Newbie questions - various CPAP settings

[beardofthedead]

Hello. I'm new here, and fairly new to using a CPAP. I was diagnosed at the beginning of the year, and have only been using a machine for a few months. I've lost my insurance and am waiting to be approved for medicaid, so I'm now trying to figure out how to do things on my own.

I recently figured out how to get into the Clinical Menu and set my pressure, and it's been fine, but there are a couple of things that are confusing me:
1. What is the "START CPAP" option? It shows a default of 4.0, I'm not sure if it's anything that I need to mess with.
2. Does the "Altitude" setting actually make a difference, and should I find out the altitude of my area and change the setting if needed?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help!

---

Oh and by the way, it's a ResMed S7 Lightweight machine w/ humidifier.

[big_dave]

The Start CPAP option is the pressure that your ramp starts at, assuming that you use the ramp. It doesn't have any effect once your machine reaches treatment pressure.

The Altitude setting is for increasing your pressure slightly if you're at a high altitude. It may make a slight difference but it's not critical.

BTW the S7 Lightweight is a brick (no data capability other than compliance). If you're going it alone, you may be better off with a data-capable machine with Auto-CPAP capability such as a ResMed S9 Autoset or a Phillips Respironics 550 or 560. (My S8 Autoset II is data capable but it requires a special $60 card reader to download the data to my computer. I got an outstanding deal on the machine, so the cost was still reasonable.)

[beardofthedead]

Thanks for the info! I'm finding out that the auto set function would've been ideal. Unfortunately, I just bought the machine and now I'm stuck with it. My neurologist told me at my final appointment that when I got a new machine to just set it to 9.8-10, as that was my average with the respironics that I had. I've slept on this one twice now. Gonna make 3 times tonight. I can tell a difference - mostly that my ears pop with this one - but I definitely don't feel as bad as I did during the week or so that I was without a cpap.

Thought of one more question... What is the "pressure gain" feature?

[trish6hundred]

Hi beardofthedead,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more answers to your questions and best of luck to you.

[iSnooze]

Hi Beardofthedead,
I can't answer your question. i did a rather extensive Google search and found basically zip. If you bought your machine from a DME, give them a call and ask them what "pressure gain" means. If you don't have that option, can you ask the technician/doctor who did your sleep study?

Since there is little info about "pressure gain" on the Internet, I wonder if it is a feature that had almost no benefit and therefore not continued in subsequent models or renamed something else such as "ramp." I'm only guessing here.

Good luck with your therapy. I realize that you currently don't have the ability to get a data compatible machine, but use the one you have until you can. Those of us on these forums know that the therapy makes a big difference in the quality of our lives. Checking the data is nice and helpful but if you can't get such a machine now, don't fret over it. As long as you are using the settings your doctor prescribed for you based on your triation study, you should see improvement over time.

[Shastzi]

If you're not running a data logging machine you are flying blind.
At this point you have no idea if your therapy is working well, or poorly.

Think: S9 AutoSet.

[beardofthedead]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! Hopefully we will have Medicaid soon and I can get a newer machine and go to the doc again. For the time being, I gotta make the best of the hand I was dealt.

[vsheline]

Thought of one more question... What is the "pressure gain" feature?

Hi beardofthedead, welcome to the forum!

Cut & pasted below is a likely explanation saying Pressure Gain may be a fine calibration feature. Newer machines would not need this because they are more accurate.

I suggest that if you were to look up your altitude (using googleEarth or weather.com or a map or whatever) and were to set the altitude accordingly, that would probably be a good thing, but not to worry about the "pressure gain" setting.

(Or, if you want to go to the trouble, maybe the (!*#&^@) DME who sold you this dinosaur would be willing to check it for you.)

Take care.
--- Vaughn





Re: inquiry on resmed s7 pressure gain setting
by ... on Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:43 am

This is just a guess on my part...

I'm guessing the "pressure gain" setting has to do with adjusting the pressure delivery, if you checked the pressure with a manometer, found it to be a bit "off" and not actually delivering the amount of pressure the machine said it was delivering. But, I may be wrong about that since you say you've not been able to change that particular setting.   

Anyway, this was in an old (2003) issue of rt magazine:
http://www.rtmagazine.com/issues/articl ... -02_16.asp


CPAP Flow Generator
ResMed Corp, San Diego, has added the S7™ Lightweight to its family of flow generators for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. A fixed CPAP flow generator, it features ResMed’s modular humidification system and gross-altitude and fine-gain adjustment for accurate pressure delivery.


The part I emphasized in bold red is what makes me think the adjustment you described is ... what I think it is.

Perhaps you could take the machine to a kindly DME who would take the few moments needed to give the machine a quick check with a manometer. If I couldn't find a DME willing to do that for free, I'd not worry about it.