Delayed inhalation

Writing about my worries about my husband: He is newly diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and is having delayed inhalation regularly (I noticed it when I was sleeping with him) to the extent that the CPAP makes him start breathing. Should I be worried about this? It seems scary to me that he isn't inhaling without "being ordered to" by the CPAP. (He is adjusting amazingly easily to the machine in his second week--he likes it!)

His pressure settings may not be high enough (this happens all the time), but can you tell us what the settings are now, what machine he uses - full name and model # - and same for mask.

Thanks, Julie. I agree. His settings top out at 10 and he is using 9+ pressure now nightly. Forgive me for not detailing more. I'll do that if the pressure change doesn't solve this.

Wantok wrote:Writing about my worries about my husband: He is newly diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and is having delayed inhalation regularly (I noticed it when I was sleeping with him) to the extent that the CPAP makes him start breathing.

A straight CPAP doesn't "make" your hubby breathe. All a straight CPAP does is provide pressure to splint the airway open and make it more difficult (but not impossible) for the airway to collapse.

If the "delayed inhalation" is a stoppage of breathing for at least 10 seconds, then it might very well be an apnea that is occurring in spite of the CPAP. If these delayed inhalations are fairly rare (his treated AHI < 5.0), then there's probably nothing to worry about. But if these delayed inhalations are fairly common, then there probably is an issue that needs to be reported to your hubby's sleep doctor.

It would help us help you if we knew exactly what make and model CPAP your husband is using. Some CPAPs record so-called efficacy data and some only record usage data. A machine that records efficacy data will detect and record the apneas that get through in spite of the CPAP usage. That data can then be used to determine whether the pressure setting is sufficiently high enough to properly manage the apnea. The efficacy data can also be used to determine whether there is any significant leaking occurring and whether those leaks are both long enough and large enough to adversely affect the efficacy of the CPAP thereapy.