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Does high pressure of CPAP cause changes to Lung Tissues??
Sleep Health | Last Active: May 29 7:21pm | Replies (6)Comment receiving replies
I use a cpap and think the pressure only stimulates you to take a breath through nose/mouth or both and doesn’t force pressure directly through your trachea into your lungs. I am relaxed when breathing through my cpap and don’t feel like the machine is blowing up my lungs like a balloon.
Replies to "I use a cpap and think the pressure only stimulates you to take a breath through..."
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Some CPAP machines will give you some pressure flutters to stimulate you to breath if you have what it feels is (in RESMED's terminology) an 'open airway'. This is effectively what central sleep apnea is if it is not complex. Complex sleep apnea also has obstructive sleep apnea, so it won't always see an 'open airway'... which stands to reason for someone who has an obstruction. If only central, and no obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the airway remains open, but the brain doesn't stimulate the person to breathe.
Incidentally, those puffs also serve to help the machine to determine if it has an open airway. If it's closed, it feels the puffs blowing back. If it's open, no backpressure is sensed, and it acts accordingly...you are in CSA.
What the pressure in a CPAP prescription does is called 'splinting' the airway. It keeps the airway from collapsing on itself. It doesn't stimulate you to breathe, as you stated above. Instead, it allows you to breathe.