Philips Respironics DreamStation not reaching Max Pressure

[Xsoldier2000]

Hoping for some help with my Dreamstation. Attaching a screenshot from OSCAR.
Problem: I messed around with some settings (so this is self-inflicted) and now my pressure (pressure set from 5 - 20) never goes above 6. This happened a while ago and I switched to my travel CPAP (Dreamstation Go). I was waiting on getting the recall machine, which I did and May 25th I received it, tried it and the same issue, 90% pressure was 5.7 Max pressure 6. Exact same issues, so I know it's a setting, but I don't know which setting is causing the machine to not get past 6. (Obviously the settings were sent to DME and they used those setting from when it didn't work right.

For contrast, on my Dreamstation Go, same pressure is set 5-20. Same ramp time with same 5.0 start pressure. AutoCPAPwithCFlex 90% Pressure is 14.3 cmH20 Average CPAP Pressure is 12.1 AHI with that machine is 1.8

Any help at all would be appreciated. THe OSCAR screenshot is of the machine with the problem, the Dreamstation, not the Dreamstation Go.

[staceyburke]

Welcome to the board!  It looks like you have positional apnea. Positional apnea is when you sleep in a position that cuts off your own airway. NO PRESSURE can help you must find out how to stop getting into that position. 

Think of it like a kink in a garden hose. Until you get the kink removed no water (or in your case air) can get through.  

Please look at the link I have in my signature for collars. It shows people without using a collar and the same people with collars. HUGE DIFFERENCE!!

[hh9797]

While I can not be certain, my best guess as to why it is basically idling at near the lowest setting it because at some point if it was peaked out at the max the machine can possibly go for an extended period of time it could have fried a sensor and so can not properly "shift gears" if you will. Machines all have sensors and all act in funny ways if a sensor goes bad, for example about a decade ago my sisters car climbing the mountain ended up having a sensor go out on it and when the sensor went out the car refused to go anything above 35 mph, it just flat out would not exceed that even going back down the mountain (which was really fun being stuck going 35 down a hill where everyone else is going 80-85)

If you are peaking out the motor at the max 20 it will go for extended periods of time it could end up over heating a sensor causing it to go out, or could cause a bad soldering job to come loose due to the heat, etc... Imagine what you are doing to a cars engine if you run it at 9,000 RPMs for an hour straight when you are red lining it at anything over 7,000, just because a machine can go up to that pressure doesn't necessarily mean the machine likes being at that pressure for extended periods at a time because over working the motor causes excess heat which causing physical harm to components.

That is just my guess and could be totally off basis, but anything with electronics in it wither it be a car, computer, oven, refrigerator, or medical devices generally don't like being pushed to their max for extended periods of time unless you modified it to have ample cooling and tend to break down quicker if you do push their limits. They are designed to handle those peak speeds for short bursts at a time and not for extended periods, and when they are pushed they generally have sensors designed to basically be a kill switch to protect it from any further harm where it will idle the machine down to its lowest operational settings until the sensor gets replaced. Again, I could be totally off bases, but if it was working and just randomly starting peaking out at a idle speed that is what it looks like it is doing.

[Xsoldier2000]

Welcome to the board!  It looks like you have positional apnea. Positional apnea is when you sleep in a position that cuts off your own airway. NO PRESSURE can help you must find out how to stop getting into that position. 

Think of it like a kink in a garden hose. Until you get the kink removed no water (or in your case air) can get through.  

Please look at the link I have in my signature for collars. It shows people without using a collar and the same people with collars. HUGE DIFFERENCE!!

Thank you for the response. Could it be positional Apnea if it only happens on one machine? When I sleep using my travel Machine (Dreamstation Go) no issues, Pressure gets up where it needs to, and AHI goes way down. Only with the problem machine do I get the issue I'm having. (Same mask using both machines.)

[Xsoldier2000]

While I can not be certain, my best guess as to why it is basically idling at near the lowest setting it because at some point if it was peaked out at the max the machine can possibly go for an extended period of time it could have fried a sensor and so can not properly "shift gears" if you will. Machines all have sensors and all act in funny ways if a sensor goes bad, for example about a decade ago my sisters car climbing the mountain ended up having a sensor go out on it and when the sensor went out the car refused to go anything above 35 mph, it just flat out would not exceed that even going back down the mountain (which was really fun being stuck going 35 down a hill where everyone else is going 80-85)

I was thinking this exactly, which is why I stopped using the machine until the recall machine came in. I was truly hoping that the new machine would have solved the issue, but it is doing exactly the same as the old machine which leads me to believe it's a setting I'm missing somewhere.

[Xsoldier2000]

Because I haven't figured out how to get the Dreamstation Go info into OSCAR, I will give a screenshot of my usage with the problem Machine (Dreamstation) and the one that works fine (Dreamstation Go) from Dream Mapper.

EDIT: other than the mask, the only thing that transferred from the old Dreamstation to the replaced Dreamstation was the SD card and the Humidifier. Wonder if it could be a sensor or something in there?

       

[Gideon]

Perform a factory reset on the DS2, then set your pressures. Ramp off please, at least until the issue is resolved, and set max pressure to 15, just to have it set at something other than 20.

To be clear, you see this issue on 2 different DS2 machines correct?

[Xsoldier2000]

Perform a factory reset on the DS2, then set your pressures.  Ramp off please, at least until the issue is resolved, and set max pressure to 15, just to have it set at something other than 20.

To be clear, you see this issue on 2 different DS2 machines correct?

This is a Dreamstation 1 (white machine) Screenshot below. I've searched and search but couldn't find a way to factory reset this machine, do you know of a way?

I see this issue on two different DS1's. (The one I always had which I believe I changed settings and this suddenly started happening, and the replacement recalled one sent from my DME)


   

[Dog Slobber]

Sounds like you turned on Opti-Start

Opti-Start is a "feature" for new CPAP users where it limits pressures and then over a specific time frame allows it to increase, eventually reaching the actual configured settings.

It's a trainwreck.

**Read your reply** And yes it's EZ-Start, not Opti-Start**

[Xsoldier2000]

I decided to re-read the actual manual and each individual setting. Right away I came across the EZ-Start setting and it's description...and boy does it sound like my issue. So, I am going to turn that off (I think I had it turned on because the EZ-Start sounds like it should be doing something else. I sure hope I have that turned on and turning it off fixes this issue.)

   

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Sounds like you turned on Opti-Start

Opti-Start is a "feature" for new CPAP users where it limits pressures and then over a specific time frame allows it to increase, eventually reaching the actual configured settings.

It's a trainwreck.

I'm going to turn that Opti-Start off and also EZ-Start.....but I think you nailed it!