Was checking in after a long time away and saw this. Think I've posted much of this before, but I'll provide a fairly simple explanation that should answer a few questions. Won't provide links, just know some of the papers off hand, but you should be able to find them if you search. Biggest covariat...

SSRIs are used in sleep medicine to specifically reduce REM sleep, especially in people with narcolepsy and sometimes with REM behavior disorders. REM issues are often correlated with cognitive problems, and less than 1% REM is at a level that typically requires intervention. The only time something...

A couple of comments. As a brand, Breas is ok - to answer your question, the Breas models aren't actually all that big, being about the size of F&P models. I know a few people in Britain who have been prescribed Breas machines and they don't have any complaints. However, they're almost exclusively u...

Rich, Unfortunately, your doctor is dead on and you're off base. You need to come in for a bilevel titration before you use either a bilevel or an ASV. Going directly from the straight CPAP settings of your first study to ASV therapy isn't something anyone with a background in sleep medicine would r...

You probably don't need a sleep specialist currently, but it's something to keep in mind for the future. Here's the way to think about it. Your health is either stable or it's not. If you're not stable, you need to be going in to see someone to both diagnose and treat you. For that diagnosis, intern...

One question though. Looking back over the last few weeks I see my average BPM is right around 10, what does setting bpm to 10 actually accomplish? Should I setting it to 11, or more? Backup rate is part and parcel of how the ASV deals with central apneas. It provides pressure increases independent...

As mentioned, I think my main question right now is whether it would be wise to set the default inhale/exhale, now at 21/10, to be lower. I see the doc tomorrow and I will bring it up with him. You might be able to drop EPAP to 9, but I'd want to see your sleep studies before doing so. An EPAP of 1...

I'd say probably the next step is to switch backup rate from auto to 10 BPM. It may make falling asleep a little more difficult, but auto backup rate isn't really ideal for longer term use. After that a PS of 5 or even 5.5 (if you could tolerate it) might be worth thinking about. The more important ...

If you can post graphs of a couple of the not-so-great nights as well as the good nights that'd help determine what to do next.

I really wouldn't recommend taping in a hospital setting for a couple reasons. First, taping only works when there's absolutely no risk of nausea. If there's even a slight chance because of medication or recovery from surgery, you can't tape. Second, outside of sleep medicine, nobody in the medical ...

So....my question is, can BiFlex affect therapy, in other words could that have contributed to my lower AHI last night? Yes, as -SWS and John Fisher mentioned, it's one possibility. I'm in the camp that if you have an effective Bilevel setup that you really shouldn't need Biflex since EPAP being se...

I did actually change PSmin from 3 to 4. I did have a somewhat lower AHI that night, (8.2 vs 9.7) mostly due to fewer hypops. That led me to think I may be going in the right direction so last night I bumped it up to 5. I had an absolutely horrible night....I got up after a couple hours and backed ...

So far what I've read around the net seems to indicate that I need a change in my PS settings, but not sure which one and to what. Right now min =3 and max = 10. Right now you don't have nearly enough data to begin tweaking any other settings. I strongly sympathize with the frustrating wait to see ...

I wouldn't worry too much about trying to get your numbers down for a few weeks. Think of it this way: this is the first night in however many years where your body has actually gotten adequate oxygen while sleeping, since you've never had the central side of your complex SA dealt with. It's going t...

tomma wrote:Wonder why the doctor didn't prescribe it, or if she did, maybe the DME didn't see it when he set the machine up.

Got me. If you can get a copy of the original script you can find out.

Yes, BPM to 'auto' is the right setting.