03-14-2018, 12:15 PM
RE: Aircurve 10 37043
I know that what I put here may be obvious to some of you all but it's completely new to me. I'm trying to stay away from the obvious statements and findings so excuse any repeats as I lay this out. I'm exposing my experience and opinions. I'm going to try and lay out only the stuff I don't recall reading on the forum and pertinent personal experience.
Settings. I fiddled and adjusted with every setting that I could reasonably believe to be realistic to be of therapeutic value. I didn't raise pressures to see how high they would go and vice versa. I found that I could adjust values in clinician mode while the machine was running. Very cool. All adjustments were effective once a setting was input and ok’d.
I could not get a ps min max range to be less than 5 cmh2o. If I set ps min 3, no value less than ps max 8 could be selected. Further, if ps min is adjusted to within the minimum 5 cmh20 difference, the machine will automatically adjust to 5 cmh20 above the ps min setting. Ps max cannot be adjusted down to within the 5 cmh2o difference. I noticed this in ASV auto mode and ASV mode.
CPAP mode is straight CPAP mode. I didn't even try it.
I started the night ASV auto EPAP min 8, max 25. Ps min 3 max 8. Nothing new other than IPAP was less aggressive. I went through a few ranges of settings and settled at EPAP min 10 max 13, ps min 3 max 8. I settled on these numbers because I used them on the BiPAP and liked the way it felt.
I tried hard to clear my mind from conscious breathing using many techniques. ASV auto is very difficult to get acclimated to. I was trying out some rhythmic breathing and I learned why it's called adaptive servo ventilation. This machine is writing data tables. The tables include inhale/exhale time, volumes, pressures…. All the while it's using the data to set values for the next breathing cycle. The best I can tell it's working 1 cycle ahead. Therefore, a new user will experience default values until the tables have been written, personalized. This is really important because acclimation is not going to happen first night. Not no way not no how.
It was a long night. The bad now. Never before have I experienced aerophagia. On ASV auto, the machine forced air into my esophagus/stomach in the peak to peak time of when I began to exhale and when the machine finished the IPAP cycle. If you shorten inhale the machine lags it's inhale/exhale transition. Best I can tell it's by about a tenth of a second difference. I did a quick figure and it turns out to be a SIGNIFICANT amount of air in the stomach, and the occurance is DISTURBING and VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. I switched to ASV mode and the aerophagia was reduced however not eliminated.
I quit therapy as I dont feel like I rested all night. I managed a few untreated hours of sleep, and it was the best I had all night.
In summary, the machine is a wonderful marvel of technology for sleep apnea. Im very certain that it is necessary for many. It's been well worth the experience having lost a few nights of quality sleep. I wouldn't do it again. There's a lot more that I learned from this but I'm WORE OUT. It's been fun, and it's been real, but not real fun. One of the cheaper lessons I've learned too. Lucky fella.
Jesse
Settings. I fiddled and adjusted with every setting that I could reasonably believe to be realistic to be of therapeutic value. I didn't raise pressures to see how high they would go and vice versa. I found that I could adjust values in clinician mode while the machine was running. Very cool. All adjustments were effective once a setting was input and ok’d.
I could not get a ps min max range to be less than 5 cmh2o. If I set ps min 3, no value less than ps max 8 could be selected. Further, if ps min is adjusted to within the minimum 5 cmh20 difference, the machine will automatically adjust to 5 cmh20 above the ps min setting. Ps max cannot be adjusted down to within the 5 cmh2o difference. I noticed this in ASV auto mode and ASV mode.
CPAP mode is straight CPAP mode. I didn't even try it.
I started the night ASV auto EPAP min 8, max 25. Ps min 3 max 8. Nothing new other than IPAP was less aggressive. I went through a few ranges of settings and settled at EPAP min 10 max 13, ps min 3 max 8. I settled on these numbers because I used them on the BiPAP and liked the way it felt.
I tried hard to clear my mind from conscious breathing using many techniques. ASV auto is very difficult to get acclimated to. I was trying out some rhythmic breathing and I learned why it's called adaptive servo ventilation. This machine is writing data tables. The tables include inhale/exhale time, volumes, pressures…. All the while it's using the data to set values for the next breathing cycle. The best I can tell it's working 1 cycle ahead. Therefore, a new user will experience default values until the tables have been written, personalized. This is really important because acclimation is not going to happen first night. Not no way not no how.
It was a long night. The bad now. Never before have I experienced aerophagia. On ASV auto, the machine forced air into my esophagus/stomach in the peak to peak time of when I began to exhale and when the machine finished the IPAP cycle. If you shorten inhale the machine lags it's inhale/exhale transition. Best I can tell it's by about a tenth of a second difference. I did a quick figure and it turns out to be a SIGNIFICANT amount of air in the stomach, and the occurance is DISTURBING and VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. I switched to ASV mode and the aerophagia was reduced however not eliminated.
I quit therapy as I dont feel like I rested all night. I managed a few untreated hours of sleep, and it was the best I had all night.
In summary, the machine is a wonderful marvel of technology for sleep apnea. Im very certain that it is necessary for many. It's been well worth the experience having lost a few nights of quality sleep. I wouldn't do it again. There's a lot more that I learned from this but I'm WORE OUT. It's been fun, and it's been real, but not real fun. One of the cheaper lessons I've learned too. Lucky fella.
Jesse
Jesse
