Complex Sleep Apnea

I'm new to the forum and the whole sleep apnea thing. I had my first sleep study last week, and they called me back today to tell me they wanted me to come back for a 2nd sleep study because I have complex sleep apnea and they want me to try a different machine. I've attempted to do some research on this, but I can't find much on it other than the fact that it's a combo of obstructive and central sleep apnea. I haven't met with a dr yet, but was hoping some of you could help fill me in on what this means, and potential causes. When I asked the person that called me today, she said it's more common in people that are quite a bit older than me and have heart issues. I'm a 32 year old, otherwise healthy male, and don't have any heart issues that I know of, but am hoping there there isn't some other major underlying cause that I'm unaware of. Thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU-XTcf ... e=youtu.be

Check out the above video if you haven't seen it yet.

sleepyoc12 wrote:I'm new to the forum and the whole sleep apnea thing. I had my first sleep study last week, and they called me back today to tell me they wanted me to come back for a 2nd sleep study because I have complex sleep apnea and they want me to try a different machine. I've attempted to do some research on this, but I can't find much on it other than the fact that it's a combo of obstructive and central sleep apnea. I haven't met with a dr yet, but was hoping some of you could help fill me in on what this means, and potential causes. When I asked the person that called me today, she said it's more common in people that are quite a bit older than me and have heart issues. I'm a 32 year old, otherwise healthy male, and don't have any heart issues that I know of, but am hoping there there isn't some other major underlying cause that I'm unaware of. Thoughts?

mainly, it means you need a smarter machine, like the vpap adapt a friend of mine uses for his CSA.

as to why you specifically have it, that's something the doctors will have to figure out, if they can.

Thanks for the link. That was very helpful. They want me to try an asv mask or something like that the next time around so hopefully that makes a difference.

sleepyoc12 wrote:Thanks for the link. That was very helpful. They want me to try an asv mask or something like that the next time around so hopefully that makes a difference.

an asv is a type of cpap machine. not a mask

for example: http://www.resmed.eu/us/products/s9_vpa ... nc=dealers

Ok makes sense. Thanks for the link on the asv device. Im still learning about all this stuff so any info i can find is great.

sleepyoc12 wrote:Ok makes sense. Thanks for the link on the asv device. Im still learning about all this stuff so any info i can find is great.

I don't have any experience with the PR autoSV, but the resmed s9 vpap adapt is pretty neat, very simple to set up, and works great for my friend.

I developed complex apnea after being on CPAP for a few years. I now have an ASV machine. Mine is a Philips Resperonics DS960TS with heated humidifier and heated tube.
The ASV machines are almost 4 times the price of Auto CPAP machines but hopefully your insurance will cover most of whichever one you need.
I never got terribly exited about either diagnosis. When starting out it can take a while to get used to sleeping with an alien on your face, but the toughest part is finding a mask that works for you. Easy way is to find someone with a face the same size and shape as yours exactly, and use what they use. Or, yo go through the hundreds of choices and pick what you think will work. Then go back when you discover it didn't and pick another.
You can get some good recommendations here and at our sponsors site, but ultimately it's up to you.
I have tried a dozen masks. Some only lasted a day or two, others a year or more. I change, or get a cold, my therapy changes, what worked no longer works. Sometimes I switch back and forth.

When starting CPAP 4 years ago my home treatment with S9 Elite and after 3 months with S9 Autoset (in APAP mode) my statistics routinely showed remaining Apneas Indices of above 13 (per hour of OSAs plus CSAs) And AHIs of around 17 with CSAs indices of about 6 and OSAs at same level. It lasted for about 6 months. But I knew it all along that I did not have Complex or Mixed Sleep apnea b/c there was nothing wrong with my heart or those co2 receptors. After about 6 months it all changed for the better and since then my AHIs has been way below 5 all along. So I did not need to change my machine. However, for those, unlike me, who continue to have problems, of hi Apneas indices, meaning that they might suffer from cardiac or other medical problems, luckily, they sure could benefit from those advanced Adapt ASV ventilating machines.

I have been diagnosed with complex sleep apnea as well. When I was exposed to CPAP and BiPAP and BiPAP s/t, I developed periods of up to 1.5 minutes of no breathing and no respiratory effort with deoxygenation into the 70s. Basically the brain thinks it does not have to breathe. I am just now staring with my ASV journey. It is much more common than was previously thought. This is why a sleep doctor and in-lab test are good, because the willy nilly application of PAP without monitoring/titration can cause severe central apneas and deoxygenations that in a susceptible individual might be critical. (read that as possible cardiac event or death). Sounds uber dramatic but my doctor tells me that this phenomenon is the sleep doctors "nightmare"

Great video by the way; thanks for posting it!

photonic wrote:I have been diagnosed with complex sleep apnea as well. When I was exposed to CPAP and BiPAP and BiPAP s/t, I developed periods of up to 1.5 minutes of no breathing and no respiratory effort with deoxygenation into the 70s. Basically the brain thinks it does not have to breathe. I am just now staring with my ASV journey. It is much more common than was previously thought. This is why a sleep doctor and in-lab test are good, because the willy nilly application of PAP without monitoring/titration can cause severe central apneas and deoxygenations that in a susceptible individual might be critical. (read that as possible cardiac event or death). Sounds uber dramatic but my doctor tells me that this phenomenon is the sleep doctors "nightmare"

Great video by the way; thanks for posting it!

did you hear back about the weirdness your loaner 950 did over the weekend?

I did call and they said they had never heard that one before. They said that even with their software they cannot read the error codes on the SD card. will try the machine again to be sure it is working. It appears to be OK now after unplugging/plugging.

MD did agree to turn down the BPM from 12 to 11 to see if this stops rushing my breathing while I am awake AND I am going to try the Oracle mouth only mask (GASP!) (actually it sounds like it will be perfect for me and my virtually exclusive mouth breathing.) We shall see.

Thanks for asking.

Photonic, have your heard about this Photonics:

http://www.photonicslabs.com/Assets/dow ... elease.pdf

and this Photonics:

http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/nist-awa ... consortium

photonic wrote: ... MD did agree to turn down the BPM from 12 to 11 to see if this stops rushing my breathing while I am awake AND I am going to try the Oracle mouth only mask (GASP!) (actually it sounds like it will be perfect for me and my virtually exclusive mouth breathing.)

Please read about my experience with the Oracle 2 mask ( link in the signature block ).
PM me for more information on the nasal clips I use that work well.

JDS74 wrote:Please read about my experience with the Oracle 2 mask ( link in the signature block ).
PM me for more information on the nasal clips I use that work well.

Yes, I have read it and it was extremely helpful and helped me choose to try the device. Nice resource; thanks for making that available.