Cpap + Diet - Smoking = Help!

[Pugsy]

Why not raise your min. pressure to e.g. 8 for a week and see how you feel.

OP is in CPAP mode.....fixed at 11 cm. The brief period of time at lower is just the ramp time.
Maybe you should look at the graph and the settings a little closer and quit going by the minimum noted in the statistics.


To OP..... your increase in number of events for the entire night is really insignificant. I wouldn’t worry if it were me.

If you are supposed to be in auto mode...you aren’t. You can change it is you wish.

[Rebamom]

Thank you Pugsy - Yes, I know the 6 is ramp and 11 is a set pressure. I asked for the auto because the prescription was a year old when I received the machine (long story). I wasn't feeling like I was gaining any benefit, and definitely any more rest than before cpap, so the doc agreed I could go to auto. Unfortunately with Rotec, I can not change the machine myself, it must be changed on their end, which is what I have been waiting on, should be done this evening. From there we shall see what happens - rest better with lower or higher, etc. Hopefully no more wake up scares like last night again. And maybe it was as you suggested earlier, something I need to rectify in my mind - I quit dreaming (at least remembering dreams) a long time ago) as they were all nightmares that woke me up - maybe this was similar and won't happen again - actually hadn't considered that.

[klm49]

Thank you Pugsy - Yes, I know the 6 is ramp and 11 is a set pressure. I asked for the auto because the prescription was a year old when I received the machine (long story). I wasn't feeling like I was gaining any benefit, and definitely any more rest than before cpap, so the doc agreed I could go to auto. Unfortunately with Rotec, I can not change the machine myself, it must be changed on their end, which is what I have been waiting on, should be done this evening. From there we shall see what happens - rest better with lower or higher, etc. Hopefully no more wake up scares like last night again. And maybe it was as you suggested earlier, something I need to rectify in my mind - I quit dreaming (at least remembering dreams) a long time ago) as they were all nightmares that woke me up - maybe this was similar and won't happen again - actually hadn't considered that.

Just curious as to why this :" Unfortunately with Rotec, I can not change the machine myself, it must be changed on their end, which is what I have been waiting on, should be done this evening." is so? Looks like a regular DME to me. Mine has never looked at my data as far as I know nor have they known I changed the settings myself.

[Rebamom]

Wish I could answer the question, but the machine is locked from the inside. I have read everything (including articles recommended by this forum) that I can get my hands on to override this lock and change it myself, with different passcodes in articles, none of them work. I finally ended up calling them to change it to discover they wouldn't do it without a new prescription from the doctor.

[Holden4th]

Hello Rebamom

Quitting smoking is really hard for most people as nicotine is so addictive. What you will be experiencing is what all drug addicts go through and that is withdrawal symptoms. The temptation to replace one addiction for another is quite common and usually that addiction is sugar which is just as bad a health issue as smoking.

The fact that you've decided to go cold turkey means that you are serious about becoming a non-smoker. A little helping therapy might be in order and that could be the nicotine patches. Friends of mine who smoked found hypnotherapy to be very useful because they were really determined to give up. This therapy apparently helped to disguise withdrawal symptoms and promoted a positive mind set "I am a non smoker".

Good luck with the process and keep us informed.

[LSAT]

Wish I could answer the question, but the machine is locked from the inside. I have read everything (including articles recommended by this forum) that I can get my hands on to override this lock and change it myself, with different passcodes in articles, none of them work. I finally ended up calling them to change it to discover they wouldn't do it without a new prescription from the doctor.

There is no way to "lock" the machine. You just haven't taken the time to learn to make your own changes. You can download the Clinical Manual here.
https://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap- ... tup-manual

[Rebamom]

Thank you LSAT,

Those are the same documents that I read prior and still can not gain access to change to auto. Apparently my particular
machine was set up without the Auto until the doctor prescribed I could have it - that is what they were adding last night,
which they called and informed me will take affect tonight. I can't change what wasn't there - but I do thank you for trying.

