Somnetics Transcend CPAP

[jandi]

Hello helpful Apnea Board people

I have now just bought my Transcend and am setting it up for my first use of it tonight! I wonder if you can help me with a few points about equivalence in pressure?
(Firstly some facts: My AHI is 0.6/hr (from 15/hr before treatment); ResMed Autoset 95 percentile pressure is currently 12.6 cm H2O.
However I cannot breathe against 12.6 cm pressure on my Transcend.

I read in a post here "“ My Transcend is set 3 in below my normal pressure which corresponds to my Resmed's reduction in pressure when exhaling”. (I am assuming that “in” means "cm" here? Otherwise - 7.5 cm is huge!).

So my question is - would it be suitable to set my Transcend at 9.6 cm, compared to 12.6 on ResMed? It feels comfortable at 8 cm.

What thinkest thou? Thanks in advance!
Kind regards
jandi

[PaulaO2]

Jandi, I moved your post to its own thread in the Main Forum. This will ensure it gets attention and gets you answers!

[SuperSleeper]

Hi jandi,

At first glance it looks to me like the Transcend CPAP doesn't have EPR (Exhalation pressure relief), but your ResMed unit does. EPR is a CPAP feature that lowers the pressure on a CPAP machine when the patient exhales in an effort to make breathing more comfortable.

I would guess that you had EPR turned on with the ResMed unit, perhaps at level 3, which would have lowered your delivered pressure on exhale by 3.0 cmH20 of pressure.

Unfortunately, I believe your Transcend unit does not have this feature, so it's harder to breathe out against the higher pressure.

In absence of any EPR feature, it's generally not recommended to lower your pressure for comfort reasons, as this will negatively affect your therapy and possibly raise your AHI levels.

If you're having trouble getting to sleep with the higher pressure, you might try setting the ramp feature of your Transcend to start off at a lower pressure and slowly ramp-up over a 30-45 minute time period - enough to give you opportunity to fall asleep before the higher pressure kicks in.

But, if all else fails, you can lower your pressure on the Transcend a bit for comfort, but keep in mind that your AHI levels will probably not be as good as you have with the higher pressure. If you're using the Transcend for temporary travel purposes, this might be a short term option, although it won't provide optimum therapy.

[zonk]

So my question is - would it be suitable to set my Transcend at 9.6 cm, compared to 12.6 on ResMed? It feels comfortable at 8 cm.

What thinkest thou? Thanks in advance!
Kind regards
jandi

certainly does feel more comfortable at 8 but over time you wont notice pressure much
at times have to put my hand in front of mask to see if machine is working

whats your titrated pressure
95% percentile pressure means pressure was At and BELOW 12.6 for 95% of the time using the machine

to find out more details, you need to ponder over Resscan stats and graphs

Resmed EPR set at 3, can lower pressure by 3 (9.6) at exhale but inhale pressure pressure would be 12.6
its not like bi-level pressure support and can be suspended if apnea is detected

with Transcend set at 9.6 ... you,ll be inhaling and exhaling at 9.6
it wont treat apnea if more than 9.6 needed

[jandi]

Thanks PaulaO2, zonk and SuperSleeper.

I understand all of your comments and thank you very much.
I will ramp it tonight up to 12.6 and keep the laptop on nearby so I can change it if necessary.

I just used it for half an hour on 10.6 (nonramped) and that was fine.
(Last night I had it on 8 and felt tired all morning.)

ResMed - I believe I can only use EPR on CPAP and not on Autoset.

Kind regards
jandi

[zonk]

ResMed - I believe I can only use EPR on CPAP and not on Autoset.

Kind regards
jandi

in either cpap or autoset mode you can select EPR

when EPR is enabled ... the delivered pressure will not drop below a minimum pressure of 4 cm H2O ... regardless of the settings

the manual available via Email ... scroll down section three
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual

[jandi]

Thanks, zonk

I now know how to adjust my Autoset to use EPR using the Clinical Settings. I am used to not using EPR (6 years) because I didn't know about it!
It all seems to be plug-n-play in Australia -"You have hypopnea - buy a machine somewhere - off you go!".
I am just so glad I insisted on a copy of my sleep study!

Kind regards
jandi