CPAP machines are commonly used to treat obstructive sleep apnea. These machines keep the airways open during sleep by providing a constant flow of air through a mask or nasal pillow. One difficulty of using CPAP machines is that they are not designed to be easily adjusted by anyone but a doctor or technician. If you do not want to wait for your sleep doctor to adjust your CPAP machine, you can easily do it yourself by accessing the special "clinician mode" within the machine.
Step 1
Follow the setup manual for your CPAP machine's instructions for entering into "clinician mode." Clinician setup manuals provide instructions for entering this "clinician mode", but they are not provided with the machine. The Apnea Board contains PDFs of the clinician manuals for many different CPAP devices. According to the Mayo Clinic, CPAP machines are designed to only be adjustable by your doctor. This is because most CPAP machines can only be adjusted while they are in "clinician mode", which can only be activated by pressing a specific combination of buttons, which varies depending on the make and manufacturer. .
Step 2
As mentioned earlier, getting the CPAP machine into "clinician mode" typically requires pushing a series of buttons which may sometimes be behind a plastic cover or not well marked. For many Respironics machines, for example, the right and left arrow buttons need to be pressed and held down while the machine is being plugged into a wall socket.
Step 3
Change the CPAP settings to match what you need. Typically, "clinician mode" gives you the opportunity to change the pressure what the mask delivers and can also let you set the machine to ramp up the pressure gradually, so it will start by delivering a lower pressure and gradually increase the pressure as you sleep, making the CPAP air flow less obtrusive.
