Remstar Trial Mode - Thoughts?

Last month I got rid of my Sleepstyle brick and got my Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex. My prescription was for CPAP 9cm. But I was waking up every night at 0400 and could not go back to sleep. I figured I was having some sort of episode. I set it for the trial mode. During the time it was on APAP I felt horrible and my AHIs were as high as 2.33 and the snoring was horrible (6.61 is an example)! A few weeks into it, it has me at 11.5 and my AHI is .21 and snoring down to 2.28. One night I even only snored 6 times!

What has your experience been for those of you who have used this trial on the Remstar? Once it was over were your numbers a lot better than when you started?

Snoozeless wrote:Last month I got rid of my Sleepstyle brick and got my Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex. My prescription was for CPAP 9cm. But I was waking up every night at 0400 and could not go back to sleep. I figured I was having some sort of episode. I set it for the trial mode. During the time it was on APAP I felt horrible and my AHIs were as high as 2.33 and the snoring was horrible (6.61 is an example)! A few weeks into it, it has me at 11.5 and my AHI is .21 and snoring down to 2.28. One night I even only snored 6 times!

What has your experience been for those of you who have used this trial on the Remstar? Once it was over were your numbers a lot better than when you started?

I was thinking about doing this, but didn't know quite how the feature worked. You set a range and a certain # of trial days and it finds the best pressure for you? How many trial days have you done?

I started the trial on 6/10, so I am pretty close to the end. Here's what I found for a description: Auto-Trial Mode offer up to 30 nights of auto adjusting capability. During that period of use the system functions as an Auto CPAP delivering an adjusted pressure on a breath by breath basis. At the end of the Auto-Trial mode, the machine functions as a CPAP fixed mode and sets a pressure that is optimal therapy based on event detection and your median pressure during the trial.

Snoozeless wrote:Last month I got rid of my Sleepstyle brick and got my Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex. My prescription was for CPAP 9cm. But I was waking up every night at 0400 and could not go back to sleep. I figured I was having some sort of episode. I set it for the trial mode. During the time it was on APAP I felt horrible and my AHIs were as high as 2.33 and the snoring was horrible (6.61 is an example)! A few weeks into it, it has me at 11.5 and my AHI is .21 and snoring down to 2.28. One night I even only snored 6 times!

What has your experience been for those of you who have used this trial on the Remstar? Once it was over were your numbers a lot better than when you started?

What range of pressure did you set it to? Or, was it using a default like 4 - 20 cm.?
If the latter, that would explain the problems you experienced. You might try setting the minimum to your fixed pressure of 9 cm. and a higher pressure of maybe 15 cm. If you haven't looked at the download data in Sleepyhead, you won't know what your problem was. I strongly recommend using software.

If you actually have the model 560 Auto, there really is no "trial mode". It's either in a range of pressures or straight pressure CPAP mode. (You can also set the minimum and maximum pressure to the same setting to get straight pressure in APAP mode.)

Den

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Wulfman... wrote:

Snoozeless wrote:Last month I got rid of my Sleepstyle brick and got my Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex. My prescription was for CPAP 9cm. But I was waking up every night at 0400 and could not go back to sleep. I figured I was having some sort of episode. I set it for the trial mode. During the time it was on APAP I felt horrible and my AHIs were as high as 2.33 and the snoring was horrible (6.61 is an example)! A few weeks into it, it has me at 11.5 and my AHI is .21 and snoring down to 2.28. One night I even only snored 6 times!

What has your experience been for those of you who have used this trial on the Remstar? Once it was over were your numbers a lot better than when you started?

What range of pressure did you set it to? Or, was it using a default like 4 - 20 cm.?

trial mode is a learning mode, one of the few ideas that respironics has come up with that I think should be copied everywhere. it doesn't start over each night from scratch, it builds on what happened the previous night, like a multi-night titration to get you to where you end up with a good pressure. (11.5 in her case).

palerider wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:

Snoozeless wrote:Last month I got rid of my Sleepstyle brick and got my Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex. My prescription was for CPAP 9cm. But I was waking up every night at 0400 and could not go back to sleep. I figured I was having some sort of episode. I set it for the trial mode. During the time it was on APAP I felt horrible and my AHIs were as high as 2.33 and the snoring was horrible (6.61 is an example)! A few weeks into it, it has me at 11.5 and my AHI is .21 and snoring down to 2.28. One night I even only snored 6 times!

What has your experience been for those of you who have used this trial on the Remstar? Once it was over were your numbers a lot better than when you started?

What range of pressure did you set it to? Or, was it using a default like 4 - 20 cm.?

trial mode is a learning mode, one of the few ideas that respironics has come up with that I think should be copied everywhere. it doesn't start over each night from scratch, it builds on what happened the previous night, like a multi-night titration to get you to where you end up with a good pressure. (11.5 in her case).

Yes, it's available in the DreamStation, but I can't find any reference to it in any of the clinical manuals for the System One 60 Series Auto which is what she indicated she had. "Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex"

Consequently, I presumed she had the model 460 which has the 30-day Auto trial mode.

I've searched the 560 Auto clinical manuals and can't find any mention of it.


