Central Apnea ALTITUDE CHANGE

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Fourtay
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Central Apnea ALTITUDE CHANGE

Post by Fourtay » Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:42 am

Hello,
I live at 6,000 feet.
My most recent sleep study said that I have a mixture of obstructive and central sleep apnea.

I was wondering if anyone with central apnea has had success with moving to a lower altitude?

Thank you in advance

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34 Year old male, 5 Foot 10 Inches, 170 LBS, BMI = 24.4 kg/m2

D.H.
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Re: Central Apnea ALTITUDE CHANGE

Post by D.H. » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:48 am

If you think this could help, try vacationing at the sea shore for a week.

Alternatively, if you're able to make a long voyage, you can stay at the lowest dry point on Earth; Ein Gedi by the shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. There are many hotels and guest houses there.

Link ===> https://en.parks.org.il/parksandreserve ... fault.aspx

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Allessio77
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Location: Arizona

Re: Central Apnea ALTITUDE CHANGE

Post by Allessio77 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:54 am

I have the reverse experience! I live at 3500 ft and took my sleep study at 7500 ft. MANY Centrals at 7500 ft. My therapy at 3500 ft shows far less centrals. Sleep doctor said should would not recommend me moving to a higher elevation.

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D.H.
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Re: Central Apnea ALTITUDE CHANGE

Post by D.H. » Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:00 am

Allessio77 wrote:
Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:54 am
I have the reverse experience! I live at 3500 ft and took my sleep study at 7500 ft. MANY Centrals at 7500 ft. My therapy at 3500 ft shows far less centrals. Sleep doctor said should would not recommend me moving to a higher elevation.
A sleep study is just one night, so it might have just been a bad night. Also, you're in a strange place and all wired up, so that might be problematic for you.

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jnk...
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Re: Central Apnea ALTITUDE CHANGE

Post by jnk... » Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:22 am

My understanding is that reactions to altitude are highly individual in the lower part of the middle-to-high-altitude ranges.

Many factors come into play. Sometimes the body adjusts to the altitude over time as PAP does its thing in stopping the obstructions, which can allow some to heal enough and adjust enough over the months that the centrals calm down after a while too. On the other hand, some will never get good sleep and consistent oxygenation at some altitudes.

I live below 1,000 ft, so when I get above 5,000 or so, that shows up in my numbers. I try not to be above that altitude more than a day or two, so that I rarely have to sleep at that altitude. Estes Park, CO, (7,500 ft) for example, was a quite lovely place to visit, but I sure wouldn't want to sleep too many nights there. Maybe I would adjust to it over time if I had to live there. But given my history of many years with untreated OSA, I think my internal-CO2-feedback-loop sensors may have been irreparably damaged--although I do fine at low-to-mid altitudes, with no central problem to speak of at all now.

In your shoes, some questions I might ask myself are the following: How many centrals? How bad are they? Are the numbers over the long-term trending going up or down? Are they really disturbing my sleep? Is my spO2 doing OK the vast majority of the night?

Moving just to help my trending numbers is not something I would likely do. Moving to improve my health is something I would be more likely to consider seriously. Differentiating between the two is the trick and may be the important thing for effective decision-making. A good doc-RRT team can help a lot with weighing that, if they respect home-treatment-machine reports. But, ultimately, where you live isn't something that gets prescribed, and the experiences of others may not inform any guesstimate predictions, since the state of any organism is a moving target to track.
-Jeff (AS10/P30i)

Accounts to put on the foe list: Me. I often post misleading, timewasting stuff.