[Pressure] Help with optimal settings on my ResMed AirCurve 10 VAUTO (using Swift LT Nasal Pilw)

[Sleeprider]

I'm just being lazy and need to write a wiki How-To on Apneaboard.

[TimmyT]

Does anyone have any suggestions for me tonight on altering my settings to hopefully get my events per hour down from 13.5?

Any feedback would be appreciated!

-Tim

[TimmyT]

Hopefully, the attachment will come through on this one...

[TimmyT]

Maybe this one is clearer...

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And to understand the chart fully, you'd have to look at my first message on this board from yesterday. Thx

[TimmyT]

Here it is...

Hello All,

I am new to the cpap game, and would like any and all help getting all of the settings on my ResMed Aircurve 10 VAUTO machine optimal (or at least a good range as a starting point) based on a recent three night home sleep study I did through my dentist. I've attached the main sheet from the sleep study, but there are individual sheets for each night if more detail is required by anyone. FYI, I have Swift LT Nasal Pillow System, and I have yet to use the machine for a full night.

As well, I've learned recently of the practice of taping one's mouth shut at night, so as to only breath through the nose. I used that method for some of the nights as noted here: first night I didn't use any tape on my mouth, the second night I did use tape on my mouth, and the third night I used tape on my mouth along with a HEB brand breathe-right strip on my nose.

Also, the sleep machine recorded me as sleeping most of the night for the second night, which according to the results was my best night regarding how well I slept, the fewest incidents, etc. However, I remember not being able to sleep the majority of that night (probably only ended up getting 2-3 hours total), but I didn't actually get up out of bed, I just laid in bed. So I would say there was a defect with the machine detecting when I was actually asleep versus when I was awake. That being said, I almost think we should just disregard the results from the second night, as I was awake most of that night and breathing regularly through my nose. For the first and third nights my sleep was also bit choppy (again, I just laid in bed without getting up), but not near as bad as the second night, so I think those results are more representative of my normal sleep.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, as I can get into the clinical settings, but all of this is Greek to me, hence why I'm on this board. My main symptoms are waking up feeling tired everyday, and being sleepy throughout the day.

Thank you,

-Tim

[Walla Walla]

I'm overlooking something here. How did you end up doing 3 home studies for your dentist? Were you going for a mouth app correction for Sleep Apnea? How did you come to have an AirCurve 10?

[Walla Walla]

Disregard my question about the AirCurve. Missed that before.

[TimmyT]

My dentist finds that many of her patients are clinching and grinding their teeth at night, as they are mouth breathers and have some level of sleep apnea. Ultimately, this creates the need for them to require new dental work that they wouldn't have otherwise needed. So she works with a handful of mouth appliances that she sells to help position the jaw properly and open up the airways to prevent them from grinding and creating new problems in their mouths. Based on what she sees when she looks in my mouth, she told me that I have this problem. She also does sleep studies free for her patients, so I took advantage of this and did a three night study. So yes, that was for a mouth app correction for sleep apnea. Many people in my family have sleep apnea.

[Walla Walla]

One of the advisors will help you out. They need data off your machine like event charts and flow graphs. If you look at the top of the main forum Board there should be a beginners link that tells you how to get started.  They need to get the data from sleepyhead a program you can use.
Without that data it's hard for them to give advise on pressures.

[Sleeprider]

I honestly don't see any significant evidence of sleep apnea in the sleep study results, which are basically nothing more than oximeter recording with a snore detection. Even a rudimentary sleep study usually records 3-5 channels of data, especially respiratory effort and flow. You have a sophisticated bilevel machine, and I can give you some settings.

Mode: Vauto
EPAP min 5
PS 3
IPAP Max 12.

See where that takes you. I can't imagine insurance covered an Aircurve Vauto, but if it did, more power to you.