I like to stop breathing...for a few seconds...

Friends,
I just switched to a full mask and I am much more comfortable. After just about 60 days on CPAP I figured out what my problem is.

Normally I go to sleep like this:
I go off to "lala land" and when I get there I slow down my breathing. Really it is more like I stop breathing. Then I find myself asleep. The problem I have now is that my CPAP, even now with my more comfortable mask, as soon as I get to "lala land" and slow my breathing down, the machine pushes me to breath, sometime it does so forcefully. Then I don't fall to sleep.

So I have very rarely fallen asleep with the machine. I do feel like I am doing better though. During the time that I lay with it on, I believe I start breathing better and then breathe better as I sleep. That might seem like a contradiction form the fact that I slow my breathing before fall to sleep. One night I sat an alarm and woke up and put the mask on after I fell asleep. That was one approach, I might try it again.

Any help out there?

GwinnettAndy wrote:The problem I have now is that my CPAP, even now with my more comfortable mask, as soon as I get to "lala land" and slow my breathing down, the machine pushes me to breath, sometime it does so forcefully.

what machine do you have? becuase the one you listed in your profile cannot do that.

GwinnettAndy wrote:Friends,
I just switched to a full mask and I am much more comfortable. After just about 60 days on CPAP I figured out what my problem is.

Normally I go to sleep like this:
I go off to "lala land" and when I get there I slow down my breathing. Really it is more like I stop breathing. Then I find myself asleep. The problem I have now is that my CPAP, even now with my more comfortable mask, as soon as I get to "lala land" and slow my breathing down, the machine pushes me to breath, sometime it does so forcefully. Then I don't fall to sleep.

So I have very rarely fallen asleep with the machine. I do feel like I am doing better though. During the time that I lay with it on, I believe I start breathing better and then breathe better as I sleep. That might seem like a contradiction form the fact that I slow my breathing before fall to sleep. One night I sat an alarm and woke up and put the mask on after I fell asleep. That was one approach, I might try it again.

Any help out there?

What are your pressure (and other) settings?

The one thing that comes to my mind is that you are using a Ramp setting and that is the "forcefully" feeling you're experiencing when it gradually gets up to full pressure.
So, it would help to know what your pressure, Ramp (pressure and time) and whatever else settings are in your machine.


Den

.

I recently noticed a similar thing and asked my doctor about it. He explained that at the point where you fall asleep, it is normal and expected for you to stop breathing temporarily during the transition to automatic breathing. Machines report these occurrences as central apneas and may attempt to compensate.

strongnose wrote:I recently noticed a similar thing and asked my doctor about it. He explained that at the point where you fall asleep, it is normal and expected for you to stop breathing temporarily during the transition to automatic breathing. Machines report these occurrences as central apneas and may attempt to compensate.

modern machines such as your autoset never raise the pressure when they flag a central.

the machine the OP listed doesn't raise pressure for anything, it's a basic cpap.

When you update us on your machine number, let us know your ramp setting, if you know it. As Den noted, the transition from ramp, to your regular setting may be a big jump, causing that feeling.

I don't use the ramp setting for several reasons, one being the 'kick-in' phase is startling for me. The other reason is the ramp has always seemed to 'smother' with a too low pressure. You may want to consider turning your ramp off & see how that works for you.

We can help you better once we know the exact machine you have & what your ramp & pressure settings are.

Jen

GwinnettAndy wrote:The problem I have now is that my CPAP, even now with my more comfortable mask, as soon as I get to "lala land" and slow my breathing down, the machine pushes me to breath, sometime it does so forcefully. Then I don't fall to sleep.

Does it say "Elite" next to the power button on your machine? The Elite doesn't have a timed breathing function like you describe.

There's function called EPR, where the pressure drops off when you exhale and increases on the inhale. You might be feeling this pressure change. Try turning EPR off.

If you stop breathing long enough, the Elite machine starts sending out pulses of pressure at about 4 Hz to try and detect whether it's a central apnea or obstructive. Some people are overly sensitive to these "FOT" pulses. Do you feel pulses or a one time increase in pressure?

archangle wrote:

GwinnettAndy wrote:The problem I have now is that my CPAP, even now with my more comfortable mask, as soon as I get to "lala land" and slow my breathing down, the machine pushes me to breath, sometime it does so forcefully. Then I don't fall to sleep.

If you stop breathing long enough, the Elite machine starts sending out pulses of pressure at about 4 Hz to try and detect whether it's a central apnea or obstructive. Some people are overly sensitive to these "FOT" pulses. Do you feel pulses or a one time increase in pressure?

Maybe you could fall asleep easier with a Philips CPAP? If there is technology to detect apner you feel so Philips would probably work better.

Lazer1234 wrote:Maybe you could fall asleep easier with a Philips CPAP? If there is technology to detect apner you feel so Philips would probably work better.

I understand the PRS1 pulses have a larger pressure difference than S9, and more people feel them. You may be trading having them happen less often for them being more noticeable.

I'm not sure it's FOT the OP is feeling, either. FOT would be a series of pulses.

You all are so kind. I am overwhelmed by your support. Thank you very much.
I do not have an Elite machine, I do have one that says EPR. Any idea how I can turn it off. I will play around with it. I have taken the ramp off my machine, well my doctor did that for me.

It is good to know that my habit for falling asleep is normal. At least that is what I hear you saying.

I also hear you all saying that my machine should allow me to stop breathing for a while. Hopefully that knowledge will help tonight.

Thanks everyone.

GwinnettAndy wrote:You all are so kind. I am overwhelmed by your support. Thank you very much.
I do not have an Elite machine, I do have one that says EPR. Any idea how I can turn it off. I will play around with it. I have taken the ramp off my machine, well my doctor did that for me.

look on the back of the machine, on the label, down at the bottom, under the serial number, there's a REF number, what is it?

Can you tell us what is says above the power button? There are several different models, and that can make a huge difference in our advice. Your profile currently says elite, so you will need to get the correct one listed.

From his older post he have the autoset and the tech told him the pressure is 5-15.

tmr wrote:From his older post he have the autoset and the tech told him the pressure is 5-15.

Problem is, to the less informed, that could be interpreted that his Ramp starts at 5 cm. and ends at the fixed pressure of 15 cm.


Den

.

GwinnettAndy wrote:You all are so kind. I am overwhelmed by your support. Thank you very much.
I do not have an Elite machine, I do have one that says EPR. Any idea how I can turn it off. I will play around with it. I have taken the ramp off my machine, well my doctor did that for me.

What does it say above the power button? It should say EPR, Start/stop, and something else like elite, escape, AutoSet, etc. The something else is what we need to know.

They all say EPR and start/stop.

What does it say where this picture says "AutoSet?"



The manuals can be found here:

http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual

To change EPR, press the setup button. EPR will probably be the highlighted item on the menu. See if it's set to off, 1, 2, or 3. Press the push dial to select, turn the push dial to change, then press the push dial to change.

EPR can be disabled or locked out in the secret clinician's menu. If you don't see EPR in the menu, it's probably locked out. The manual above will tell you how to change that if it's locked out for you. It's disabled by default. You want to set it to "Full time" and "patient," and then you can set it however you want in the patient's menu.