MrIvanDrago - CPAP|Bi-PAP Therapy Journey

[zaienk]

And how look your flow rate in detail? Do your airflow have a great round curve ? Did you check if you have RERA?

[MrIvanDrago]

And how look your flow rate in detail? Do your airflow have a great round curve ? Did you check if you have RERA?

Maybe some, my old machine would flag them, but my Aircurve does not. Would increase in PS resolve any RERA?

[zaienk]

The best way is to look at your flow rate minutes per minutes and identify by yourself wherever you have RERA or not, there is no machine on the market who can do that correctly.
Yes, the purpose of adding more PS is to solve, hyponea, RERA, respiratory effort, snoring, etc

[MrIvanDrago]

Are there any settings on the Aircurve 10 that can influence respiratory rate? I'm curious as I have read a few threads and folks mention RR. For example, if someone had a respiratory rate steady around 19, could settings be tweaked to lower it during the night? 

I figure someone on this board has information to share on this topic. Thank you for all the help!

[gainerfull]

What are you trying to manipulate with respiratory rate?

[MrIvanDrago]

Not necessarily trying to manipulate it, but wondering if it can be lowered through settings of the machine, specifically a bilevel.

[Sleeprider]

We really don't have settings that lower respiration rate. We can shorten inspiration by manipulating TiMax, but extending TiMin, increasing cycle sensitivity or reducing trigger sensitivity would be novel solutions to slow respiration that is in the normal range. I also think altering normal respiration would be uncomfortable and disruptive. Increasing PS to increase tidal volume might slow respiration rate, but again not a commonly used approach. So those are the tools we have, but I don't recommend it.

[MrIvanDrago]

We really don't have settings that lower respiration rate. We can shorten inspiration by manipulating TiMax, but extending TiMin, increasing cycle sensitivity or reducing trigger sensitivity would be novel solutions to slow respiration that is in the normal range. I also think altering normal respiration would be uncomfortable and disruptive.  Increasing PS to increase tidal volume might slow respiration rate, but again not a commonly used approach. So those are the tools we have, but I don't recommend it.

Makes sense and thank you for the detailed response!

[MrIvanDrago]

I was reading a thread on another Sleep Apnea board, and the person was saying that their physician recommended upping the EPAP/IPAP pressures on their Aircurve by a decent amount and that it could possibly resolve the RERA issues they were having with frequent arousals. This person stated that they upped the pressures and slept through the night for the first time in years. This was interesting and the first I heard of this. I'm not just saying a few points higher, they went from 10.0/6.0 to 22.0/18.0.


Is this something worth experimenting with since I have been battling great numbers with highly fragmented sleep? I have attached my OSCAR data from last night, and it's pretty consistent, having a very low AHI for the past 30 days.

Since it is Friday and there is no work tomorrow, this might be a good night for me to experiment. If it is a good idea and this person's case is genuine. Thanks in advance for any insight!


AirCurve 10 VAuto
PAP Mode: VPAPauto
PS 4.0 over 10.0-16.0 (cmH2O)

[attachment=59701]

[Sleeprider]

I assume this is related to the other thread concerning respiration rate. People tend to keep a fairly constant minute vent, so when we use PS to increase tidal volume, it typically causes a lower respiration rate. Whether it will affect your centrals is trial and error.