Airsense 11 Questions

[jg558]

Long-time Phillips Respironics (PR) DreamStation User. Started using Resmed Airsense 11 this week. Pressure: 7-13. Heated Resmed tube. PR full-face Amara mask (Resmed mask not immediately available from DME).

When I'm lying on my side, all is fine (luckily, I sleep that way). When I lie on my back, there is a fast oscillation (other descriptions: pulsing, reverberating) that I feel in the mask. It sounds like chig-chig-chig. About 3 per second. I have the EPR off and it's too fast to be that (no one breathes in and out that quickly). Could it be the mask paired with the Airsense machine itself? Never had this problem with the dreamstation. How to fix?

When I remove the hose and water tank to clean, machine keeps blowing at lo intensity (cooling?). Is there a way to stop this without turning machine on (LARGE LEAK DETECTED!, press OK, machine stops)?

Machine does not have an SD card. There is a plastic insert instead. Should DME supply one upon demand? If I turn on airplane mode, does it stay on or does the machine eventually turn it off because it hasn't "phoned home" in a while?

Thank you.

[Crimson Nape]

Hi jg558! -
The pulses could be from Resmed's FOT (forced oscillation technique). This is something like sonar but in air.

Here is Resmed's description:
Central sleep apnea (CSA) detection is an advanced technology that uses the forced oscillation technique (FOT) to determine whether a patient’s airway is open during an apnea. When an apnea is detected, small oscillations (1 cm H20 peak-to-peak at 4Hz) are added to the pressure.

If flow is detected, the airway is open and the apnea is from CSA. The algorithm uses the resulting flow and pressure (determined at the mask) to measure whether the airway is open or closed. If no flow is detected, the airway is closed from an obstruction. The device responds by either increasing pressure or maintaining current pressure and recording the event for the patient’s apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) report.

The low intensity airflow is designed to dry out the hose when humidification is used. You should allow the unit to perform this before doing any maintenance to the machine.

Any SD card will work on your AS11, just make sure that you format the card, if it isn't new, prior to using it. A stray file name could cause a problem.

- Red