Bipap and my third sleep study.

I have been on cpap since 2-3-12. It took a while but after about 6 weeks i did feel better,lost most of the sleepy drowsey, feeling which was great. Then about the first of May i would wake up around 5:30 AM and and within in an hour i would need to lay back down for an hour or so nap. I have been maintaining contact with my sleep doc she has raised my pressure to 18 that did not help. So she ordered another sleep study and the use of a Bipap machine. Which is next week on the 30th. My AHI is low,consistantly around 1.0 or less,with few leaks,none last night.One thing, i am not remembering my dreams so i don't think i am getting any REM sleep. Does this sound like a bipap issue? What other questions do i need to ask the sleep doc?
Thanks for all the help you have giving me.
reffus1881

Not recalling dreams does not mean a lack of REM sleep.

One theory is that we only recall dreams when we wake right at the end or during a REM cycle.

I would not worry about your ability to recall dreams and instead try to be more self conscious about how rested and energetic you feel while awake.

I think most of us don't remember our dreams once we pass childhood unless they are incidentally memorable, one-off type of things, dreams likely generated by unusual stress, or by serious sleep issues, and to me it sounds like you are doing so well that I would seriously question why you're going on bipap and do you really need such high pressure to begin with.

How appropriate that DreamStalker would appear on a dream related topic. Good to see you!

reffus1881, just wondering how many hours you are sleeping prior to that 5:30am wakeup? And do you feel you are waking up during the night also? I'm not a bipap user, but some will weigh in. I've just read in general that sometimes people using higher pressures find it easier to tolerate the pressure with a bipap. Is your AHI of 1 or less just since your pressure was increased? Hope you find a solution and begin getting restful sleep.

kteague wrote:How appropriate that DreamStalker would appear on a dream related topic. Good to see you!
...

It appears you are doing very well based on the new avatar pic (new to me anyway ) ... good to see you again too.

reffus1881 -

This apnea treatment is much more likely to succeed when the patient is the pilot and the sleep doc is the co-pilot/navigator. The treatment requires close monitoring and adjustments. First issue to get control of is a leak-free mask that you can tolerate. Once that hurdle is mastered, tweaking the blower unit adjustments is next. In either case, data is critical or else you are flying with a blindfold. In other words, if mask leaks were the problem to begin with, increasing the pressure only makes leaks worse and the treatment even less effective to non-effective. Without data it would be difficult/impossible for your doc to know anything about possible leaks or reason to adjust pressure up or down.

Quite often, sleep clinics are only good at diagnosis and have no clue as how to actually treat sleep apnea. They use a textbook approach of giving the patient the equipment with a hastily titrated estimate of pressure requirements and then put you on a subscription list for regular mask/hose accessories to charge your insurance on. If you have problems they often attribute that to patient error. You, the patient must take charge of the treatment. This forum is the perfect place to educate yourself on how to take charge but you have to invest the time and effort to make it succeed ... like anything in life.

You must convince your doctor to provide you with a machine that can record efficacy data and not just compliance data. Otherwise getting the treatment optimized will take forever in addition to unnecessary and expensive sleep studies and office visits -- which often leads to the patient giving up or going broke or both. If your sleep doc refuses to work with you and allow you to take charge of your treatment, find another doc.

Hi all!
i'm a 47 yr. old male suffering from what i wouold call severe sleep depravation...
A sleep doc. said I had moderate apnea based on looking down my throat.(no sleep study i can't afford 3k)
Any way the nurse gave me a donated cpap machine which I've tried countles times over a year sometimes going 3-5 days with 0 hours of sleep of any kind just to remain persistant. I've tried 4 different pressure changes & now can"t even wear the thing.
The most notable detail here is that I have the same titration on exhale with the mask on as I do off. (so why wear it)
It seems my air way colapses on exhale & either traps the air in my lungs or forces it out my mouth with a forceful "pop"
Do I need a Bipap? or is there something else I can try.
On top of all this I dream "seemingly " all night long... I'm physically fit otherwise...
So desperate for help I'm very worried for my life & my family's well being!
HELP...