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Weight Gain From Water Retention
#31
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-09-2015, 11:52 PM)DariaVader Wrote: Louis, EPR is the Resmed variety of pressure relief, as Jim said. For the Respironics (PR) machine you would want to experiment with A-flex and C-flex - I think that the c-flex is most similar to EPR but someone who knows PR better could correct me on that Smile Set it to c-flex 3 and see if that helps any. Bipap is just a machine that allows for greater pressure relief. When your pressure goes up to 8 on the inhale, it will drop to 5 on exhale with c-flex = 3.

A-flex (or Cflex+) on respironics machines is identical. And it's the equivalent of EPR on respironics machines. But there is an important distinction. In all 3 settings of Aflex (1,2 or 3), the pressure relief at end of exhalation (and just before start of inhalation) is exactly 2cm.

Cflex (without the plus) is not exactly like the other modes and is an older version of relief that is not as good as aflex.
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#32
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
Can you tell quickly if you get an increase or decrease in water retention?

Do you monitor your blood pressure and pulse rate? Anything changing there?

Get a copy of SleepyHead and check your data. See if you're having apnea events during the night. Post a copy of your SD card, if you're willing. Unfortunately, most sleep doctors don't really look at the really great data the machines record.

Maybe you should try some judicious experimentation, and monitor the results.

Are you drinking plenty of water? One thing I found at one time was that drinking lots of water tended to actually flush water out of my system. My crude semiscientific theory is that it flushes out salts and other stuff that makes your body retain water.

Don't drink excessive amounts of water, but it might be worth a try. Urine color is a good indication you're getting enough water.

I also found sleeping position would cause edema in my legs. I would sleep in a recliner when I visited my dad's house, and get edema. I found that if I slept in a different recliner, no edema. You might be sleeping in a different position or not tossing and turning at night and causing edema.

I'd be tempted to experiment with raising your minimum pressure a little.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#33
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-10-2015, 04:57 PM)archangle Wrote: I'd be tempted to experiment with raising your minimum pressure a little.

Daria, AshSF, archangel,
Thank you for your input.
First, I'm going to mess around with the settings as soon as I can. I'll look into the EPR. According to you all I should set it at Cflex-3.
Secondly, I haven't updated my profile to include that I finally downloaded SleepyHead some weeks ago. And after some doing, I was able to look at the SD card data from my Respironics, though I need to be schooled on the data. In addition, the sleep doctor read my SD card on my Aug. 20th visit and it proved that the CPAP is working for me with the original settings... I had no events. (The Respironics software was really nice... but it will set be back $99 to buy it for home) The weight gain he couldn't explain.
To answer archangel:
my blood pressure averages 125/83, heart rate low 80's
I have no problem posting the SD card data... If I can find how to do it. But I don't think there's anything alarming there??
I'm aware of the need for water consumption and I drink more at night while at home. Urine not too dark... flushing seems good.
Since I started CPAP I don't toss and turn much, seemingly I sleep like a baby... a fat one. Oh and I'm 5'10" and today I weighed 249.2 lbs. when I started CPAP I weighed 237.4.
I am confused about the suggestion on raising the lower pressure?? Don't we want to lower it?

Regards... LOUIS

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#34
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-10-2015, 08:16 PM)Louis R. Wrote: Daria, AshSF, archangel,
Thank you for your input.
First, I'm going to mess around with the settings as soon as I can. I'll look into the EPR. According to you all I should set it at Cflex-3.
Secondly, I haven't updated my profile to include that I finally downloaded SleepyHead some weeks ago. And after some doing, I was able to look at the SD card data from my Respironics, though I need to be schooled on the data. In addition, the sleep doctor read my SD card on my Aug. 20th visit and it proved that the CPAP is working for me with the original settings... I had no events. (The Respironics software was really nice... but it will set be back $99 to buy it for home) The weight gain he couldn't explain.
To answer archangel:
my blood pressure averages 125/83, heart rate low 80's
I have no problem posting the SD card data... If I can find how to do it. But I don't think there's anything alarming there??
I'm aware of the need for water consumption and I drink more at night while at home. Urine not too dark... flushing seems good.
Since I started CPAP I don't toss and turn much, seemingly I sleep like a baby... a fat one. Oh and I'm 5'10" and today I weighed 249.2 lbs. when I started CPAP I weighed 237.4.
I am confused about the suggestion on raising the lower pressure?? Don't we want to lower it?