Den

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I have 2 model 560's. My first one which is a few years older does not have 30-day Auto trial mode. But my more recent one purchased shortly before they stopped making them does have it. It works quite well. I had already completed my own titration with previous 560 and Sleepyhead. In about 2 weeks the 30-day Auto trial mode came up with same setting I did. But it took me 1-2 months. I may be mistaken, but I think the 460 is limited to only a set number of trials (2-3?) where the 560 does not have the limit. I only ran it once. I found I like APAP better anyway.

DoninOrlando wrote:I have 2 model 560's. My first one which is a few years older does not have 30-day Auto trial mode. But my more recent one purchased shortly before they stopped making them does have it. It works quite well. I had already completed my own titration with previous 560 and Sleepyhead. In about 2 weeks the 30-day Auto trial mode came up with same setting I did. But it took me 1-2 months. I may be mistaken, but I think the 460 is limited to only a set number of trials (2-3?) where the 560 does not have the limit. I only ran it once. I found I like APAP better anyway.

Thanks Don.
Are you aware of which firmware levels your two machines have?


Den

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Wulfman... wrote:

palerider wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:

Snoozeless wrote:Last month I got rid of my Sleepstyle brick and got my Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex. My prescription was for CPAP 9cm. But I was waking up every night at 0400 and could not go back to sleep. I figured I was having some sort of episode. I set it for the trial mode. During the time it was on APAP I felt horrible and my AHIs were as high as 2.33 and the snoring was horrible (6.61 is an example)! A few weeks into it, it has me at 11.5 and my AHI is .21 and snoring down to 2.28. One night I even only snored 6 times!

What has your experience been for those of you who have used this trial on the Remstar? Once it was over were your numbers a lot better than when you started?

What range of pressure did you set it to? Or, was it using a default like 4 - 20 cm.?

trial mode is a learning mode, one of the few ideas that respironics has come up with that I think should be copied everywhere. it doesn't start over each night from scratch, it builds on what happened the previous night, like a multi-night titration to get you to where you end up with a good pressure. (11.5 in her case).

Yes, it's available in the DreamStation, but I can't find any reference to it in any of the clinical manuals for the System One 60 Series Auto which is what she indicated she had. "Philips Respironics System One (60 Series) RemStar Auto with A-Flex"

Consequently, I presumed she had the model 460 which has the 30-day Auto trial mode.

I've searched the 560 Auto clinical manuals and can't find any mention of it.

me too... but I've heard people being able to select it... I'm guessing variations in the software not reflected in the manual. and she did say 'trial mode'. I'm pretty sure the 560 I had for a while had trial mode on it, even though it's not in the docs.

Hi everyone.

I have a 560 Respironics machine. Just wanted to share that this is the version of my firmware:



And these are the modes you can select under and in the clinician setup:






I am unsure if this is what is being discussed in this thread but just wanted to help, share and clarify what the 560 has.

How does c-check compare to the other modes?

I am wondering also if I should use this trial option considering the discussions here.

I'm not sure if I can ask it here as well, but, do you guys update (or is it even possible to update) the firmware of your machine?

Sent from heaven

DoninOrlando wrote:I have 2 model 560's. My first one which is a few years older does not have 30-day Auto trial mode. But my more recent one purchased shortly before they stopped making them does have it. It works quite well. I had already completed my own titration with previous 560 and Sleepyhead. In about 2 weeks the 30-day Auto trial mode came up with same setting I did. But it took me 1-2 months. I may be mistaken, but I think the 460 is limited to only a set number of trials (2-3?) where the 560 does not have the limit. I only ran it once. I found I like APAP better anyway.

My 460 has up to 30 day trial.

When I was looking at new machines online, I decided on the REMSTAR AUTO 560 partially because of the auto trial. The place where I had my sleep study is thousands of miles away. I look at my results daily on Sleepyhead. I have been pretty impressed with it so far. I am anxious to see what it comes up with in the end. To answer one of the questions above, it does not let you set your minimum and maximums. It does it for you.

The clinician's guide does mention it. It must have been updated.

The CPAP-Check mode sounds cool too. It continuously verifies pressure requirements and makes adjustments after every 30 hours of use providing the user with more effective pressure levels over time. I might do that one after giving whatever settings the trial gives me for a while.

CyclonePap wrote: My 460 has up to 30 day trial.

I am pretty sure that you can renew the 30 day trial period after it is used up by resetting the machine and erasing all prior user data on the machine.
It used to be that the reset can be done up to 5 times and after that a reset won't renew the apap trial 30 day thing.
Erasing the old therapy data probably shouldn't be done while in the DME needed compliance period for insurance purposes but once that is over with.
How to reset therapy data is explained in the provider manual.

This pertains to the 460 model.
I have no idea about the A trial mode in the 560s but since it has full time auto mode it doesn't really matter.

I have two different editions of the clinician's manual for the 560. The one dated 12/1/2011 does not mention auto trial mode, but the one dated 5/25/2012 does. It does not have the 30 day limit over the life of the machine, but a single trial can go up to 30 days.

On 1800CPAP's site it says the trial can be run as many times as you like on the PR System One 60 Series REMstar Pro CPAP Machine.

Just an update. It left me at fixed 11.5. My AHI is averaging .39. My snoring is way down from 7.36 when I started at the prescribed fixed 9 to 1.32. What is really down are my RERAs. Not sure what was causing those?? But they are down to 0.

I wonder what would happen if I sent it to auto and set the minimum at 11.5?