ResMed Airsense 10 Autoset Problems

[Lahanna44]

I am a current ResMed S9 cpap user,) 2 years at the same level. My pressure level is 8, my machine also has the humidity/heater which I use at a 5 humidity and 73 temp. I have been having issues at night with the use of my machine ( not sleeping well, restless legs, waking up with ears ringing, heart racing, dizzy etc. I made a visit to sleep doc and he recommended loaning me an Apap for a week to see how I would do ( thinking since I have a very small airway that I needed multi levels during the night ) and hopefully this would fix me up. I picked up the loner Machine , a ResMed Airsense 10 Autoset with the pressure settings at 8-14 and Humidity at 5. I set up this machine last night and was excited to get a good nights sleep Boy was I wrong ! I was awake more than I was asleep , all night !! Everytime the machine increased the pressure it woke me up ( due to the force of the air blowing out of my lips) and I spent several mins trying to get back to sleep. Also each time the pressure was increased , my nasal mask would start whistling around the hose connection ( geesh) and that drove me nuts I woke up enough a couple of times to check the pressure and It was at 10, then around 5:30 am I woke with my chest hurting, burping and had acid reflux, hose whistling and a feeling of having swallowed way to much air, checked the pressure and it was at 11.3
( OMG) So...... I got up and set my S9 back up and went off to a restful slumber for the next 3 hours. GEESH !!!!! Epic fail. I am supposed to use this loner machine until Wed and I cant even use it one full night. Cannot reach a tech at my supply office ( weekend) to get help with this newfangled machine. I JUST WANNA SLEEP PEACEFULLY

[retired_guy]

So stay with S9. But download and install the Sleepyhead software from the link at the top of the page so you can see how your therapy is doing. Perhaps the cpap of 8 is too little, perhaps too much, perhaps just right. You can't know that without checking the results.

You could set the A10 to something happier like min 6 max 10, EPR 2 and try it again. Also lower the ramp time to not more than maybe 10 minutes. But you still need to be able to see your results to know what's going on.

[Lahanna44]

So stay with S9. But download and install the Sleepyhead software from the link at the top of the page so you can see how your therapy is doing. Perhaps the cpap of 8 is too little, perhaps too much, perhaps just right. You can't know that without checking the results.

You could set the A10 to something happier like min 6 max 10, EPR 2 and try it again. Also lower the ramp time to not more than maybe 10 minutes. But you still need to be able to see your results to know what's going on.

Doc suggested the Apap because he thinks I am in need of multi settings during the night. I accessed the clinical settings on the Airsense and reduced the min to 8 and max to 10 and turned on the EPR to full time ( used to this with my S9) the tech had not asked me about this or the ramp when he set up the loner machine. They had the ramp set to 45 mins, so I think that and the EPR not being on was causing some of the issues. Im not sure what caused the bloating ( I have had burping and heartburn all day ) and feeling as if i've been pumped full of air , I was awakened with this feeling and chest pain in the middle of sleeping last night. I figure they will not be to happy with me changing the settings but it is either do that and try again or I will not be able to comply with this new machine at all.

[trish6hundred]

Hi Lahanna44,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hopefully, with the new settings, you can work with the AirSense 10 mor easily tonight.
Hang in there for more suggestions and best of luck as you continue CPAP therapy.

[archangle]

Sometimes the trick is to do "manual APAP."

Adjust the pressure up or down a little manually. See if it's better or worse in terms of SleepyHead and how you feel. Tinker slowly until you find the right result.

You can also experiment with limited APAP. Set an APAP range that's only a little above and below your current setting and see if you can find the right compromise.

[retired_guy]

Doc suggested the Apap because he thinks I am in need of multi settings during the night. I accessed the clinical settings on the Airsense and reduced the min to 8 and max to 10 and turned on the EPR to full time ( used to this with my S9) the tech had not asked me about this or the ramp when he set up the loner machine. They had the ramp set to 45 mins, so I think that and the EPR not being on was causing some of the issues. Im not sure what caused the bloating ( I have had burping and heartburn all day ) and feeling as if i've been pumped full of air , I was awakened with this feeling and chest pain in the middle of sleeping last night. I figure they will not be to happy with me changing the settings but it is either do that and try again or I will not be able to comply with this new machine at all.

I think you'll be fine with of this. The chest pain, heartburn, etc etc is probably caused by the pressure being higher than what you're used to so you ended up swallowing too much air. I do not understand these terminally long ramp settings they default the machines to. That's just nutzie. As far as I'm concerned the best ramp setting is "off."

As to them being happy? Well, it's either them happy or you happy. I pick you.

p.s... as to the settings they gave you? One of our golden rules around here is don't make big changes in a short period of time. Going to 6/10 is certainly big enough.

[Lahanna44]

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions , have made the small adjustments on the pressure and turned the ramp off and turned on the EPR full time ( this is what I was used to on the S9) so heres hoping for a better night

[zonk]

Everytime the machine increased the pressure it woke me up ( due to the force of the air blowing out of my lips) and I spent several mins trying to get back to sleep. Also each time the pressure was increased , my nasal mask would start whistling around the hose connection ( geesh) and that drove me nuts I woke up enough a couple of times to check the pressure and It was at 10, then around 5:30 am I woke with my chest hurting, burping and had acid reflux, hose whistling and a feeling of having swallowed way to much air, checked the pressure and it was at 11.3
( OMG) So...... I got up and set my S9 back up and went off to a restful slumber for the next 3 hours.

That is exactly my experience with the AirSense 10 AutoSet, never had such problem with the S9 AutoSet. S9 AutoSet 95P pressure around 9-10, A10 around 14-15 and would go higher if allowed. Definitely would be going back to the S9 and the A10 going in the trash bin, where it belongs

[Lahanna44]

So.... I tweaked the pressure on the Airsense last night before bed, set to min 8 high 9.6 also turned the EPR on to full time instead of the Ramp only setting, also turned off the ramp totally. I had a much better night. Checked the readings this am highest auto adjustment during sleep was 10.4 ( not sure how it manage to override the 9.6 that I had it set on but thats ok. Had no AHI , no leaks etc so that is a good thing. Still had that annoying nose whistle just before I woke this am ( that is what woke me) not sure how to fix that . Will adjust to a max of ten tonight and carry on with the testing .

[retired_guy]

Good job Lahanna, 0 ahi is pretty much as good as it gets. I've been trying for a long time to break past that barrier into the -1 or so category, but no luck with that yet.

It's ok to hit your high point occasionally during the night but what you want to achieve is an average something less that your max pressure. So increasing it to 10 is a fine thing. But I don't think I'd do much more than that for a week or so, or ever, if you keep having these great results.