My New ResMed Autoset 11

[beautifuldreamer]

Today I finally received my new autoset 11 - it has been a long wait, originally waiting for an AirCurve ASV since last February (and that got dropped somehow due to change of staffing), AND my prescription changed to the regular CPAP in September, so a new order was placed by my doctor.

For the past 5 to 6 years I have been using an ASV because I was told I had mixed sleep apnea, but in a recent titration, I showed no centrals, and my sleep doc prescribed an autoCPAP for me.

A couple of years ago, I forgot my ASV when I was traveling and tried out air mini that I was able to do fine with on the "For Her" Setting (except it was too noisy for me). AHI was similar to using my ASV. My current average AHI on my ASV is .15 and many nights is says 0 for my AHI.

It has no SD card in it, so I bought an SD card to use so I can upload my data to Oscar. I have it set to the "For Her Mode" - My doctor put 8 to 10 for the pressure range.

I am considering changing it to 5 to 10, just in case I don't require as much pressure - Any Thoughts? I am debating whether to try the 8 to 10 since that is what it is set to, or just go ahead and change it now to see how it goes with the 5 to 10 instead of 8 to 10.

[ChicagoGranny]

1. Which settings were you successful with when you used the AirMini?

2. Your equipment profile shows your ASV was set to EPAP Minimum 6.0? Why would you start out with 5.0 on the new machine?

Whatever you decide, you can change it the next day if it doesn't work out.

[Miss Emerita]

Will you be using EPR? It drops your pressure by 1,2, or 3 when you exhale. The lowest pressure the machine can deliver is 4, so if your EPR is 3, your minimum pressure should be 7 (etc.).

[beautifuldreamer]

I decided to keep the settings as is for now and see how it goes-
last night I had 1 clear airway event and 1 hypopnea, which averaged to .3 AHI for the night.
My average pressure was 9.54

I noticed that EPR says 1 but on ramp only. I am tempted to use the EPR for the whole therapy instead of just ramp-
maybe I will modify the setting tonight and try out an EPR of 2 and see how that goes . . .

[ChicagoGranny]

last night I had 1 clear airway event and 1 hypopnea,

Wow! Excellent statistic. You might also want to make notes in a journal near the end of your day. How you felt during the day - energy level, any excess sleepiness.

I noticed that EPR says 1 but on ramp only. I am tempted to use the EPR for the whole therapy instead of just ramp-
maybe I will modify the setting tonight and try out an EPR of 2 and see how that goes . . .

Did you look at your Flow Limitations line in OSCAR?

[beautifuldreamer]

Did you look at your Flow Limitations line in OSCAR?

The flow limit was mostly under .5 and a couple of jumps to .75

Last night was the same, 1 clear airway and 1 hypopnea, and the pressure level was averaging just under 8. I did put the EPR for the whole night instead of just ramp only, at the level of 2. The one thing I noticed was I was able to sleep for a little over 6 hours before I woke up (yesterday I woke up after about 5 hours of sleep).

So, all is well. Tonight I might put the EPR at 3 just to see if there is any additional difference.

[Miss Emerita]

It sounds as though EPR works well for you. Do try 3 and see how you like it. I'd suggest making sure your minimum is no less than 7 so you'll have your drop of 3 throughout the night.

[beautifuldreamer]

It sounds as though EPR works well for you. Do try 3 and see how you like it. I'd suggest making sure your minimum is no less than 7 so you'll have your drop of 3 throughout the night.

Yes my minimum is at 7 on my autoset- I didn't do as well with the EPR at 3, had a few more events last night but still a good average of 1 . . . (whereas my first two nights were

Tonight I am going to see what it is like for an EPR of 1 during the night, since that is the one level I haven't tried for the whole night - so far EPR level 2 seems to be the best for me.

[Miss Emerita]

Experimenting is good! But once you're down at around an AHI of 1, don't chase numbers. Instead, decide what helps you get the best possible sleep.

[chunkyfrog]

Experimenting is good! But once you're down at around an AHI of 1, don't chase numbers. Instead, decide what helps you get the best possible sleep.

THIS!

[beautifuldreamer]

Thanks for the feedback regarding experimenting . . . I don't have much of an understanding of the benefits of EPR . . .

So I haven decided that Instead of experimenting with the settings I will stay with the original settings my doc had given and just leave it on EPR level 1 for the ramp only (original setting), since my numbers were fine with that . . .

[ChicagoGranny]

I don't have much of an understanding of the benefits of EPR

Here is a good discussion of the value of EPR - http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread ... imitations

The flow limit was mostly under .5

0.5 is a bit high for me. EPR of 3 brings it down. If you seem to be sleeping well and feeling energetic during the day, I would continue with the settings as per your aforementioned plan.

[beautifuldreamer]

0.5 is a bit high for me. EPR of 3 brings it down. If you seem to be sleeping well and feeling energetic during the day, I would continue with the settings as per your aforementioned plan.

Thank you for the link with the discussion on the EPR = that helps a lot. For me, the EPR only seems to impact the flow limitation very slightly- but from what i can see, it is worse on 3 and 2 is slightly better than 1.

and for me personally- with EPR of 3, i woke up with headache (which i very seldom get), which took about 6 hours before it went away. . .

Because I seemed to have a longer sleep prior to waking up on level 2, I am going to keep the EPR at level to see how that goes.

[jagzoo]

I would get rid of the ramp. You re an experienced CPAPer and don’t need it. See how I goes.