CPAP Machine not working correctly, but not completely broken?

[jsavinmedicine]

I have sleep apnea, diagnosed like 15 years ago, and my current machine is a Philips Dreamstation 2 that I received as part of the replacement thing because of the lawsuit. It's been working well for a year or so. But in the last 3-4 weeks, the AHI and times seem a bit wonky. In addition, over the same time period, I have started to feel bad - exhausted, taking more naps, tired, and my blood sugar has been getting worse and worse. There is some stress going on in the household, but over the last 5 - 10 days, how I feel has gotten terrible, and it's not from stress. My readings have been way off, and my blood sugar is up in high 200's and even 300's, and it's been stable for years. Nothing else has changed - no new job, no change in normal food or exercise level, no new medicines, nothing new in the household, nothing that I can think of that would cause me to feel so bad physically, and cause my blood sugar to become high and unstable. This is all just like when I had untreated Sleep Apnea. Here are my numbers from last week. I have been sleeping 10-12 hours a day, and on the weekends even taking a nap or two. Mask fit is usually in the high 90's or 100% Here is what my CPAP readout says:

Saturday 9 hours - AHI 4.2
Sunday 2.6 hours - AHI 3
Monday - 7 hours - AHI 2
Tuesday - 3 hours, AHI 6.5
Wednesday - 2.1 hours, AHI 3.4
Thursday - 4 hours, AHI 2.5
Friday - 6 hours, AHI 3

The mask pressure is always in the high 90's. Last night, I went to bed at midnight, and woke up with my mask on at 10:30 AM. Sometimes, I do take my mask off while sleeping - but i have NEVER put my mask back on while sleeping (verified by husband) So I know I was asleep with the mask on for 10.5 hours, and the machine is saying 6 hours. And those nights with 2.1, 4, and 3 hours of sleep, were 10 hour nights as well. With my old machine, I would get notices when I would use the machine less than 6 hours a night or some level like that. I can't remember if I get notices with the New Dreamstation 2, but either way I have gotten no warnings about low usage in the last few weeks. Also, last week, when I realized i was consistently getting report numbers that were off, I changed out all my gear - mask, tube, straps, etc, to make sure there was nothing leaking or malfunctioning with the replaceable parts. And then continued to get the weird numbers that I posted.

I'm going to ask for a new machine, but my insurance company says I have to have a prescription from a doctor for it for the insurance to cover it, and my old doctor retired, and I have an appointment with a new dr but it's not until September. I tried calling a few other doctors in the area and they are all full to new patients until the fall as well. I called Phillips and they had tech support check the machine remotely and said they did not see anything obviously wrong from their end.

So my questions are:

1. Has anyone else had weird things like this happen with their CPAP? If so, was there any way to fix it?
2. Is there a quicker way to get a CPAP when you don't have a dr around to write you a prescription? I could pay out of pocket for one (yikes! 1k or more, it looks like!) but the insurance company customer service guy warned me that they don't always reimburse you for the same amount, or the same rate, as they do when you go through the process of getting one with a prescription through an in-network DME company.

I figured with the auto adjust feature, they don't need a sleep study anymore if you are already diagnosed, but it seems like it is still not a quick or easy process. help!

[Julie]

Please don't assume the problems are 'just' from Cpap or even OSA - see your doctor and tell him how you feel just in case it's something else.

[ozij]

I understand you've been sleeping 10-12 hours a night, yet the machine is reporting far less, and you're not feeling well.

In other words, the machine is apparently turning off, and sometimes turning on again.

You also write:

I have sleep apnea, diagnosed like 15 years ago, and my current machine is a Philips Dreamstation 2 that I received as part of the replacement thing because of the lawsuit. It's been working well for a year or so.

That means the machine should still be under warranty.

Have someone read the machine's data with the Philips Respironics software - if it's turning off and on this will be recorded.
You do need to have an SD card insreted in its slot - and if you don't have one, get one ASAP.

Yoo yourself can follow the details of your machine's behavior with the free program called OSCAR
https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

This is a major release of OSCAR and the first to support the Philips Respironics DreamStation 2. We do recommend upgrading to this version.

The significance of this release is that the OSCAR Development team has resolved the encryption placed on the detailed data by Philips Respironics on the DreamStation 2 CPAP machines. This enables you, the end user, to directly read and act on this data.

OSCAR has no issues with data being encrypted, but the key should be readily and freely available to the CPAP user. It is not with the DreamStation 2.

OSCAR is an acronym that stands for, Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter. OSCAR provides for the viewing of the high-resolution sleep data that is generated by the CPAP and stored on the SD card. OSCAR converts this data to graph form allowing the user to view this data down to a breath by breath level. OSCAR is free to use and is compiled in formats that will operate on Mac, Linux, and Windows. OSCAR can be downloaded from https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/. It is this information that enables you to provide data for discussion with your doctor and/or to view and optimize your personal therapy.

If you're machine is turning off and on randomly, and you can sleep through it, you must be using a full face mask - otherwise, I can't imagine you sleeping through machined shut downs. Please add your machine and mask details to your profile.

Do check all the electric connections (wall, power supply and machine) and do turn off the machine's auto start and auto stop.

While you're doing all the above, contact your PCP and have them a) see all you worsening medical metrics b) help you get a test on a different machine for a week or so, so that all can see how another machine is behaving and how you're responding to it.

[jsavinmedicine]

Thank you so much yes I do use a full face CPAP MASK I have claustrophobia and you would think a little mask is better but for some reason I started with the full face mask and once I got used to it, I stuck with it

Is there a special kind of SD card I need to get or it could be just any SD card?

[ozij]

Any SD card.

[GrumpyHere]

SD cards bigger than 32GB require some extra effort.

Please read the following:

viewtopic/t182174/Any-SD-card.html

Iloveflowers’ post has link to software that can used to set up the SD card with a partition smaller than 32GB.

[jsavinmedicine]

Does oscar work on any phones or it’s not an app it’s just desktop software?

[Grumpy48]

When was the last filter change done? I went through a short period a few months ago when pollen was in air and the filter on my DS2 got dirty fairly quickly, may have had restricted the air flow, and did seem to affect my daily numbers.

[chunkyfrog]

Does oscar work on any phones or it’s not an app it’s just desktop software?

Desktop or laptop.
You need Windows or a Mac.

[jsavinmedicine]

To Grumpy – last night I replaced the air filter, and it was so dirty – ugh!. Here are the other things I did:

1. Unplugged the machine for 5 minutes, then plugged it back in
2. Checked all the settings to make sure they were set on the right things
3. Checked all the cords, unplugged everything from each other that I could, waited a few mins then plugged them back in.
4. Made sure the hose was not twisted at night.

And last night, the time seemed to match up – my AHI was still high, 3.6 I think, but the sleeping time was 8 hours and the machine showed 8 hours. Fingers crossed that maybe it was an easy fix.

[palerider]

Does oscar work on any phones or it’s not an app it’s just desktop software?

Desktop or laptop.
You need Windows or a Mac.

Or linux (what I build it on) or a chromebook, or a raspberry pi. the last two of which won't be available until the current 1.5 beta is 'done'.