[Julie]

Machines are either plain Cpap or Auto, and auto means they have a Cpap mode (which you were obviously set up with), but plain Cpaps don't do auto. You need to read the manual suggested to find out how to access the Mode in your machine and switch it to auto (if your MD hasn't already done so), because they are snowing you about the locked business - outrageous actually - it's your machine and your therapy. There's no such thing as 'being set up without auto" (or Cpap or anything else). It either is or is not a plain cpap machine, or it's an auto and has a cpap mode.

[Pugsy]

There is no special lock like you are thinking. They all use the same special handshake to get into the clinical menu.
You have to find "mode" and then highlight it and then turn the knob so you see something besides cpap. You scroll through various mode options.
https://www.apneaboard.com/dreamstation ... structions

[Snoregone Conclusion]

Hello Rebamom

Quitting smoking is really hard for most people as nicotine is so addictive. What you will be experiencing is what all drug addicts go through and that is withdrawal symptoms. The temptation to replace one addiction for another is quite common and usually that addiction is sugar which is just as bad a health issue as smoking.

The fact that you've decided to go cold turkey means that you are serious about becoming a non-smoker. A little helping therapy might be in order and that could be the nicotine patches. Friends of mine who smoked found hypnotherapy to be very useful because they were really determined to give up. This therapy apparently helped to disguise withdrawal symptoms and promoted a positive mind set "I am a non smoker".

Good luck with the process and keep us informed.

Respectfully: no, in a case of one of the few absolute statements, sugar addiction (it's not the healthiest) is far less of a problem to deal with for the addict and those around them: the human body is designed to process and use sugar as energy, or store it as fat for later use, and there's absolutely a perfectly healthy amount of sugar intake, as the only thing our body can't convert to sugar for the macronutrients is fat itself, because our bodies use glucose or ketones for energy. There is zero amount of tobacco smoking or chewing that's healthy, unless you're chewing and ingesting some to get rid of internal worms (it makes the critter ingesting them sick, but kills the worms: saw this with cats growing up, the only time my parents ever allowed tobacco in the house). Nobody gets sick from second or third-hand sugar. Nobody has an asthma attack from someone eating sugar. Yes, too much sugar over time is harmful (you can also kill yourself with drinking straight water, via hyponatremia), but by itself, it's not going to be as self-destructive as tobacco on health, unless you have way too much over a long enough period of time that your body can't process it.

(What a way to make an entrance, eh? )

[chunkyfrog]

I wonder if there is a video demo showing the handshake for that machine.
Printed directions are not the only way to learn, and video is the only way for some people.
Not a matter of intelligence--but of neural connections, habit, or even culture.

Sugar "addiction" is really craving triggered by high blood glucose, and can be quelled by short fasting.

[TASmart]

Opps post deleted

[Rebamom]

Interesting facts and info. As for sugar, I have always let my system tell me when it needs it and much of the time I get mine from peanut butter and cheese, think it comes from living around diabetics most of my life.

Having a video might help, but at this point now unnecessary. The machine is now set on Auto, I had learned how to change all the other settings with the tutorials, that was the only thing I could not change.

I will say last night was the best nights sleep I've had since starting therapy back in March - I did not feel that my breathing had to keep up with the machine (always felt like I was in a race), and therefore I am not completely exhausted this morning. No clue that is what had caused it all along. On Auto it shows my pressure stayed under 9.5 for 95% of the night so we'll see what happens next few nights.

[D.H.]

I'm not clear on what you still cannot change!


While it's possible that you could have put the wrong thing in your profile, it was clear from the SleepyHead posting that you do have an auto.

[Rebamom]

Hi D.H.,

At the time, I was unable to change the machine from Cpap to Auto without the company - even going step by step with the manual. There should be no more problems though - the company finally made the change for me and I am on auto.