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Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
#1
Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Hi,
I'll start by saying that I know nothing, then paint a picture and hopefully you can provide some help. Smile

I am 42 and have not been diagnosed with Sleep apnea. I am not in a position to get myself tested although I strongly suspect that I have it. I have been told that I stop breathing for roughly 10 seconds at a time in my sleep. Sometimes I wake up with a big gasp and I never feel rested.

I purchased a used CPAP machine today as I figure that I'll take a chance, try it out and see if it helps. I got an older Respironics which I am now cleaning up (some calcium in the water tank). I am researching what a good starting pressure and humidity level (is humidity adjustable?) would be. I suspect that I'm a mild case so my current thoughts were that I'll start around 10.

HELP. Please. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
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#2
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Do you if the machine is a straight on cpap or does it have auto capabilities? also if it has any data logging you could start at that setting and check your results with sleepyhead and see how you did.
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#3
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
What is the model number of the machine -- look on the bottom or side of the blower unit. Might start with REF or DS followed by a number like 450, 560...

Without a sleep study it is important to have a fully data capable, auto-adjusting CPAP (APAP) machine. You need to be able to see what's going on when you use the machine, and to do that you need treatment data -- which not all machines have. You also need to allow the machine to 'find' the pressure(s) you need, which means an APAP set to a range of pressures.

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#4
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Model number is SleepEasy - Canadian 1043239
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#5
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Hi Josh and welcome aboard
The machine in your profile "Respironics 1043239" is 'SleepEasy'
[Image: respironics-cpap-sleepeasy-b.jpg]

Respironics SleepEasy: http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual
Plug in the machine while simultaneously pressing the plus and minus buttons on top of the machine. The LCD shows the pressure setting along with an icon of a open padlock. To move between options, press the ramp button. The plus and minus buttons adjust the increments.

Its has been discontinued and don't think report more than hours using the machine
Here is a guide may helps choosing the right machine
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ne_Choices


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#6
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Yes, that's the one. I already got it so I'd like to try this first and see if it helps, if it seems to help but is still insufficient I will likely invest in a better machine. For now, as it's an experiment, I'll make due with this one and hope for the best (with some help, of course).
Thanks
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#7
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Also, as I'm playing with the machine trying to figure it out, I put it on set at 10, then 8. I find it difficult to exhale. I'm using the nose mask. Is this normal?
Thanks
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#8
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
(11-01-2015, 03:16 PM)Josh Wrote: Also, as I'm playing with the machine trying to figure it out, I put it on set at 10, then 8. I find it difficult to exhale. I'm using the nose mask. Is this normal?
Thanks
I think the machine have Ramp but not exhale pressure relief
PR machines: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=C-Flex
ResMed machines: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=EPR
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#9
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Josh, you mentioned earlier that you were going to set the pressure at 10 because you think your sleep apnea is mild. Severity (mild, moderate, or severe) and required pressure are not necessarily correlated -- severity is about frequency of apnea events and pressure is about your airway anatomy and how much pressure is needed to hold your airway open. You could have severe apnea but need only a little pressure to keep your airway open, or you could have mild apnea but need a high pressure. So 10cm pressure is a shot in the dark. Any pressure you choose will be a shot in the dark.

Especially since you haven't had a sleep study I'm concerned about you starting out with a machine that cannot auto-adjust and will show no information about needed pressure, mask leak info, or apnea events. There will be very little (almost no) help we can give you if you use this machine because we'll have absolutely no data from the machine to guide any adjustments.

For example let's say you use this machine a few nights and report to us that you feel the same, maybe a little better, maybe a little worse, and you wonder if you should increase or decrease the pressure -- we can't advise you because we have nothing to base any advice on. How you're feeling is important information, but it's not enough information to tell us what you might need to do with the settings on your machine. Increasing the pressure can help reduce some types of apnea events but will not treat and may make worse other types of apnea events.

If you're confident that you have obstructive sleep apnea and you're serious about treating it, please consider buying a machine that reports treatment data. Even if it's a fixed-pressure machine and not an auto-adjusting one, it needs to be a data capable machine so that you have a good chance of making it work.


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#10
RE: Total Newbie - Help!!! Please...
Wow, that is a tremendous amount of great information. I didn't realize it was that intricate. 10 actually felt a little strong so I will probably start a little lighter and start looking into an APAP.
At this point, I'll take a shot in the dark and hope for the best.
Thank you, that was very informative.
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