Regards... LOUIS
Your machine is a respironics auto. You will not have EPR on your machine. That is only found on Resmed machines. So don't bother reading about it for now. If you are using your respironics machine in APAP mode, then you should switch on 'A-flex' to level of 3. If you are using it in Cpap mode, then switch on 'C-flex+' to 3.

This flex technology only kicks into action when your set pressure is 6cm or above. So that is one reason to raise your APAP range from 4-8 to 6-10.
Also most people feel like they don't get enough air at levels below 6,7,8. Another reason to raise it.
Also, your lower bound of the range should be high enough to prevent most (if not all) obstructive events. This leads to better O2 levels and less pressure swings. This contributes to a more restful sleep.
PRS1 Auto & Dreamstation Auto w/ P10 and straight pressure of 8cm
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#35
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-10-2015, 04:57 PM)archangle Wrote: Post a copy of your SD card[/url], if you're willing. Unfortunately, most sleep doctors don't really look at the really great data the machines record.

To post I tried to attach a file derived from SleepyHead that was in Exel. It was a month worth of time stamps, categories and pressures that was 1200 rows long. It was below the max size limit, however, I wasn't able to attach and I got a message regarding that type of file??
What are the permissible type of files?
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#36
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-11-2015, 07:35 AM)Louis R. Wrote: To post I tried to attach a file derived from SleepyHead that was in Exel. It was a month worth of time stamps, categories and pressures that was 1200 rows long. It was below the max size limit, however, I wasn't able to attach and I got a message regarding that type of file??
What are the permissible type of files?
It may not be the file type. There is a total size limit. Have you posted other files?
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#37
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-11-2015, 08:16 AM)sgearhart Wrote:
(09-11-2015, 07:35 AM)Louis R. Wrote: To post I tried to attach a file derived from SleepyHead that was in Exel. It was a month worth of time stamps, categories and pressures that was 1200 rows long. It was below the max size limit, however, I wasn't able to attach and I got a message regarding that type of file??
What are the permissible type of files?
It may not be the file type. There is a total size limit. Have you posted other files?
No I never have posted before. But the file is only 409KB EXCEL
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#38
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
The instructions on how to post a copy of your SD card are a link in the post where I asked for it.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._your_data
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#39
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-10-2015, 08:16 PM)Louis R. Wrote: I am confused about the suggestion on raising the lower pressure?? Don't we want to lower it?

Sometimes, raising the lower pressure helps. Even if the machine is "happy" and your numbers look good, you end up being better with a slightly higher minimum pressure. My speculation is that sometimes, we're still getting some airflow restriction, just not enough to trigger an outright apnea. There's also something called UARS and flow limitation.

Note I'm not saying that it's the answer, just something to experiment with.

Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#40
RE: Weight Gain From Water Retention
(09-11-2015, 08:45 AM)archangle Wrote:
(09-10-2015, 08:16 PM)Louis R. Wrote: I am confused about the suggestion on raising the lower pressure?? Don't we want to lower it?

Sometimes, raising the lower pressure helps. Even if the machine is "happy" and your numbers look good, you end up being better with a slightly higher minimum pressure.
Arch, I'm getting a little confused, and before I try making adjustments let me just think out loud here.
Earlier posts with DariaVader addressing water retention, we spoke about getting appropriate pressure relief so as to relieve thoracic pressure that could be why there is water retention. And based on that she and others began discussing Aflex settings and the max being 3 on a CPAP machine.
Now I'm hearing that I should raise the lower pressure (inhale) and also I assume that I would need to raise the high one to.
Are we still addressing water retention by raising the low end, or are we trying to accomplish something else.
Also Daria brought up that the water retention problem is or may be best remedied by BiBAP... is there anything more conclusive with that suggestion by others who have switched machines?

And finally, is the following the only data that is found in the SD memory card, or is there other personal info hidden that could be accessed by tech savy folks??:
*Your CPAP usage.
*The hours you sleep every night.
*How well your therapy is working. Waveforms of your breathing patterns.
*Your machine type and serial number.

Regards, LOUIS
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