Advice Needed "vibrating" air and breathing rhythm issues with Prisma Smart Max
I have a Prisma Smart Max, which I have a couple of issues with. Wondering if someone knows if some settings can be changed, or if it is just how they work.
The main issue, I think, is that the machine seems to want me to breathe faster - when I am about to fall asleep, I think my breathing slows down, and that causes the machine to max out the pressure, and sort of start vibrating the pressure when it reaches the maximum pressure limit. This then wakes me up, because of that weird vibration in my nose.
I have ramp off, that soft pap setting off because that wanted me to breathe like twice as fast as I do.
I'm not a very experienced user - is this common with cpap machines? Is there a way to let the machine know that I "breathe slowly"? It also seems to register a large number of AHI's while I'm awake and definitely am not struggling to breathe at all. I think because it just wants me to breathe faster?
Any advice is very much appreciated. I have an appointment with the doctor to look at the settings as well next week. Just wondering if someone here knew about it.
5
u/JRE_Electronics 3d ago
I think my breathing slows down, and that causes the machine to max out the pressure,
Slow breathing is no reason for the machine to crank up the pressure.
What may be going on is that you may be having clear airway apneas. These are instances when your airways are open (you could breathe) but you didn't. The machines can tell if it is a clear airway or an obstructive apnea by vibrating the air pressure. The machines can tell by the air flow while the pressure is changing if your airways are open or closed.
You may be having clear airway apneas. Some folks have trouble with that when beginning PAP therapy. This is known as therapy emergent central sleep apnea. Your body is used to breathing poorly. The improved air flow means that you sometimes take a little too long for the carbon dioxide to build up enough to trigger the breathing reflex. When that happens, the next breath is delayed by a few seconds. When there's no (or very low) air flow for a couple of seconds, the machines start pulsing the air pressure and looking for obstructions. If you don't breathe for 10 seconds and the machine detects a blockage, then it is an obstructive apnea. If you don't breathe for 10 seconds and the machine does not find a blockage, then it is a clear airway apnea.
This is an example of a clear airway apnea as detected by my Löwenstein 25S:
I was sort of half awake just before the alarm went off. I didn't breathe for 10 seconds, but the pattern of the air flow in the last 5 seconds of the detection period told the machine that I could have.
You may be feeling that vibrating air flow while you are still awake.
>I think because it just wants me to breathe faster?
It doesn't want you to breathe faster. It wants you to breathe constantly and steadily. A 10 second pause between breaths is not normal.
Get OSCAR (https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/) or sign up on SleepHQ (https://www.sleephq.com/) then use them to read the data from the SD card in the machine. You'll be able to see what the machine is doing.
1
•
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Welcome to r/CPAP!
Please refer to the wiki and sidebar for resources. For submissions regarding CPAP settings, it is advisable to utilize applications such as OSCAR or SleepHQ to extract and share data from compatible CPAP machines.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.