Seeking basic information

[Timlondonparis]

Hello. I am English, live in France and have been diagnosed with a sleep apnea. What little information I have been given by doctors here has been, to say the least, mystifying.

I have looked around at this board and clearly there is a lot to learn and a lot of information people share. I have almost no idea of what my situation is; prior to undergoing a sleep test I had no symptoms besides snoring. I have been issued with a Lowenstein Prisma Smart and have been told to go away, use it and sooner or later someone will come along and check the data. 

I am hoping someone can point me at some sort of introduction to what treatment with a CPAP is all about, how sleep is measured etc etc. A very basic introduction would be so useful to me as I feel very lost and alienated by my current situation. I can find bits of information all over the internet, but if there was someplace I could learn from the start it would be very useful! Thank you.

[Phaleronic]

Welcome to the forums Timlondonparis

I believe Lowenstein machines are supported by Oscar (that will be the first step in your treatment, installing an SD card into the machine so it will record the clinical data every night (32GB card or smaller formatted in FAT32 file system). Also here is the apneaboard guide to Oscar-please read through it:

https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph..._The_Guide

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

Cheers mate. Welcome to ApneaBoard.

First, get the manual: https://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p...tup-manual

Now start with the wiki: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...=Wiki_Home

Then head down the rabbit hole…

Symptoms: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...y:Symptoms

Conditions: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...Conditions

Diagnosis: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...:Diagnosis

Treatment: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...:Treatment

Feel free to ask questions on everything CPAP in the forum. 

For your initial settings with the Prisma Smart. Read the following: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...timization

Be sure to download and install OSCAR. Links are in my signature or at the top of the page.

For now, use the following for baseline settings: 

Min pressure 7
Max pressure 12
SoftPAP 2
No ramp

That should get you going. Practice with your mask and machine whilst reading or watching telly. Don’t get frustrated with yourself if you take it off at times. It is a process finding proper settings, not something that will happen overnight for most.

For now, crack on!