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William's Therapy Thread
#11
RE: William's Therapy Thread
My two cents...

(1) Dealing with sleep apnea and xPAP therapy is a process, mostly of trial and error with periods in between for acclimation. Acceptance, patience, and persistence are key requirements for successful therapy.

(2) The simultaneous use of anxiety relief and relaxation techniques are often beneficial to help deal with the discomfort and upsets that seem to plague xPAP users,

(3) Do not obsess over the numbers because you treat the patient, not the machine. One or two days is not a trend and you are looking for trends and reoccurring event patterns.

(4) As for DMEs such as Apria, they care about three things: one, your compliance with your insurance so they get paid; two, selling replacement supplies, and three, minimizing customer interactions with their respiratory technicians. You are one of many and it is great to establish a relationship with a single point of contact where you have their email address and direct phone extension. They have virtually no say about using SD cards or what you do with your data. If you want to sprinkle holy water on your proposed settings changes, inform your doctor. I particularly like a UNODIR communications style. "Unless otherwise directed, I plan to do thus and such." Demand a heated hose -- it is a comfort item and should have been included in your package.

(5) My first thoughts were: full face mask, chin strap, pressure setting 7-15 cm, with an EPR of three to provide exhalation pressure relief, and a 5-10 minute RAMP for acclimation.

(6) As for accidents. I have a non-skid pad under my device. I also keep my machine lower than my bed to prevent excess tube humidity and accidental chamber dumps. I also use a "hose hanger" to elevate my hose as I am an extremely active side sleeper.

(7) As for crap sleep studies, I always have problems sleeping while wire-up and turning to my side.

(8) Download and install OSCAR. Setting up the data can be found on the bottom of Sleepriders signature line.

(9) You have a lot of undiscovered friends on the forum, so continued participation is advised. Everybody has a perspective based on their experience and the sum total of knowledge made the difference in my therapy.

Best,

Steve
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
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#12
RE: William's Therapy Thread
Nice reply, Steve.  Smile  I agree fully.  

Noise.  Yes, it can interfere.  Eventually, though, you will get used to it.  Feel free to experiment with both pressure ranges and masks whose vents might make more/less noise, as long as you get the therapy...natch.

I use earplugs.  Wife snores, and I do as well when I have a cold (just learned this from wife).

I do like that you're willing to make a concerted effort here. That counts for a lot!  Add that to your willingness to keep exposing yourself to the setup, even wearing it during the day, and I think you'll be okay..eventually.

DME is a sales outlet...mostly.  Despite the best credentials of their highest-paid employees.....they sell. We deal with their customers.  Rolleyes

Once you can post several nights' worth of data, we can help to dial you in.
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#13
RE: William's Therapy Thread
Welcome to the forum William!

You've come to the right place.  There are so many helpful people here. I've tried other forums, and they didn't work out for me.

You've received excellent advice.  I was diagnosed a long time ago; I had really poor results following the sleep doc's advice.  I regret I was in his care a long time.




A good machine was recommended n another post--note that a key is that you need to be able to remove an SD card from your machine to view results using OSCAR on your own computer. I *think* Philips Respironics machines won't allow you to read the card. My choice--I followed advice here and bought a ResMed S10 auto sense *for her* machine that has an SD card.  You're right---there is a modem within it.  There are videos on youtube that will show you how to disconnect the modem.

That's why I thought I would respond.  I hope this helps.

DaveL
Toronto
DaveL
compliant for 35 years /// Still trying!

I'm just a cpap user like you. I don't give medical advice. Seek the advice of a physician before seeking treatment for medical conditions including sleep apnea. Sleep-well

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._The_Guide

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#14
RE: William's Therapy Thread
I had an AS10 Autoset for 7 years until 9/22 when I received an AS11 Autoset. My AS10 became very loud at the end of exhalation. The AS11 is more quiet, but I wear ear plugs. Mine is located on the headboard (Haywood-Wakefield) that is about a foot deep! I run the hose under my pillow and up to the AS11. The hose is very long and I keep the slack on the bed vs on the headboard. I have a ResMed Autofit P10 which I love. Originally had a ResMed FX which was terrible. Blew air on arms, face, eyes, and chest. The P10 blows air straight out away from bodily parts.

When I got OSCAR installed I went back and looked at several months of data from my AS10. I noticed a lot of Large Leaks and that they were often clustered around 2 hours after I went to bed. So, I started a log that I recorded time and position (left or right side). I noticed that I had a lot of leaks on my left side! So, when I woke up I'd take note of the position of the P10 with regards to the pillow. What I discovered is on my left side my P10 and hence my nose were past the edge of the pillow and unsupported, but on my right side the pillow cradled the P10 and side of my nose. So, I adjusted my position when on my left side and have pretty much eliminated Large Leak events.

In addition, I used OSCAR and Wellue Checkme O2 to prove I was having excessive O2 desaturations. The healthcare provider (oxymoron) wouldn't approve an O2 concentrator based on the 'sleep study', but my PCP had a DME (not Apria) send me an oximeter to back up what I was seeing on my Checkme O2 and I received an O2 concentrator 2 days later. O2 below 85 and pulse below 40 throughout the night!

BTW, I'm stuck with Apria. They have been terrible to work with. Their respiratory therapist was confrontation and unhelpful. Fortunately I had discovered OSCAR and stopped interacting with the RT. Refused to work with me on my new AS11 because he didn't have the sleep study results, which had been FAXd 3 times. So, I went into AS11 and applied the settings recommended by the sleep study and then 'tweaked' them based on feedback from ApneaBoard members. No contact with RT since.

I'm a software developer and have taken a liking to OSCAR source code. It's an amazing piece of software (> 100,000 lines of code).

I too tend to be wordy ;-)

Hang in there.
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#15
RE: William's Therapy Thread
Welcome to the forum! You've come to the right place.

I've done this a long time. However, my sleep quality and life wasn't improved until I came here.  The people who respond are magnificent. 

What did participation do for me?

It gave me the tools to manage my sleep apnea treatment.  Medical help didn't do that. 

When I asked questions I got answers.  

I think that there isn't enough done in treatment to ensure good sleep quality.  Wellness.  

When I got my last machine I found it didn't have a heated hose. So I bought one.  I want warm air in my nose and lungs.  The heated hose has worked well for me.

Other posters suggested I use a fabric sleeve around the hose. I thought that was to prevent rainout. However, it actually helps me sleep better. Less noise when I move; and the hose doesn't get hung up on my bedding.

And I use a hose harness to support the hose.

There are other things...CPAP? APAP?  Pressure? 

Welcome to the forum.

DaveL

(I won't mention that the sleep-doc-from=h*ll retorted.  That was a huge improvement for me.)
DaveL
compliant for 35 years /// Still trying!

I'm just a cpap user like you. I don't give medical advice. Seek the advice of a physician before seeking treatment for medical conditions including sleep apnea. Sleep-well

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._The_Guide

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