How reliable are auto cpaps in providing the right pressure ?

[dwd1249]

A home sleep study showed that I have Sleep Apnea so since March 2012 I have been using a BMC Resmart auto cpap .

A year ago in November when I saw my Sleep Doctor he commented that sometimes auto cpap machines don't always get it right. When I saw him last week ,12 months later, he decided that I should have an over night cpap sleep test in lab.

Reason being that my machine has been providing Avg Mean of 7 cmH2O over the 564 days of record. And that seemed low to him for a bloke my size (fat bastard )BMI 37.8 (125k) 275lb – (182cm) 6ft. Also that I have narrow air ways which he said can cause problems for auto cpap to get it right .So off to the lab in January to see whats up and my have to configure my machine into a cpap.

My AHI Avg is 0.3 and SNI Avg is 4.1 if my machine got that right ?

Just checking to see if others may have had similar experiences .

Thanks

[zonk]

Hi dwd1249 and welcome to ApneaBoard
Machines are pretty accurate, same machines used in sleep lab but I have only seen one other member using this machine, he is an Aussie too

Resmed and Phillips Respironcis machines are most popular followed by Fisher Paykel and Devilbliss machines

Good luck with the sleep study

Edit: the clinical manual for the machine is available via email (section three)
http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual

[trish6hundred]

Hi dwd1249,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more responses to your post and best of luck to you with your sleep study, as well as your CPAP therapy.

[zonk]

Just checking to see if others may have had similar experiences .

Thanks

They recommended pressure 9 for me at the sleep study but also noted that did not sleep on my back and not much REM sleep. They want to see both sleeping on our backs and REM sleep so pressure can be determine more accurately. At the sleep lab, someone is watching and making adjustment manually, they can tell if you,re sleeping, type of apnea whether obstructive/central or having other type of sleep disorder
Some APAP (S9 AutoSet and PRS1 Auto) can detect central apnea but cannot tell you if you,e asleep or awake

[Sleepster]

A sleep study is a good thing to have, it'll detect lots of things that an auto PAP can't. An auto PAP machine is no substitute for a sleep study.

[archangle]

If you get the correct CPAP machine, it gives you sort of a mini sleep study all night every night, and records the data. I think every CPAPer should have one and review the data, and make adjustments to their therapy based on real world results.

Check my signature line for info on which machines do this and record full data.

I think for most patients, proper use of an APAP machine WITH PROPER REVIEW of the data it records would provide much better results than the current medical mafia standard of an in-lab $leep te$t, followed by dispensing a non-data CPAP machine and/or ignoring the nightly, in home, real world, treatment data.

However, I believe auto CPAP is not just "turn it on and forget it." You need to start with a pressure high enough to mostly cure your apnea. Without that, you may struggle with apnea for a while until the machine sees the problem and increases the pressure. Some people also find the machine "runs away" and goes to too high of a pressure.

I find I feel better if I set the minimum pressure a bit above where the machine "thinks" it should be.

All modern APAP machines allow you to set a minimum (starting) pressure and a maximum pressure.

Even if you have a manual CPAP machine, as long as you get a fully data capable one, it still measures your breathing and apnea every night. You can send the data card to your doctor and he can adjust the pressure up and down until he finds the right level.

Be careful, some DME's (CPAP salesmen) will lie to you and claim their machine is data capable when all it records is on/off hours. Read the link in my signature line and get one of the fully data capable machines.

I think most in-lab sleep tests could be skipped for people who are known to be apneacs, as long as a competent doctor/technician reviews the results of a fully data capable CPAP and makes adjustments. If you still have apnea problems, they should be obvious from the data and you can have another in-lab sleep test if necessary.

By the way, many doctors/technicians are NOT competent at reading CPAP machine data and will miss problems. Many of them just look at AHI numbers or even just look at hours of usage because that's all the insurance company requires.