[Equipment] Settings for Resmed 10 Autoset? No idea.

[EricE]

My friend is loaning me her backup Resmed 10 Autoset APAP machine to try out, and had me buy a nose mask, some tubes, and a humidifier, but my doctor won't give me initial settings — the office got back to me and said they're automatic. My understanding is that the right settings would vastly improve my results, so I'm really hoping for some guidance!

Sleep study results attached.

Thank you!
Eric

[SarcasticDave94]

Welcome to Apnea Board.
Yep, get used to it. Doc's and RT's involving apnea are lazy, incompetent, and have nice boats we paid for.

The AutoSet may be able to auto adjust, true. But someone still has to set it up, also true. Odd parallel incoming: you've heard of this new fangled cruise control on cars, the radar adaptive one? You still have to set a speed number to base it on. Apply that to APAP. Just because it will auto adjust does not mean open the box, plug in CPAP and mask and magically treated apnea. NO lazy doc/quack. Set the device.

OK rant somewhat over, and feeling better for it. First, you need to access the setting area. Hold both Home and the Dial in for about 5 seconds. Voila that clinical menu the doc will never get off his fat butt to see. Look for mode, try Auto or similar. The dial allows you to move up and down the menu areas, clicking the dial allows you to go into these lines, and then the dial allows you to jog the numbers up or down. Another click locks in the number or setting. After Mode, go for EPR full time and 3 cmH2O, no Ramp, and then try Min/Max 7/15.

You will want a free program called OSCAR that is in the name as a link. You will also need an SD card that is either SD or SDHC, from 2-32GB capacity, and formatted to FAT32. The PAP may format it for you. Insert the SD into the slot on the top left of the PAP, under the rubber flap. BTW the SD should be unlocked. Leaving it unlocked always is OK on the ResMed 10 series but not an older ResMed 9. After you sleep, the data is on the SD. You can remove the SD and take it to your PC to insert into the card reader. Set up a user in OSCAR and upload data from the SD. Make sure to look at Daily tab and using F12 to capture the screenshot, you can post that here in your post as an attachment.

Give that a shot. And if you want, and it's probably a good idea regardless, look at the top of the screen for CPAP Setup Manuals. Click and search for that exact ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet. Get the manual and look at the info there, you now know more than doc, but do not have to snooty title or high paying job to go with the info.

After you do all that to sleep better, take a few minutes to get a nice strong

[Melman]

Welcome to the forum. The machine is automatic in that it varies the pressure according to our needs within the ranges set. It may already be set with a minimum pressure of 4 and a max of 20. A minimum of 4 will probably cause you to feel starved for air. I recommend starting with a minimum of 7. It's probably OK to leave the max at 20 if that's where it's set. If it's not I suggest a max of 14. One function that is not automatic is EPR which gives you and exhale pressure lower than the inhale pressure. EPR will provide greater comfort but more importantly should reduce the hypopnia which were the major events noted in your study. EPR needs to be turned on and set to 1, 2, or 3. I suggest you start with a setting of 2 or 3, which will reduce the exhale pressure by 2 or 3 cm of water.
I see you have OSCAR and assume you have an SD card in the machine. Please post a daily chart as soon as possible so we can see your response to the proposed settings and recommend changes if necessary. It's impossible to give more specific advice without data. Please see the links below for how to organize and post data.

If you don't know how to adjust settings get a setup manual using the link at the top of the page. Go here https://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-airsen...setup-info  for a quick tutorial. Wish you the best.

[EricE]

    Thank you both for quickly jumping in to help! It's taken me a few nights to get the SD card to work correctly, to find the right fit for my nose, and to actually sleep through the night with the apparatus in place. It's still waking me up here and there, but I feel more myself this morning.

I've attached some images- would be grateful for thoughts about how it's going. One note is that I forgot to refill the humidifier.

[SarcasticDave94]

Grab some water to fill the humidifier. You do not need distilled water, if your tap water is drinkable, then it's fine for the humidifier. It will add to the usage comfort level.

So the OSCAR charts look decent. And I've noted you feel better for it. Just keep watch over the CA level. This may be altitude related or treatment emergent, as it didn't appear as an issue on sleep study. Keep at it then and congrats.

[Melman]

I agree with Dave. The data from your charts looks good. We can tell more about how you are doing if you reorganize your charts. Go here http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization
for instructions. We can see more info about your settings if you eliminate the calendar. The most useful charts for diagnostic purposes are:
   • Event Flags
   • Flow Rate
   • Pressure (not mask pressure)
   • Leak Rate
   • Flow Limit  
   • Snore