using friends auto pap without script

Can my use of a friends autopap be harmful to me ?, without md script? my friend was telling me to get tested, i refused due to the fact of not sleeping with wires electrodes and strangers watching. i tried her auto last night,(a spare) expecting to see me using a low pressure like 3-4. i fell asleep fine , slept 5 hours without waking, and when i looked at the cm/h2o number, was shocked and scared when i seen it was at 10.2 cm. what does this mean? Is it possible to have such a high pressure run on an autopap to someone who is "normal",ie no sleep apnea? Will this pressure hurt someone who doesnt need it? Or does this mean i must have some sort of sleep apnea? What do I do or think now? I may have opened a can of worms, as I mentioned this to my doc before and he didnt think I met the symptoms.

Educate yourself by clicking on the "yellow lightbulb" at the top of the page.

If you're serious about learning what you need, get a recording oximeter with software.....and check your blood O2 saturation levels while asleep....for about 2-weeks. If the levels stay at 93% or more, don't bother with CPAP.

If you're just screwing around to see what CPAP therapy is like, it's doubtful that you could hurt yourself in any way (using the pressures you mentioned).

No it probably won't hurt you. Yes you may have sleep apnea. Something around 10 cm is not a very high pressure. It also has nothing to do with the severity of your sleep apnea. It's a number that indicates how much pressure was needed to keep your airway open. How was the auto pap set? At what pressure range?

Someone with very severe sleep apnea may need that pressure and someone with mild sleep apnea may need that pressure.

You should go through a sleep study. The wires are nothing to be afraid of and someone watching you will not be in the room with you. There will be a small camera on the ceiling probably. It's a nuisance but does not hurt in any way.

Why did your friend suggest you try the auto pap? Did you friend notice something? The typical symptoms do not always apply! Your doctor didn't think that you had the symptoms. A sleep study will tell you for sure.

Untreated sleep apnea is very dangerous and can cause a lot of things that are a lot more scary and dangerous than sleeping with wires on and someone "watching" you.

brenda wrote:Can my use of a friends autopap be harmful to me ?, without md script? my friend was telling me to get tested, i refused due to the fact of not sleeping with wires electrodes and strangers watching. i tried her auto last night,(a spare) expecting to see me using a low pressure like 3-4. i fell asleep fine , slept 5 hours without waking, and when i looked at the cm/h2o number, was shocked and scared when i seen it was at 10.2 cm. what does this mean? Is it possible to have such a high pressure run on an autopap to someone who is "normal",ie no sleep apnea? Will this pressure hurt someone who doesnt need it? Or does this mean i must have some sort of sleep apnea? What do I do or think now? I may have opened a can of worms, as I mentioned this to my doc before and he didnt think I met the symptoms.

Highly unlikely. It's just "air".

How do you think that the rest of us got tested? On the other hand, a lot of us didn't sleep very well during our sleep studies, either......but I don't think the knowledge of having someone else watch was a factor.

You would probably never see a pressure of "3" because most current machines will only go as low as "4", but depending on WHICH machine was used and how it was configured can make a significant difference on what the results are. A pressure of "10 cm." isn't all that "high".....it's about average.

If you have other symptoms of Sleep Apnea (loud snoring, tiredness, etc.).....you probably HAVE Sleep Apnea. Your doctor's reaction/response is repeated far too often by people who eventually DO get a sleep study and then it's discovered that they actually have Sleep Apnea.

The options are to either have a sleep study or "acquire" a fully data-capable machine and software to monitor your results.


Den

A pressure of 10 is, statistically, what it takes to keep the airway open for most people who do have Obstructive Sleep Apnea. You've probably "got it."

