; but not unreasonable.
Some machines can only generate 20; some to 25.

Keep in mind the units are centimeters of water. That's the gravity head pressure one would get from 18 cm of water in a vertical tube.
That's about 0.3 PSI.

If you can, get a new machine. The S8 compact is obsolete.
An S9 would be better; plus make it possible to readout your data yourself.
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#6
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
Its huge change. Wait for the doctor review of the sleep study reports, the doc might recommend another titration with bi level machine
Where are you located? if in US ... you may qualify for a new machine
S8 compact is outdated entry level machine, does not report any efficacy data, only report hours used each night

Machines choices and what to avoid http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ne_Choices
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#7
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
It is a huge leap. Ask your doctor about an autoPAP to help make the transition. It will adjust as you need it. By looking at the data, you can then slowly increase the maximum pressure every other week or so (if it is needed) until you get to the treatment pressure.

If I remember correctly, the S8 Compact recorded no data but compliance (meaning hours used). Even then, the S8 would need a special card and special card reader, both are hard to come by.

If you have insurance, get a data-capable machine. Zonk provided a link to a great article about the various machines.

If you are paying out of pocket, check out Supplier #2 in our Supplier's List (link at the top of every page). They have "gently used" and "open box" machines at low cost. That's where my current machine is from.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#8
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
Hi sonorandigital,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
What Paula said.
Hang in there for more responses to your post and best of luck to you.
trish6hundred
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#9
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
(11-18-2013, 11:54 PM)Tez62 Wrote: Sorry Blake, my fault I misread it, it is a fairly large jump then but maybe necessary, if you could check your AHI's it would be good. There is software called sleepyhead that you can download and use to look at your data, it does work on most Resmed CPAP's. I'm not familar with the S8 CPAP's is there a model number on it? The other thing is how you are feeling, do you feel refreshed in the mornings and have the energy for most of the day?
To Tez62: sonorandigital, the OP is using a seven year old S8 compact CPAP. That machine does NOT work with SleepyHead. So there's no point in downloading SleepyHead.

Moreover, the S8 compact only records compliance hours. So there's no way that sonorandigital can figure out what his nightly AHIs are while using the current machine.

To Sonorandigitial: Many insurance companies will pay for a new machine every 5 years or so. If your insurance company is willing to pay for an upgraded machine, you should insist that the DME provide you with an S9 Elite or a PR System One PRO both of which record full efficacy data, including overnight AHI. Both of these new model machines are also compatible with SleepyHead, and that piece of software will allow you to see what's going on with your therapy each and every night.

Without nightly data, it's going to be hard to figure out whether you really need to increase the pressure from 11cm to 18cm since all you'll have to go on is how are you feeling?. And 18cm is a very high pressure setting and it is a huge jump from 11cm. While you may be lucky and have no real problems adjusting to this much higher pressure level, you might also find that the higher pressure level triggers a whole bunch of issues that you have not dealt with in a very long time: Issues such as mask leaks, mouth breathing, trouble exhaling against the pressure, and aerophagia are much more common at 18cm than they are at 11cm. And if you're unlucky, you may find yourself in the small minority of PAPers who develop problems with pressure-induced centrals at very high pressures.

In some sleep labs it has become fairly common to seriously consider switching patients to bi-level machines once their titrated pressure gets above 15 cm, in part because with a bi-level machine the EPAP can be set (much) lower than IPAP and that can increase the comfort by quite a bit as well as address some (but not all) of the issues that many patients run into when using high pressure settings.
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#10
RE: Changing Settings reccomendations
(11-18-2013, 11:54 PM)Tez62 Wrote: Sorry Blake, my fault I misread it, it is a fairly large jump then but maybe necessary, if you could check your AHI's it would be good. There is software called sleepyhead that you can download and use to look at your data, it does work on most Resmed CPAP's. I'm not familar with the S8 CPAP's is there a model number on it? The other thing is how you are feeling, do you feel refreshed in the mornings and have the energy for most of the day?

No worries It is a resmed compact s8 And yes, I have become more and more fatigued each morning so that may not be unreasonable. I am going to call my sleep center today and find out what my AIH's were. THanks for your help
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