ResMed AirCurve Trigger/Cycle

[brainf0g]

Hello fellow owners. I know what these settings are supposed to do in theory, but what's your real world experience with adjusting these two settings?

[ragtopcircus]

The most important change for me was extending Timax from the default 2.0s to 3.0s. My average Ti is around 1.7, but it is not all unusual for me to go longer, especially if my nose is congested.

I have had no reason to touch the default medium setting for trigger - it seems to perfectly detect the start of my inhalation.

I'm currently using the default medium setting for cycle, but have experimented with selecting low or very low while awake. SOMETIMES it feels like the inhalation pressure peaks and then drops off just a little too early, while inhalation is just beginning to slow. Selecting very low will maintain the inhalation pressure a little longer, until the airflow drops lower. There's some interaction between this and the pressure support setting for me though. At ps 5, cycle medium feels fine. At ps 4, cycle medium feels slightly short. I seem to sleep better at 4 though.

As I was getting the pressure support dialed in, I chose to leave cycle at medium. My results are pretty good as-is now, and much more consistent from night-to-night than at 3 (max EPR with an Autoset). I will probably try setting cycle to low or very low again to see if it yields any further improvement in sleep consistency from night to night as congestion varies. I don't expect or need much if any further improvement in AHI; I just need more sleep.

The combination of pressure support being a little too high and cycle sensitivity being too low made it feel like I needed to push a little to start exhalation before hitting Timax.

While I'm trying to be descriptive, I also want to reiterate that except for Timax, the defaults were/are really pretty close (for me).

[Sleeprider]

If you request the clinician manual from the forum, these settings are well-discussed in there. All you are doing is increasing or decreasing the sensitivity of switching from EPAP to IPAP (trigger) or from IPAP to EPAP (cycle). In addition, you can set the minimum and maximum times for IPAP (TiMin, TiMax). Read the manual first, and then let's talk about any questions you have.

[brainf0g]

Oh for sure and understood. But just soliciting feedback regarding perceivable difference, if it is purely for comfort, if it has affected your overall sleep at night, etc. For me, the HYF factor in the morning is virtually the same, but the OSCAR data looks different as a result. ragtop's response was great

[slowriter]

Hello fellow owners. I know what these settings are supposed to do in theory, but what's your real world experience with adjusting these two settings?

Not sure if coincidence or not, but as soon as I changed the trigger to very high (I think it was on high, or maybe medium), my reported CAs dropped dramatically.

[brainf0g]

Hello fellow owners. I know what these settings are supposed to do in theory, but what's your real world experience with adjusting these two settings?

Not sure if coincidence or not, but as soon as I changed the trigger to very high (I think it was on high, or maybe medium), my reported CAs dropped dramatically.

It's funny you should say that. I had the exact same experience. Tried turning up the Cycle and I THINK it made breathing a little more awkward. Didn't change the AHIs much. Turning Trigger from Med to High to Very High seems to have basically eliminated the reported CAs.

[holden4th]

I found that the default trigger settings didn't work for me and the machine wanted me to exhale earlier than I wanted to. I fixed this by making the exhale start later and also by raising the settings to high like the previous poster.

[ragtopcircus]

Remember, more does not mean better! Better means it fits you.

Setting cycle to very high means you may need to push a little to get it to switch to exhale.

Setting trigger to very high (for me) means that if I purposely pause breathing, it will just randomly switch between inhale and exhale. In other words, it becomes unstable. It does seem to function normally if I breathe normally though.

Setting trigger to high seems stable. I may try that to see if it still reduces false CA reporting without causing other problems like very high.

[Michaely6]

Turning trigger from medium to very high eliminates most all CA from alot of users who tried it and from my personal experience as well.

[ragtopcircus]

My concern with “very high” was that the over-sensitivity/instability would cause even real central apnea events to go undetected.

The high setting seems to be enough to prevent or significantly reduce false central flagging.