It can't be this easy!

[BrianL99]

So I've been using CPAP for about 4 years. As I mentioned in an earlier post, all I really knew about my "therapy", was that I had stopped snoring. Some days I seemed to sleep much better than previously, most days ... somewhat better.

So after spending way too many hours reading posts on this forum, I decided I needed to know more. The first thing I learned, was that I was using a "brick". Not necessarily wanting to become a "numbers geek", but thinking maybe I was missing something, I invested almost $1000 in a new DreamStation, humidifier and a couple of new masks to try out.

After 7 days with my new Dream Maker, this is what I know:

I'm always between 1.5-2.3 AHI
My "Mask Fit" is generally 100% (I did go down to 98% one night.)
I'm averaging 7.5 hours/night
My 90% is at 12 (I set the machine for 4-20 and have Ramp ON).

At the risk of sounding ridiculously naive, even though I've spend at least 12-15 hours reading information on this site, what else do I really need to know? Is there room for improvement?

I've read a lot about people tweaking their upper & lower pressures. What's the benefit? In other words, if my 90% is at 12 and I'm never above 13 ... what do I gain by reducing my max pressure?[/quote]

[surferdude2]

Lowering the upper setting won't make any difference unless you set it so low that you get into the range of pressure required for your therapy to block restrictions. Leaving it alone is fine.

You may consider increasing the minimum from 4 cm H₂O if you are feeling starved for air initially while the ramp is running. You may eventually want to turn the ramp off. However, if it isn't bothering you, there's a lot to be said for leaving it alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Dude

[OpalRose]

The only thing I would suggest changing is your start pressure. 4 is pretty low. Do you feel starved for air? Most feel that way at 4cm.

Your 90% pressure is at 12cm, I would change start pressure to 9cm. When your start pressure is too far away from your 90% or medium number, the APAP will take longer to reach the pressure needed to deal with an airway that is collapsing.

Since your not new to therapy, you should be able to handle that higher start pressure, if not, then use the ramp, but start it at 6cm.

As dude said above, you could leave your setting alone since your AHI is decent. But I feel leaving it at 4 with a 90% pressure of 12 doesn't make sense.

In time, you could lower the max pressure a bit, but the APAP won't go higher that what is needed.

[Napmeister]

There are a few that claim to get better results on a constant pressure. Some feel that slight pressure changes only confuse the brain, if it were me (I like to experiment) I'd give it a whirl. You have good results now and if the results are no better, change it back. All of the suggestions are worth a 5-7 day trial if you are monitoring.

I had better readings on my Elite CPAP at a constant 11cm than I had on my Autoset with a range of pressure, granted that was only a 2 week trial.

Since then I have also wound down my 11cm that was prescribed to 10.2 with no negative results (dropped it .2cm at a time and monitored).

You just never know what you can gain, till you try

[BrianL99]

Thanks all!

[cate1898]

Welcome to the forum BrianL99! Sounds like the DreamStation CPAP machine is working well for you and giving you good results!