first night on VPAP from CPAP (horrible)

[Sleeprider]

Best results with that machine are often at default settings. That said, pressure support can initially trigger CA. It takes time to get accustomed to the pressure support. In my case with a BiPAP auto, I ultimately accepted a higher CAI with zero OAI and low RERA for better sleep, however, my CA is still at acceptable levels and does not occur in clusters nor does periodic breathing present issues.

It would be helpful to see your Sleepyhead summary data for a typical night with events, flow, pressure and whatever else you want to put in there. With your original post, we don't know the frequency or pattern of CAI you are concerned with.

[MaddMike]

That makes sense, and since my inhale patterns seem consistent, it doesnt seem relavent anyhow. I will try returning these settings to their default.
Mike

[me50]

I know the S9 vpap can react to CSA's. At minimum, it is able to continue with pressure support where as the old machine reacted to all apneas the same way and immediately deactivated the EPR.

I can understand leaving the trigger and cycle at default, and certainly can put them back, however I cannot understand why the timers would be left at default when there is clearly a table to set them at based on BPM.

I had a sleep study 7 years ago and my doctor never gave me any info i needed to continue this... I have been looking ar other aspects of my health because he didnt tell me how to even look at my AHI and had me thinking my apnea was under control.

I bought this machine because Ii found an awesome deal on it, and at minimum Ii will get better data. My S8 autoset has 20,000 hrs on it now. I could do an in home sleep study but i cannot afford any more copays this year. I cant see benefit in a prescription that i cant fill. affordable healthcare act doubled what I pay for all of this stuff if I use my insurance. I can afford insurance now because I have no choice, but I cannot afford to use my insurance.
Mike

not sure what you paid for the machine but home sleep studies are fairly inexpensive but it is too late to address that now if you can't pay the co-pay or you could see if you can find a place that will write off the co-pay based on qualifying for that. If I knew what state you lived in, I could check and see if the one I am aware of services your state (you don't have to give a detailed location, only the state).

[MaddMike]

I paid $350 incl shipping. it has 1094 hours. Not sure how awesome that is compared to what others have scored up, but for me it was worth it for multiple reasons. Obviously, I have hopes it will get my AHI <5, but I am realistic too. I know I cannot afford any type of ASV machine right now at all. My main insurance issue is that they force me to go through whoever they are giving kickbacks to.... So they essentially cover 50% of double the online cash price. And we are one of those middle-class families that has income on paper and doesn't qualify for anything even though we often struggle. I neglected to set up a cafeteria fund through work because I didn't think ahead...Then I bought a vacation for me and the wife because I never took her on a honeymoon 20 years ago. So I'm not trying to qualify for anything, I just need to wait and try to get by with this purchase while I use the data to better evaluate my own condition.

I am very excited today (well, trying to be...lol). I returned the timers to default and lowered the min ipap to 4 after considering how the pressure support works on this machine.

This morning I had AHI of 11.4...what really makes that awesome is that it was friday night and I stayed up too late and drank 4 beers (yeah, bad for CA I know). I know it's still not ideal and only one night, but I think my brain will continue to adjust.

I am not going to get anal in my sleepyhead analysis right now. It's hard to not get geeky and over-analyze things, since I'm somewhat of a self smarted Engineer kind of hobbyist... But I know I have to allow my brain and body time to adjust to this change.

I'll take another look in 3 days or so.
thanks for all the help everyone,
Mike

[MaddMike]

Here is a screenshot of a few events. These are typical of what happens.

[MaddMike]

I couldn't leave it alone, after great amounts of reading I decided to turn the trigger sensitivity to HIGH and see what happened.

AHI 5.4 last night. CA's only 1.2.

If this stays consistent and I can tweak pressures to get rid of a few OA's, I will be a very happy person.

I don't know about the timer adjust- default may be fine on those, but I think these trigger and cycle sensitivities are important tools for Bilevel pressure switching.

Mike

P.S> I was also able to repair my humidifier yesterday,the bottom of the heat plate was leaking due to some minor shipping damage, I broke it open, ground away all of the old glue for some extra clearance, lubed the seal with a few drops of mineral oil, and then plasti-welded it back together with about 12lbs of ceramic tile holding it. Zero leakage or noise now.

[Sleeprider]

That's great progress Mike!

[MaddMike]

AHI 2.5 today! It's interesting to see that it's always lower before I get up to got to the bathroom (it was 1.5 when I peeked in the night), But hopefully I can get to where I'm sleeping straight through the night with no getting up at all.

I'm very groggy with this better sleep right now, but my muscles don't hurt nearly like before. Looking forward to more progress as my mind and body continue to adjust.

Mike

[justMongo]

Did you lower you PS from 4 to 2.6? If so, I think that high PS was causing you to blow off too much CO₂; causing CAs.

[MaddMike]

Yes I did, but not all at once. I had it at 3.5 first but it seemed like the lower exhale pressure was causing some OA's as well, so I raised min ipap more and lowered PS again to 2.6 to tighten the range a bit. I just updated my profile with those settings a while ago, so good eye!

I didn't expect to be doing so well with it so soon...especially when I first saw all the CA events.

Mike