Ten is not a particularly high pressure. The machine can use as little as 4 cms of pressure and as high as 20. Ten is about "average" regarding what pressure it takes to keep your airway open if you have sleep apnea. (And you do! I'd bet on it. )

As Hawthorne mentioned, the amount of pressure it takes to keep a person's airway open is dependent on their own anatomy, and has nothing to do with whether their sleep apnea is "mild", "moderate", or "severe." So, a moderate pressure of 10 for you doesn't mean your apnea is "moderate" -- you could have mild, moderate, or severe sleep apnea. But you almost certainly do have sleep apnea, imho (I'm not a doctor!) if the machine had to raise the pressure at all during the night for reasons other than tons of leaks.

I agree with the others...go on and get a sleep study. I'd pay no attention to what your doctor "thinks" about your not having sleep apnea. Most doctors are still very behind in the way they think about "sleep apnea" -- if they think about it at all.

Regarding this:

brenda wrote:my friend was telling me to get tested, i refused due to the fact of not sleeping with wires electrodes and strangers watching.

Most sleep techs have sat there for hundreds or thousands of sleep studies. They are NOT going to keep their eyes glued on the camera monitor. Most probably will hardly give that sleeping lump in the bed a glance. If they are watching anything at all, it's the squiggles on the computer screen... the data being gathered through the wires...that they are watching to be sure data is being recorded, wires are staying hooked up ok...that kind of thing. Watching the person sleeping would be about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Most sleep techs probably just glance at the computer screen once in awhile to be sure the data flow is going ok, never bother to "look" at the person sleeping, and spend most of their time reading, snacking, doing paperwork, studying, watching "real" tv, surfing the internet, doing some exercises to keep themselves awake, staging or scoring the study if they are also required to do that, and counting the hours until they can get outta there. It's a job to them. They couldn't care less about "watching a person sleep."

Think about it this way -- say you were going to have surgery and were going to be put to sleep under anesthesia, your bare body under a sheet on a table for any number of doctors to poke, prod, slice and dice. Bright lights on you and a crowd of operating room personnel gathered around. You wouldn't hesitate to have the operation, would you? You might be afraid of the operation, but it wouldn't be because of people "watching you" in anesthetized sleep.

A sleep study is a medical procedure too, with professional people involved. It's painless. Not even gonna get stuck with a needle the way you would be for an operation.

I'd start cultivating this kind of attitude toward getting a sleep study ---

"Wooohooo, I'm going to spend just one night away from home in a comfy motel-like setting, having a lot of information gathered painlessly about how I breathe when I'm asleep. I'm ready to find out for sure if I've "got it." 'Cause if I do, I know of an internet site called cpaptalk that will help me figure out how to use cpap comfortably, to make my life sooooo much better!!

I don't want to have a stroke or heart attack, or end up on my back in a nursing home! I want to get started NOW, treating my sleep apnea, so let's get that sleep study done as soon as we can. Put me on the cancellation list to get me in as soon as possible. Let's get the show on the road!! Hey, can I bring my own pillow?"

Yes, you can.

The minimum setting may have previously been set for your friend's pressure of 10cm.

DoriC wrote:The minimum setting may have previously been set for your friend's pressure of 10cm.

How clever, Dori. I was just assuming (and we know what that can do!) that the friend had set the machine for 4 or 5 minimum to...20 or 15 or something.

We really don't know what range the friend set the machine for, or left it set for. Or if the friend has Encore software and plans to download the Smart Card.

Machine might have been set with 10 as the maximum for that matter, and Brenda might need more pressure. Who knows....

You raised a good point, Dori!

Yeah, I'm with RG.

They're not watching the camera except to help diagnose things like RLS, PLMD, or REM disorders, which involve physical movement while you sleep. If the electrodes on your legs go nuts, then they'll probably glance to see if you're dancing on the bed, and that's about it.

There are also many sleep labs which have more of a hotel type room instead of a hospital setting, and they'll also let you have a loved one stay there with you if you're more comfortable sleeping that way. I'd say it's pretty important to get tested, just so you know what you're dealing with. It's a very routine thing.

Oh, you can also request that your technician be male or female. Whatever you're more comfortable with.

Welcome to the party brenda. If you slept for 5 hrs YOU are a natural
It took me about a month to get that far.

How did you feel the next day?