A great place to start Disorder information source Rated and Reviewed Sleep Links Entrance to all monitored Sleep Forums Search all of Sleepnet.com


Sleep Apnea
Forum130 Posting


Archived Apnea Forum130 viewing only. To post go to the Apnea Forum Homepage.

Re: Summary of Apap treatment

Posted by Bird Watcher on April 21, 2006 at 15:01:53:

In Reply to: Re: Summary of Apap treatment posted by eyedoc on April 21, 2006 at 13:20:14:

Hi again, the quesiton is 'do you think my stats justify the Auto unit?' The argument against auto's is they *may* not be that effective for severe apnea patients since people who have that diagnosis are always close to colapse in their throat during sleep and the auto function is always trying to catch up or ramp down. Best then to stay with straight CPAP and keep the necessary pressure constant all the time. Better sleep may result, which is the goal, afterall.

So autos may indeed be best suited to those patients with more mild to moderate apnea, or a condition called 'UARS', but the automatic machine of today is a 2 in 1 or a 3 in 1 tool that can be used to great advantage. To say you don't need an auto (even with severe apnea) would be to say that nobody ever got any benefit from a Swiss Army knife.

Some advantages to an auto adjusting CPAP machine such as the Respironics Remstar Auto with C-Flex:

1. Can be run in four different modes- straight CPAP or CPAP with C-Flex, Auto-adjusting with or without C-Flex. Even then, C-Flex has three levels. Hard to believe that someone could not find a proper therapy mode with this machine.

2. Has and records night study data, which can be invaluable to treating apnea, since the disorder is known is elusiveness with regards to treatment over a period of many years.

Back to your other information, surprised to hear that the ResMed machine may be misreading you and ramping up too quickly when you go to bed. This machine has a known design weakness, though, with respect to it's humidifier. If any water droplets get in the hose circuit or droplets form on the top or the inside of the humidifier chamber, the airflow will distort when the machine is on and *can* cause it to ramp up. This happens because the machine is internally setup to act aggressively to treat any snoring noise. Any water droplets can cause that. Also, filling the humidifier chamber too high can cause the same problem.

As far as your other concern that the sleep doc will recommend a non-auto unit. It all depends on how you do on that 'non-auto' unit and how much your sleep means to you? For a few hundred dollars more, you could have better machine at home, that could be run in the way that best suites your own needs. It isn't the doctor that is losing the sleep.

Follow Ups:


Archived Apnea Forum130 viewing only. To post a new topic go to the Apnea Forum Homepage

  • IMPORTANT : Information not intended as medical advice. If you suspect that you have a sleep disorder you should seek care from a qualified professional. Read Terms of Use.
  • The Sleep Forums are not to be used for commercial purposes.
  • Commercial products and services are not endorsed by Sleepnet.com.
  • Sleep Deprivation due to Sleep Apnea and insufficient sleep are common and can present as insomnia, narcolepsy, or idiopathic hypersomnia. In infants and children sleep problems commonly present themselves as ADD or ADHD.


Copyright ©1995-2006 Sleepnet.com., All rights reserved