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Can a CPAP machine treat central apneas?
Sleep Health | Last Active: Aug 30 12:13pm | Replies (37)Comment receiving replies
gloaming
Yes, they said I am mixed although not sure how or where the obstructive part is happening, unless it is something very internal with the lungs. My airway is clear.
99% are obstructive and that seems to be all they really know.
Yes, the ASV machine does work but if you look at the OSCAR data, it shows the machine going absolutely crazy trying to adjust the pressure all the time, even with each breath. In my case it goes up to the maximum the machine can put out (24), which is very hard to prevent leaking. When it does, the noise bothers my wife. I tend to hear it but work in into my dream. It also seems to happen, not in sync with my breathing. I seem to breathing out when it is trying to push air in at 24. When I hear the leak, I try to stop the noise by breathing in, but it does not seem to work.
I have lots of different masks that I try.
Airfit20, Airtouch20, Airfit30, Airfit30i, Airfit40.
So far, I think I like the Airfit30i best.
What I'm getting now is a stiff neck, and I think its from the straps of the mask.
What I am concerned about is when I am not sleeping. During the day, my O2 ring shows the O2 dropping all the time.
While watching tv and relaxing, almost asleep, it can drop for 10 minutes at a time to low 80's or less. So I'd like to know WHAT is exactly going on and IS there a way to correct it. I'm watching the REMEDE gadget, but it seems to be programmed to only work during your sleep time. I need to get more information although I don't think I'm ready for it yet.
The ASV machine is amazing in stopping "events".
Previously I had almost all Central Apneas 20-30 an hour.
With the ASV, the one that do occur are almost all Hypopnea and around 5.
Again, thanks for your response.
Replies to "gloaming Yes, they said I am mixed although not sure how or where the obstructive part..."
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The RESMED machines show 'clear airway' as an indication of CAs. The Airsense and Curve machines can send a pulse of air down the tube, and if it bounces back, that means an obstruction. That same pulse that doesn't bounce back, or does weakly, indicates no obstruction and that you have simply stopped breathing. That, is open airway, but not breathing into it. The machine is supposed to repeat this pulse in an attempt to make your subconscious mind start breathing again. Like a nudge, or an elbow. I know, it's weird, but this is the engineering built into them.
I have hypopneas each night, but they are relatively innocuous if they don't come one after the other and pile up on the heart and the sympathetic nervous system to make them gang up on your sleep. This is the problem with obstructive events and the arousals they cause...the wreak havoc with one's normal stage successions of sleep, even preventing deep sleep and REM sleep.
So, if your machine says you have the odd obstructive event (this will be depicted clearly with blue vertical lines in the time chart in OSCAR) [You can hover your cursor over each event and see how long it lasted, too, a very handy, and sometimes alarming, feature.] it might just mean that you're on your back and chin-tucking, or tongue-swallowing. Try to stay on your side, or use a soft foam cervical collar to keep your chin from dropping too close to your chest when you are asleep on your back. Just a suggestion.