Is Resmed S9 Autoset mode suitable for central sleep apnea?

[archangle]

Thanks justMongo and archangel.

I thought that my O2 Concentrator must be using up some O2 because it puts into the room stuffy ozone-ish smelling air, which I assume may be unhealthful to breathe. However, in googling how O2 Concentrators work it seems no O2 should be lost, so I suppose the warm, slightly smelly oxygen-depleted air it releases back into the room may be otherwise harmless. Not that I would want to breath it, though.

The user manual says to run it in a well-ventilated area. I keep it in an adjacient room with its window open wide and its door closed.

The oxygen generating process just moves the O2 and air around, it shouldn't "consume" any oxygen or air overall. It might slightly deplete O2 in the other room if you put the concentrator there, but not enough to worry.

It's possible the "machinery" such as the air compressor, electronics, etc. might do something or generate smells, but even that's unlikely to be that significant. For instance, a motor can generate ozone, but I doubt they'd use that kind of motor in an oxygen concentrator. There shouldn't be any of the high voltage stuff that tends to create ozone. As for other smells, remember that you've got to be consuming some sort of material in order to generate a smell, so if it's making much smell long term, something is probably wrong. It could be just sort of a "hot air" smell, though.

As for well ventilated, I presume they are worried you'd do something like put it inside some sort of container or a tight closet. That could end up somewhat depleting the available oxygen in the container, or build up heat. People have probably done that to try to keep the noise down. If you covered it with a blanket or "crowded" it with other things, it might overheat.

The open window is not really necessary. Wide open is definitely not needed.

[justMongo]

It will generate heat. The compressor is small and it is pumping up one tank that contains a zeolite while a second tank is delivering O₂. The tanks are switched back and forth and as one tank comes out of the role of providing O₂, it is dumped to atmosphere.

Compressing air heats the air. All of the work the motor creates ends up as heat in the end. There are vents in the concentrator case that exhaust hot air.
I have a Respironics Everflo Q with OPI that has been doing a great job for 6 years with only an annual intake filter change that I can change with little effort. You can Google it to see it.

The price has doubled over the last 6 years. (But we have no inflation!)

[napnaptime]

It is funny you should mention RERA I do have a deviated septum and severe damage to my nose as a result of many broken noses,my respiratory also mentioned that I could be awakening at night, I have about 17 or 18 of those UF2 events per night as you can see in the pie charts its a big chunk of my sleep, I wonder could I also have UARS or even a misdiagnosis?

The gold standard treatment for Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome is to eliminate its resulting Respiration Effort Related Arousals by using bilevel CPAP.

There is an excellent chance that the S9 AutoSet with EPR of 3 and a FFM will be able to provide great treatment for you.

However, if in a month or two you are still feeling little benefit from APAP therapy and want to try bilevel, you could work with your doctor(s) to try to get insurance coverage for a bilevel Auto like the AirCurve 10 Auto or DreamStation BiPAP Auto (except that Encore and SleepyHead software do not yet support the DreamStation machines, so I suggest avoiding DreamStation machines for now).

The PRS1 DS760 BiPAP Auto with heated tube, which is an excellent machine for treating RERA and is supported by SleepyHead and Encore software and is less expensive than the AirCurve 10 Auto, would be a great option if there would be no insurance coverage. But, on the other hand, you would already have the S9 humidifier so the S9 VPAP Auto would also be a great choice.

If you try to use a fixed pressure bilevel (S therapy mode) machine, the lack of the Auto feature would make it an order of magnitude more iterative to determine the best settings to use, and I think S (meaning Spontaneous, meaning the machine synchronizes itself to your spontaneous breathing rate) therapy mode may not be able to provide optimal treatment. ResMed says the bilevel Auto is their optimal machine for plain obstructive sleep apnea in cases like yours (meaning, for patients without an excessive amount of central apneas).

I think trying a ResMed ASV machine is not indicated and would likely be a waste of time and money and effort and likely would not be able to provide optimal treatment like a bilevel Auto would. I think the Philips Respironics BiPAP Auto is the most full-featured CPAP machine for treating UARS / RERA, with ResMed a close second. Some can't stand the feeling of using one but have no problem using the other, depending on the patient's breathing style. But I assume most could adapt to how therapy feels from either one.

Take care,
--- Vaughn

Thank you for such a lengthy reply, I have been looking over my sleepy head data and for every unexplained event my flow rate breaks its usual pattern now the really weird thing is in the morning time around 8:00 when I wake I see the a similar pattern but I am sitting up at this point I usually rest with my mask on awake.

[napnaptime]

Okay I talked to my respiratory doctor he says these events could be breaks in my sleep but I should remember them. The only way I can be certain is if I redo the sleep study but it is a 2 year waiting list ;(

[eseedhouse]

Thank you for such a lengthy reply, I have been looking over my sleepy head data and for every unexplained event my flow rate breaks its usual pattern now the really weird thing is in the morning time around 8:00 when I wake I see the a similar pattern but I am sitting up at this point I usually rest with my mask on awake.

If you are awake any information the machine can give you is basically meaningless. The algorithms are designed assuming you are asleep. It's best to turn the machine off as soon as you wake up, though I don't always do that myself.

[Mary Anna]

I got better when I changed from full mask to the nasal mask.
plus big difference with the new machine .. Resmed S10 Autoset..although i have it in the CPAP mode with EPR . I am also showing some CA's. data shows small amount. .4 .. but that is every hour so something going on.

[DeepBreathing]

I am also showing some CA's. data shows small amount. .4 .. but that is every hour so something going on.

If you're only getting a few centrals every now and then, don't worry about it. The machine will flag pauses in breathing as a clear airway apnea when often it is just a pause while you're changing position in the bed or something like that.