Respironics DreamStation Auto BiPAP - My Journey
Good Evening, everyone...
Contrary to rumor, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I have been waiting until after I had my latest titration study, my day 31 face-to-face with the sleep doc, and had at least gotten my machine set to "auto", before I posted a new thread on my SA journey.
So, here is some of my journey.... Until two days ago, my machine was set as a fixed BiLevel, with IPAP of 12 and EPAP of 8. Although this was producing an AHI of less than 5, it was not comfortable for me, and I was waking frequently, and as soon as I had my 4 hours of use in for the night, off the machine came. After a protracted discussion with my sleep doc, he finally agreed to let me use the auto level feature of my machine. Based on my latest titration study('twas a nightmare), my machine is currently set to Ipap max of 14, Epap min of 6, pressure support 3 - 6.
The first night of the new settings (Tuesday night), I slept much better than I had been on "fixed", 5 or 6 hours without waking.. However, yesterday I had a cardiac cath procedure, and they wanted me to bring my machine for my use during the procedure. The procedure seems to have gone well (the hospital staff were all interested in my machine), but last night's sleep experience was simply awful....
Last night, I simply could not seem to breathe with the machine on.. I fell asleep a number of times with it on, only to wake up with my mask off, and the machine still running. I have never done this before with the bipap machine (taken my mask off in my sleep), no matter how uncomfortable I have been, so this was pretty disconcerting for me.
I am still having issues with my nasal pillows (nuance) and when the problems happen with the mask seem pretty random, with no apparent trigger that I can determine.
I have installed sleepyhead, and have imported the data from my card into the program.
So, what SH screens would you like to look at, and how do I upload them to this thread?
Contrary to rumor, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I have been waiting until after I had my latest titration study, my day 31 face-to-face with the sleep doc, and had at least gotten my machine set to "auto", before I posted a new thread on my SA journey.
So, here is some of my journey.... Until two days ago, my machine was set as a fixed BiLevel, with IPAP of 12 and EPAP of 8. Although this was producing an AHI of less than 5, it was not comfortable for me, and I was waking frequently, and as soon as I had my 4 hours of use in for the night, off the machine came. After a protracted discussion with my sleep doc, he finally agreed to let me use the auto level feature of my machine. Based on my latest titration study('twas a nightmare), my machine is currently set to Ipap max of 14, Epap min of 6, pressure support 3 - 6.
The first night of the new settings (Tuesday night), I slept much better than I had been on "fixed", 5 or 6 hours without waking.. However, yesterday I had a cardiac cath procedure, and they wanted me to bring my machine for my use during the procedure. The procedure seems to have gone well (the hospital staff were all interested in my machine), but last night's sleep experience was simply awful....
Last night, I simply could not seem to breathe with the machine on.. I fell asleep a number of times with it on, only to wake up with my mask off, and the machine still running. I have never done this before with the bipap machine (taken my mask off in my sleep), no matter how uncomfortable I have been, so this was pretty disconcerting for me.
I am still having issues with my nasal pillows (nuance) and when the problems happen with the mask seem pretty random, with no apparent trigger that I can determine.
I have installed sleepyhead, and have imported the data from my card into the program.
So, what SH screens would you like to look at, and how do I upload them to this thread?
