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+--- Thread: Respironics AutoSV Faulty? (/Thread-Respironics-AutoSV-Faulty)
Respironics AutoSV Faulty? - Greggory - 09-17-2017
I'm new to PAP therapy. A few days ago, I went in for a titration study wherein I was comparing the ResMed ASV Auto against the Respironics AutoSV. The first half of the night, I used the ResMed and the machine operated as I’d expected. Namely, breathing was quite gentle. I could feel how the ResMed ASV Auto was not only adjusting pressures but also volumes. I slept reasonably well.
Unfortunately, my experience with the Phillips Respironics AutoSV for the second half of the night was far from pleasurable. Breathing was very forced. In brief, the Respironics supplied a breath on a timed basis regardless of my natural breathing rate. I’d estimate that roughly every 3 seconds the machine tried to give me another breath.
In particular, even if I was exhaling or resting between breaths, the machine would try to push another breath at the set interval - albeit at a somewhat reduced pressure in comparison to when I was actually inhaling. For each natural breath I took, the machine tried to push at least one, and sometimes two, additional breaths on me. It was very unpleasant and the only way I could fall asleep was to chest breath at the faster rate the machine was imposing.
I complained to the Technician who seemed to believe that I just needed to get used to the machine. This was surprising to hear since I had already used the ResMed ASV Auto for the first half of the night without issue and I thought the two machines were similar in operation. I slept very fitfully with the Respironics. I was woken often by large bubbles of air exiting my mouth. Eventually, I had to leave my mouth open to get better sleep. The machine never seemed to change this mode of operation.
I'm a novice so I have no point of reference for ASV operation other than the first half of the night with the ResMed ASV. If I had to try to guess at the cause of the Respironics behavior, I’d say that the sensor that monitors exhalation was faulty. It felt like the machine couldn’t tell I was breathing. It felt like the Respironics was stuck in a central apnea mode wherein it helps the user to breathe at times when they stop breathing on their own.
So was the Technician right? Is this how the Respironics AutoSV operates, or was something wrong with the either the machine or its configuration? I’d thought that the ResMed and Respironics ASV devices were similar in operation but based upon my experience, this was far from being the case. Are there any Respironics AutoSV users or experts that would be willing share their own experience with this machine and, if it wasn't working properly, speculate on what the issue was?
Thanks for listening.
RE: Respironics AutoSV Faulty? - Sleeprider - 09-17-2017
Well now you know which one to request! Your experience not uncommon and many people prefer the Resmed ASV vs Philips Auto SV Advanced. There are more settings in the Philips machines to try to make it more compliant with your breathing rate, but the ASVauto just seems to do it naturally with less hassle. Many members using both machines have posted graphs and sleep therapy results on the forum, and it seems the Resmed Aircurve 10 ASV users adapt faster with far fewer events. Hopefully you will hear from some of the first-hand users of these machines.
RE: Respironics AutoSV Faulty? - trish6hundred - 09-17-2017
Hi Greggory,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I would ask for the Resmed machine, since it felt more natural to Hang in there for more answers to your question, good luck on your CPAP journey.
RE: Respironics AutoSV Faulty? - Greggory - 09-18-2017
Without a doubt, the ResMed was better. I'm just trying to figure out if there was a problem with the Respironics machine as I'd heard that their ASV machine was considered by some to be even more gentle than ResMed. I'm trying to recover my health so I want to try to get the best possible machine for me from the start. As such, I'm wondering if I should retry the Respironics with another provider or if this is just the way these machines operate.
RE: Respironics AutoSV Faulty? - Sleeprider - 09-18-2017
There are settings in the Respironics machine that might have made your life easier. In particular that machine has a BPM (breaths per minute) setting that can be set to OFF, AUTO or 4-30 bpm. With the Resmed it is almost always automatically controlled by the Pacewave algorithm, but if it was set to a specific breath rate that was not correct for you in the Philips machine, then you would be forced to deal with the pace set by that setting.
It's not a defect. I suspect it was a setting issue.
RE: Respironics AutoSV Faulty? - Greggory - 09-18-2017
Wow, that's awesome to know. Thank you very much Sleeprider.
I probably should have thought of this sooner, but I'm going to download the Respironics manual and read it over thoroughly. I also want to read up on the ResMed Pacewave algorithm; it sounds interesting. I guess I've got some learning to do.