Still too many hypopneas

[Mike1951]

I was diagnosed with severe complex sleep apnea and treatment started at 17/11 with back up at 10min. I saw the Doc today and she is mostly pleased with the treatment (as am I). She said she would like to decrease my central events a little bit more and would like to change my settings. I am a CRNA and she is letting me chose the adjustments. Any advice? Mike

[trish6hundred]

Hi Mike1951,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for suggestions and answers to your question and much success to you as you continue your CPAP therapy.

[vsheline]

I was diagnosed with severe complex sleep apnea and treatment started at 17/11 with back up at 10min. I saw the Doc today and she is mostly pleased with the treatment (as am I). She said she would like to decrease my central events a little bit more and would like to change my settings. I am a CRNA and she is letting me chose the adjustments. Any advice? Mike

Hi Mike1951,

If you are having too many hypopneas, perhaps these may be central hypopneas, meaning the machine has partially treated a central apnea, improving it into an hypopnea.

The way ASV machines treat central apneas is by automatically increasing
Pressure Support.

If you have an AirCurve 10 ASV or an AirCurve 10 CS Pacewave (same machine, I think, but named differently in different countries) the backup rate will be set automatically, not manually adjustable by the user. Will start at your recent breathing rate and will gradually transition toward 15 breaths per minute.

What are your settings for the following?

If in ASV mode:
EPAP:
Min PS:
Max PS:

If in ASVAuto mode:
Min EPAP:
Max EPAP:
Min PS:
Max PS:

In general, if PS is going to be able to do for us all the work of breathing during what would have been a central apnea, Max PS needs to be around 10 or higher for patients with normal healthy lung function.