(04-27-2013, 11:32 PM)racprops Wrote: Question for today.
I would really like to fully understand all the settings on my Respironics DS950HS and what the function and actions changing these settings will do.
IE: I was told that the Pressure Support Min when set to "0" made the machine work more like a plan old CPAP and kind of stopped it from being its automatic multi-level self. (Which if correct, means I was using a costly machine inplace of a cheaper one…and that my Doctor messed up…)
Rich
Hi Rich,
It is great that you have set yourself the task to understand what the different settings really mean. This is important in order to fully understanding what your SleepyHead reports are showing.
Your doctor did not mess up.
The Pressure Support Min (PSmin) merely sets the bottom end of the range that the machine can use (if needed) to boost your inhale pressure above your exhale pressure to make you breath during what would otherwise have become central apneas.
Your autoSV machine will automatically adjust the PS between PSmin to PSmax as may be needed,
unless it it limited by the "Max Pressure" setting.
Your machine would act like a plain old CPAP machine if both EPAPmin and EPAPmax were set to the same two pressures (such as 10 and 10 cmH2O)
and both PSmin and PSmax were set to zero. Your pressure would always be 10.
Your machine would act like a standard APAP machine if EPAPmin and EPAPmax were set to a range (such as 10 and 15 cmH2O)
and both PSmin and PSmax were set to zero. Your pressure would automatically adjust from 10 to 15 as needed to prevent obstructive apneas.
Your machine would act like a standard BiPAP machine if EPAPmin and EPAPmax were set to the same pressure (such as 10 and 10 cmH2O)
and both PSmin and PSmax were set to the same non-zero number (such as 4 and 4 cmH2O). Your pressure would always be 14 during inhale and 10 during exhale.
Your machine would act like a BiPAP Auto machine if EPAPmin and EPAPmax were set to a range (such as 10 and 15 cmH2O)
and both PSmin and PSmax were set to the same non-zero number (such as 4 and 4 cmH2O). Your exhale pressure would automatically adjust from 10 to 15 as needed to prevent obstructive apneas, and your inhale would always be 4 higher than your exhale.
In your ASV machine the EPAPmin and EPAPmax can be set to a range (such as 10 to 15 cmH2O) and the PSmin and PSmax can be set to a range (such as 0 and 10 cmH2O). Your exhale pressure would automatically adjust from 10 to 15 as needed to prevent obstructive apneas, and your inhale would automatically adjust higher than your exhale as much as allowed by the PSmax and Max Pressure settings, to make you breath during what would otherwise have become central apneas.
Common Terms:
PAP: Positive Airway Pressure
EPAP: Exhalation PAP, the pressure during exhalation (always same or lower than inhalation pressure)
IPAP: Inhalation PAP, the pressure during inhalation (always same or higher than exhalation pressure)
Max Pressure: Max allowed inhalation pressure (also called IPAPmax)
CPAP machine: Constant PAP machine, same pressure for both inhale and exhale. Some CPAP machines can reduce exhale pressure as much as 3 cmH2O, if desired.
APAP machine: Automatic PAP machine, automatically adjusts EPAP as needed, between EPAPmin to EPAPmax. Some APAP machines can reduce exhale pressure as much as 3 cmH2O, if desired.
BiPAP or VPAP machine: Bi-level or Variable PAP machine, boosts IPAP up to 10 cmH2 above EPAP. The amount of boost is called Pressure Support.
BiPAP Auto or VPAP Auto machine: Automatically adjusts EPAP as needed between EPAPmin and EPAPmax. IPAP can be set to a fixed amount of pressure higher than EPAP.
BiPAP autoSV: Bi-level machine which can independently adjust both EPAP and the amount of Pressure Support.
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