New to CPAP - on week 4 of 6 week trial - Any Sefam S.Box users out there?

[dbcpap]

Hi Kingsway et al.

I've recently been loaned a Sefam S.Box by UK NHS also. I previously rented a Philips Dreamstation (v1) whilst I was in another country, which I "feel" was more effective -- I was waking-up more refreshed than compared with the Sefam product. Would love to know your thoughts, now that you're further into your Sefam experience (or whether you've switched to another brand).

[Kingsway]

Hi Kingsway et al.

I've recently been loaned a Sefam S.Box by UK NHS also. I previously rented a Philips Dreamstation (v1) whilst I was in another country, which I "feel" was more effective -- I was waking-up more refreshed than compared with the Sefam product. Would love to know your thoughts, now that you're further into your Sefam experience (or whether you've switched to another brand).

It's very hard to really compare machines - although Resmed did sponsor some research with the University in Barcelona, where several CPAP machines were compared using a 'robot patient' where they could standadise the symptoms and record how well the machines algorythm was able to respond.  The Resmed machine was not the best!   (The Prisma CPAP seemed the best - but very expensive)  The Sefam was not part of the excercise, sadly.

I tried two weeks on a Resmed Airsense 10, simply so I could use OSCAR  to get some understanding of what was going on and get a ball-park figure for what pressures to use. This worked quite well.  I like the menu system in the Resmed, which I found easy to use - where I found the Sefam was a bit confusing.  However, since going back on the Sefam S.box, I've grown to like it.

I can read the large bright display without putting my glasses on!  Although slightly noisier than the Resmed, it also seems to have a softer response. 

  The Resmed seemed to have a habit of ramping up the pressure very high and staying there and waking me.  This doesn't seem to happen with the Sefam.  I was also pleasantly suprised to find that the Sefam usues a standard plug for the power input - making it relatively easier to connect a  much cheaper non-proprietery DC supply.

The biggest issue for me was to find the right mask. The NHS just supplied a Simplus - take it or leave it!  But after doing some readinf online, I bought myself a Resmed F20 FF mask, and have had very little problem with leakage since then.

BTW  I was able to find the official SEFAM  Access software for the PC (Available from the members private files on this site)   It  is much less user-friendly than OSCAR, and am only slowly learning how to use it.  But its better than nothing.  The S.Box has BlueTooth - which means I can download from it (and even change settings)  it from the other side of the house!  This in addition to a USB  cable connection and, of course the SD card.

I actually bought a second hand Resmed Airsense 10 which, after I changed the motor, ended up costing me  about £240 - but is now like new (6000 hours on the clock)  I plan to use it for travel and as a spare.

Cheers,

Richard in Cambridge

[dbcpap]

...

BTW  I was able to find the official SEFAM  Access software for the PC (Available from the members private files on this site)   It  is much less user-friendly than OSCAR, and am only slowly learning how to use it.  But its better than nothing.  The S.Box has BlueTooth - which means I can download from it (and even change settings)  it from the other side of the house!  This in addition to a USB  cable connection and, of course the SD card.
...

Thanks for your response, Richard. Interesting to learn that you found the ResMed to increase the pressure too much, this was one of my initial concerns with the Sefam S.Box, but the NHS staff have reduced it now (remotely).

I'm not convinced that my NHS-supplied Sefam S.box is fitted with Bluetooth or an SD card: When I go into the settings mode (holding down the physical button and the settings soft-button for a few seconds, scrolling through I never see a BT:ON/OFF option like the clinicians setup manual suggests.) I also can't recall seeing an icon for an SD card on the screen (will recheck tonight). Interested to know that there might be the possibility of a USB connection.. I'll take a look for that too!

I gather the OSCAR software has close connections to this forum (although I'm uncertain whether Sefam S.Box users can harvest data for OSCAR).

On my Internet travels, I also see that a gent in Australia appears to have created a visual charting software called Sleep HQ, although I'm unsure how that compares with OSCAR (and again whether Sefam S.Box users are stuck for data here, too).

[Crimson Nape]

dbcpap - Sleep HQ is extremely close to OSCAR, since they used OSCAR's code to develop it.

-- Red

[dbcpap]

dbcpap - Sleep HQ is extremely close to OSCAR, since they used OSCAR's code to develop it.

-- Red

Understood, thanks. ?