[Pressure] My CPAP machine

[Jill Doe]

My first machine was set at a low level (4 intending to ramp up to 12) but I never managed to take in that much air.  My consultant changed the machine for an automatic, which is set much higher.  So I asked 'how can I cope with that if the first one was too high?' to which he replied 'It is what you need.'  But I don't have the capacity to take it in.  And the result is severe abdominal pain lasting many hours; and I don't mean bloating and belching.  I am talking deep-seated gastro-intestinal pain.  So, my question is: If pressure levels are set according to "need" how does that equate with a person's actual capacity? And how badly is my heart affected if I don't use the machine?

[staceyburke]

an Auto cpap can ge set to stop going up to any number you wish.  The min number in your inhale / exhale pressure and your max is as high as the machine will go.    So if you have it set for 7/20, the inhale and exhale will be at 7 until you start having events that the machine needs to increase pressure to stop them.  Many times people do not leave the max set to 20 and adjust the pressure down until they relieve most of the events.

We can help with that but we need data to look at and that data is in OSCAR - a totally free program to download and use.  You do need a SD card in your machine of 32 MB or smaller while you sleep to be able to download your data to us.

[Sleeprider]

All the Philips Respironics machines were recalled in the U.S, but continued to be sold in the U.K. and other countries. U.K. is a particularly difficult place to get a good machine, let alone good advice from the NHC consultants. If you can get your hands on a Resmed Airsense 11 Autoset CPAP, it can deliver better therapy with lower pressures. It would help if you could post a OSCAR chart that will show us the kinds of events you are experiencing and your settings. The software is free, and your device writes the therapy data to a SD card. The Philips machines need to be setup well to prevent excessive events, but it seems likely you can get good therapy and better comfort with pressure lower than 16 cm.