Re: Is Cpap the big apnea lie?

Non-CPAP Forum Posting

Archived Non-CPAP Forum4 viewing only. To post a new topic go to the Rest Forum Homepage.

Re: Is Cpap the big apnea lie?

Posted by Scott on April 09, 2001 at 14:41:53:
In Reply to: Is Cpap the big apnea lie? posted by bunboy on April 08, 2001 at 19:00:22:
Since everyone is jumping on this, here is my 2 cents.
I went in for three different titrations. I was told 16, 11 w/ HH and 17 w/ HH. I popped for the heated humidifier myself! There was no fundamental changes in weight or health during this approx 2 year time and yet huge variablilty in pressure measurments.
My guess is the human machine is more varied and more complicated than any one sleep specialist with one night (or even ten) of monitored cpap data can know.
Changes in temperature, humidity, allergies, diet and many others can affect CPAP performance. This is why when asked I always recommend if someone can swing it financially to go with an auto/smart pap solution from the start. Even if some of the designs are less than the best this technology is head and shoulders above the "set it and forget it" mentallity and this is truely the future of CPAP.
For those of you who don't know, smart/auto pap (It goes by several different names depending on who manufactures it.) has a computer and sensors in it that monitor many parameters like, compliance, snoring, occlusion, hypopnea, etc. These units are able to adjust to changing conditions in realtime.
Imagine going to sleep at a comfortable pressure of 8 or 9. After falling asleep your cpap machine senses you entering deep sleep and begins a gradual rampup to you "normal" 14mm pressure. A cold that you have had for a few days makes it harder to breath through your swollen nose and throat. Your autopap senses the trouble and bumps the pressure a little to compensate. Two hours later you develop a mask leak large enough so the machine cannot compensate. An alarm gradually arouses you and you tighten the straps and fall back into another blissful 2hrs. I should be an ad writer for these guys!!!
This is what it should be like but the insurance companies would rather spend $80,000 on heart surgeries and extended care than $500 more on some good technology.
I said all this to say if your pressure is only a little below what you need, even 1-2mm then cpap is a nightmare and you may be better without it that night. Couple this with the variability we mentioned above and you can see why there is so much non-compliance. The sad part of all this is if the medical profession would make a sensor monitored cpap the base standard, the extra manufacturing costs would be minimally over where standard cpap is now.
Sorry, I think I finished my 2 cents worth about a nickel ago!!
Scott

Follow Ups:

Archived Non-CPAP Forum4 viewing only. To post a new topic go to the Rest 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.