"please keep me updated about oximeters "
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I really dont like the autopap
I've been on CPAP since Mid August and had started waking up with the headaches again. I called my DME and they finally got in touch with my doctor (after me waiting for 3 weeks) Anyhow, I got the AutoPap on Friday (they want me to try it for a week). I don't like that the pressure starts out so low..at somewhere around 4. I woke up around 1:30 this morning and it was only at 8. My normal pressure on my PAP macine is 14.
With the AutoPAP I feel like I'm suffocating. I don't know if its because I'm use to the high pressure or what. Sometime around 1:30 this morning took my mask off. I was going to get up and hook up my regular CPAP and just go with that, but I ended up falling back to sleep before I did that. Remind me to never do that again. I woke up with an excrutiating headache and was tired all day long.
I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with AutoPAP.
I'm thinking tonight I'm going to be using the plain ol' CPAP machine. I dont want to have to stuble around in the middle of the night having to switch everything around.
With the AutoPAP I feel like I'm suffocating. I don't know if its because I'm use to the high pressure or what. Sometime around 1:30 this morning took my mask off. I was going to get up and hook up my regular CPAP and just go with that, but I ended up falling back to sleep before I did that. Remind me to never do that again. I woke up with an excrutiating headache and was tired all day long.
I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with AutoPAP.
I'm thinking tonight I'm going to be using the plain ol' CPAP machine. I dont want to have to stuble around in the middle of the night having to switch everything around.
Views: 280
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on
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That is one reason many don't find apaps to their liking. Starting at a pressure of 4 is ridiculous. If your cpap was set at 14 I would have set it for a range around the 14. What happens is exactly what you describe, you feel like you can't breath and in the meantime while you are waiting for the machine to go higher your still experiencing apneas.
I would call and complain that 4 is way too low to start with.
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Permalink Reply by Christine C on
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Thanks Carol. I am going to be calling my DME first thing in the morning. I have decide tonight that I'm not going to use the autoPAP. I'll wait until tomorrow after I speak with them about the issues that I have had with it. I do have a question that you may or may not be able to answer. The machine I got is their "tester" machine..meaning they use it as a loaner to try people out on it so they don't order a machine that it not needed. When I push the buttons that shows the data, it shows the data for the person that used the machine before me. There is a data card in the machine. I was just wondering if the machine should have been reset for a new user or am I mistaken...
sleepycarol said:That is one reason many don't find apaps to their liking. Starting at a pressure of 4 is ridiculous. If your cpap was set at 14 I would have set it for a range around the 14. What happens is exactly what you describe, you feel like you can't breath and in the meantime while you are waiting for the machine to go higher your still experiencing apneas.
I would call and complain that 4 is way too low to start with.
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I would assume so, but I am just a patient and don't know the normal protocol for loaner machines. Hopefully one of the pros will chime in and answer that for you.
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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Nothing to add to what Carol said. I would assume that the machine should have been set up for you.
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Permalink Reply by Saz RPSGT on
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I'd bet you a fat shiny nickel that it was set up with 8cmH20 as the maximum pressure.
That is the first thing that I would look into. They can check that without taking in the machine or card. If they just print out (or look at) the "Device Prescription" under your patient profile, it will show them the parameters of the set-up.
This has happened at my lab when our resident "Bobble-Head" set up AutoCPAP patients for home trials. (no....it is not me.)
Saz
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4cmH20 is pretty low. From the standpoint of a physician trying to find an optimal pressure is really isn't all that crazy.
If 4cmH20 is really too low for her, it takes only a couple of minutes of OSA for it to increase to 6cmH20. Then a couple more minutes of suffering for another increase to 8cmH20. These AutoCPAP trials are all about ruling out pressures that are are ineffective.
What if 14cmH20 is way too high for Christine when 6cmH20 would have been just as effective? If you start at 10cmH20 as the starting point, then you immediately eliminate possible effective and more tolerable (lower) starting pressures.
Just a clinician's point of view. Really it's a minimal level of suffering for Christine's overall benefit.
Saz
Still, in the previous post....I'll bet that sucker is set up wrong.
sleepycarol said:That is one reason many don't find apaps to their liking. Starting at a pressure of 4 is ridiculous. If your cpap was set at 14 I would have set it for a range around the 14. What happens is exactly what you describe, you feel like you can't breath and in the meantime while you are waiting for the machine to go higher your still experiencing apneas.
I would call and complain that 4 is way too low to start with.
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You know, I called my DME today and she says that it auto adjusts when more pressure is needed...duh...then she says well when it was delivered they should have showed you what to do. I figured it was just like using my CPAP, and the delivery guy didn't offer to show me anything about the machine so it is partly my fault that I'm having trouble. At any rate, now I have to wait until tomorrow for the woman that handles all the doctors referrals to see what needs to be done. I swear if there was another way for me to use a different DME I would. I have been dealing with these incompetant people since August and I am at my wits end.....
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YAY!! I found a different DME that is in the next town over and they do service the area where I live!! All I have to do is fax over a copy of my sleep study and get a few other things lined up. Hopefully I will have better luck with this new one!
Christine C said:You know, I called my DME today and she says that it auto adjusts when more pressure is needed...duh...then she says well when it was delivered they should have showed you what to do. I figured it was just like using my CPAP, and the delivery guy didn't offer to show me anything about the machine so it is partly my fault that I'm having trouble. At any rate, now I have to wait until tomorrow for the woman that handles all the doctors referrals to see what needs to be done. I swear if there was another way for me to use a different DME I would. I have been dealing with these incompetant people since August and I am at my wits end.....
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Permalink Reply by Judy on
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BE careful about your insurance coverage when switching DME providers mid-stream!
And yes, the previous user's data SHOULD HAVE BEEN erased. Not a difficult thing to do at all. The only previous "data" should have been the total number of hours this APAP has been run since first used.
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I have medicare, so I called them first before I called the DME that I want to use. They
(the DME) just had to have the last date of billing for the machine rental and I should be good to go.
I was looking at the data that was showing on the AutoPAP machine when I first got it. It showed a number for AHI, number of leaks, and I'm not sure what else. So I'm assuming that means they did not reset the machine. You know, I think they need to have DME police...is there not someone who makes sure that they are doing what they are suppose to?
Judy said:BE careful about your insurance coverage when switching DME providers mid-stream!
And yes, the previous user's data SHOULD HAVE BEEN erased. Not a difficult thing to do at all. The only previous "data" should have been the total number of hours this APAP has been run since first used.
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You may well have to make up the full Medicare allowed amount for the months that Medicare has paid your current DME provider out of pocket to the new provider.
Neither Medicare nor private nor group insurances have any way of knowing how good or bad the local DME providers are unless we provide them w/our complaints.
And that means making our sleep labs and sleep doctors aware of the shoddy service we received from them as well.
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Permalink Reply by Tim on
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It sounds like it may be set wide open; 4 to 20 cmh2o; which is bad because you need more air to start and it can run away and go to too high of a pressure. An autoPAP need to be set to a narrow range. Ask your doctor to change your settings, so that it starts at about 13 cmh2o and goes up to 16 or so.
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