SleepyHead & S9 Auto question

[Scott1269]

I'm new to PAP and hoping it's as good to me as it has been to others here! I have a S9 Autoset, which seems like a great machine. I have a couple questions though.

1. When I got the machine the DME guy had it set to CPAP with a pressure of 9. I said what about Auto? He said oh no bla bla bla, telling me some story which I can't remember now about why thats only used if you don't titrate in the sleep lab or some such thing... I didn't believe it then nor do I now. When he got tired of me persisting he said well your prescription is for CPAP not APAP... I was so relieved to get the thing that I said fine and moved on. My question is should I pursue that with my sleep doctor? Do I need a different prescription?

2. SleepHead is awesome so far, very informative though as a newbie I'm having to guess what some of the graphs mean and what acceptable limits are. Is there any other documentation on that kind of stuff? The user manual doesn't explain all of that. I understand it is beyond the scope of the software. Lastly the time on the charts is not right it seems to be offset from local time by 3 hours my timezone is GMT -5 or -4 depending on time of year. I have the right time zone selected in my profile so I'm a little confused...

Thanks I'm learning a lot here!

[PaulaO2]

1 - if your doc said CPAP, why'd they give you an APAP??

2 - no clue on that one. I got a dumb machine.

[mjbearit]

Sounds to me like the DME got a deal on a quantity order of APAP and they just "lock it down" for CPAP users. You might be surprised what manufacturers do as incentives! I wouldn't sweat it. Of course I would probably take advantage of the situation and "unlock it" so that it is actually an APAP. But that's just me!

I'm probably the only one who has a machine that just may be dumber that Paula's machine! Mine is just old from an era before all this memory card stuff!

Mike

[zonk]

My question is should I pursue that with my sleep doctor? Do I need a different prescription?

No just keep the Autoset its awesome machine and consider yourself lucky some people been given Escape or Escape Auto even with auto prescription. Its like having two machines in one. Your DME can not set the S9 any different than what the doctor wrote on the prescription but you can set it in any way you see fit if its going to provide you with better treatment.
Its been reported before the time zone thing with SH not sure if its been fixed and its more to do with day light saving and System One as it don,t have a clock that you can set the time manually like the S9.

[PollCat]

Of course I would probably take advantage of the situation and "unlock it" so that it is actually an APAP. But that's just me!

I concur, unlock it and use it like it was intended to be used.

I've only had my S9 since February and I'm still learning how to use and interpret the software results, too. None of my previous machines had this capability.

[Sleepster]

My question is should I pursue that with my sleep doctor? Do I need a different prescription?

You have to use the machine for a while before that can be determined. If I were you I'd just leave it like it is for awhile and concentrate on getting used to the mask. Meanwhile you can learn the software.

SleepHead is awesome so far, very informative though as a newbie I'm having to guess what some of the graphs mean and what acceptable limits are. Is there any other documentation on that kind of stuff?

The first thing you want to learn about is the AHI. There's information available all over the web and on this forum. Leak rates are important, too.

Lastly the time on the charts is not right it seems to be offset from local time by 3 hours my timezone is GMT -5 or -4 depending on time of year. I have the right time zone selected in my profile so I'm a little confused...

Maybe the time is not set correctly on your machine? Try Rescan and see if it shows the right time on its graphs.

[archangle]

The DME legally has to set the machine up to the numbers the doctor prescribed.

You can change it yourself if you know the secret buttons to push, but you may want to use it for a while before tinkering with it.

Setting the machine to "Auto" isn't always the right answer, but your machine will do just fine as a manual CPAP. If you did want to set it to auto, you would probably want to set it to a fairly narrow pressure range and look at the data to determine the correct setting.

Lots of doctors are pretty stupid about CPAP and especially about auto CPAP.

[pssnn]

I'm new to PAP and hoping it's as good to me as it has been to others here! I have a S9 Autoset, which seems like a great machine. I have a couple questions though.

1. When I got the machine the DME guy had it set to CPAP with a pressure of 9. I said what about Auto? He said oh no bla bla bla, telling me some story which I can't remember now about why thats only used if you don't titrate in the sleep lab or some such thing... I didn't believe it then nor do I now. When he got tired of me persisting he said well your prescription is for CPAP not APAP... I was so relieved to get the thing that I said fine and moved on. My question is should I pursue that with my sleep doctor? Do I need a different prescription?


Thanks I'm learning a lot here!

When I got my S9 Autoset I was also prescribed a fixed pressure. The DME I selected as a supplier was the one that provided the best (IMO) machine after interviewing all the in-network DMEs in my area. As in your case the DME did not want to change my fixed pressure to APAP and was taken back that I "Knew" how to change it myself.

After a couple of months of collecting my sleep data I took it all in with me to my regular visit with my primary MD and showed him all the charts and made my conclusion that I should be able to switch the machine to APAP based on the data. He not only agreed, but told me I was really mastering the subject and that I could make any changes I saw fit in the future without having to consult with him. (Thanks Apnea Board!!)

I am sure that if you master the subject and then show your MD what you want to do that there will be no issue with changing your settings. I simply told the DME about the conversion I had with my MD and there were no issues. He did want to know where to get sleepyhead.

[Sleepster]

I simply told the DME about the conversion I had with my MD and there were no issues. He did want to know where to get sleepyhead.

That's awesome!

(You should have told him that it's forbidden for DME's to use SleepyHead without paying for it -- it's free for end users only!)

[Scott1269]

Thanks for the answers everyone! I have a follow up at the sleep lab at the end of the month so I guess I'll just see what happens until then. Then I can tell the sleep tech and see if they relay it to the doc... BTW there appears to be an open bug in leery head regarding the the time display on the graphs...

Scott