DreamStation Pro Autotrial?

[Art Stan]

Hi,

First post here. These forums have helped me a lot in the last few days. Thanks.

So I just upgraded from an F&P SleepStyle 200 I've had since 2008 to a DreamStation CPAP Pro. Obviously that's a big change, but after disabling EZ-Start and C-Flex I'm feeling pretty comfortable.

But I'm curious about the 'Auto-Trial' setting. The posts I've found all say it "allows to set the machine in Auto mode for up to 30 days. After the set period, machine reverts to straight CPAP mode."

My question, which no post seems to answer, is whether you can do another 30 day Auto-Trial period after the first one, or if you're stuck in regular CPAP mode forever. I'm in no hurry to try it, but I would like to know before I do if it's a one-time thing.

Thanks in advance.

[justMongo]

My understanding is that the trial setting can be used more than once (no limit.)

[chill]

The clinician's manual is a little vague on this: "When you reach the last available Auto-Trial period, the text for this selection will appear in red font". The wording suggests that the auto-trial periods have some hard limit after which this functionality is disabled. That limit is even more vague but seems to be 30 days in total, spread over up to 10 3-day trials.

I have no idea why they limit this.

[justMongo]

I'm attempting to get clarification on this point. -- jM

[OpalRose]

On the Cpap Pro, the total limit is 30 days for auto trial, but it's hard to find much documentation on this. Below is a statement copied from one of the vendors' description of Auto-Trial for the Pro model.
This information pertains to the "Pro" model, which is "not" an auto Cpap.

Auto-Trial

The DreamStation Pro features an auto-trial mode which can be used for up to 30 days. During this period, the machine will function as an auto-adjusting machine that will automatically adjust pressure during the night to provide optimum pressure on a breath-by-breath basis. After the auto-trial is complete, the machine will provide the pressure the user was at or below 90 percent of the time. Please Note: This is not an auto-adjusting machine. Once auto-trial is complete, the machine will not adjust pressure during the night.

[justMongo]

It seems that after 30 days, you have to go into the clinical menu and do a reset. That resets everything except the total blower run hours.
You'd then have to individually restore all settings that customize the machine for an individual -- plus you would lose compliance data.

The reset is essentially what a DME would do to a used machine it chooses to resell.

So, it can be done -- but would be a real pain.

[chill]

Thanks for the clarification JustMongo.

[trish6hundred]

Hi Art Stan,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Much success to you with your CPAP therapy, hang in there for more responses to your post.

[robsmuir]

The new DreamStation 2 Auto-CPAP Advanced machines seem to have an unlimited use of the Auto-Trial settings. 

I tried using the Auto-Trial for three days—with great success, I might add–and had no problem choosing another seven day setting.