What does it feel like to use an ASV CPAP if you don’t need it?

[CPAPSteve]

So a few weeks ago I was chatting with a friend about sleep apnea and he had this perception that the CPAP machine did the breathing for you like how a ventilator would work. I corrected him so he understood how sleep apnea was treated but then I got thinking... what if someone that uses an AirSense 10 Autoset started using an ASV machine or an “ST” machine.... would the machine behave the same as a normal CPAP or would it be super weird using one? Has anyone here that doesn’t need an ASV or ST machine tried this and what was your experience like?

My question reminds me an episode of The Simpsons where Homer was in a nursing home and wanted to be on a ventilator because he was too lazy to breathe on his own... lol

[palerider]

or would it be super weird using one?

Depends on what you consider 'super weird" to be. It can effectively inflate your lungs.

The ST is very predicable, being timed.

The ASV can be completely unobtrusive, until you decide not to breathe, then out of nowhere, *WHAM* 25cm pressure.

[CPAPSteve]

Super weird in that if you could somehow totally be truly relaxed and don’t fight the machine that it would pressurize your lungs and then allow them to deflate like being on a hospital ventilator. I know that total relaxation can’t stop your own natural breathing - it’s more of a what would happen if you tried to stop breathing or were able to actually fall asleep using one of the above mentioned machines. Could one actually let it do the breathing for you?

I am chuckling as I type this because my buddy and I said that we’d have more energy in the day if we just let the machine do all the work for us while we slept.

Laughing myself to sleep just thinking about the what if’s...

[palerider]

Super weird in that if you could somehow totally be truly relaxed and don’t fight the machine that it would pressurize your lungs and then allow them to deflate like being on a hospital ventilator. I know that total relaxation can’t stop your own natural breathing - it’s more of a what would happen if you tried to stop breathing or were able to actually fall asleep using one of the above mentioned machines. Could one actually let it do the breathing for you?

I am chuckling as I type this because my buddy and I said that we’d have more energy in the day if we just let the machine do all the work for us while we slept.

Laughing myself to sleep just thinking about the what if’s...

Uh huh... sure.

[esel]

Super weird in that if you could somehow totally be truly relaxed and don’t fight the machine that it would pressurize your lungs and then allow them to deflate like being on a hospital ventilator. I know that total relaxation can’t stop your own natural breathing - it’s more of a what would happen if you tried to stop breathing or were able to actually fall asleep using one of the above mentioned machines. Could one actually let it do the breathing for you?

I am chuckling as I type this because my buddy and I said that we’d have more energy in the day if we just let the machine do all the work for us while we slept.

Laughing myself to sleep just thinking about the what if’s...

Do you mean coma, artificial coma, Heaven or death ?

I can tell you one morning it scared the hell out of me ! I thought I was dead No pain, a feeling of being completely rested and in peace with myself. OK, I was lucky. I turned over and guess what. I was alive pain, and normal evil thoughts came rushing back, BUT I felt rested.

Here an attempt to answer your question:

CPAP 6 (just CPAPing at a pressure of 6)

The attachment cpap1.JPG is no longer available

cpap2.JPG (349.93 KiB) Viewed 4486 times

cpap4.JPG (332.13 KiB) Viewed 4486 times

? ? ? cannot attach more pictures ? will try to send them in the next message...

[esel]

And here the attack by the VPAP...

asv1.JPG

asv3.JPG

asv4.JPG

Well, what do you think ?

and guess what you actually can sleep with them ... The big question is

Is it sound peaceful sleeping or is it crap sleeping ?

[CPAPSteve]

Wow that is some wild and wickedly crazy pressure dips and spikes. But you an AHI of 0!

I would presume trying to get a restful sleep would be difficult and disruptive just by the nature of pressure variations. When I started cpap use this past summer I would wake with a steady pressure rise from 7 —> 14cms and that was a gradual rise.

Is it literally cramming air into our lungs and fighting the pressure is a futile effort? Does the machine stop or does it force you to inhale for a certain duration?

This will be interesting beer talk the next time I talk to my buddy over beers

[LSAT]

Wow that is some wild and wickedly crazy pressure dips and spikes. But you an AHI of 0!

I would presume trying to get a restful sleep would be difficult and disruptive just by the nature of pressure variations. When I started cpap use this past summer I would wake with a steady pressure rise from 7 —> 14cms and that was a gradual rise.

Is it literally cramming air into our lungs and fighting the pressure is a futile effort? Does the machine stop or does it force you to inhale for a certain duration?

This will be interesting beer talk the next time I talk to my buddy over beers

The machine is opening your airway..you are inhaling the air into your lungs. It is not cramming the air into your lungs.

[happybreather]

You are sound asleep. When the machine intervenes and forces a breath, it does not awaken you. In my case, at least, I sleep through the entire event, or events. It feels perfectly normal. Sometimes I awaken in the early morning to find air bubbling out the side of my mask. But that is just from the pressure resulting from the titration of necessary pressure to prevent obstructive events. I operate the machine in the ASVAuto mode.

[palerider]

Wow that is some wild and wickedly crazy pressure dips and spikes. But you an AHI of 0!

I would presume trying to get a restful sleep would be difficult and disruptive just by the nature of pressure variations.

"pressure variations" aren't nearly as disturbing as some people make them out to be... if they were, nobody would ever be able to sleep with an ASV (or bilevel machine).

When I started cpap use this past summer I would wake with a steady pressure rise from 7 —> 14cms and that was a gradual rise.

More likely, the breathing events that caused that pressure rise are what woke you up (that's what they do, after all) and you just unfairly blamed the pressure increase.

Does the machine stop or does it force you to inhale for a certain duration?

Your question has already been answered by the graphs esel posted... just look at the mask pressure line.

[palerider]

Wow that is some wild and wickedly crazy pressure dips and spikes. But you an AHI of 0!

I would presume trying to get a restful sleep would be difficult and disruptive just by the nature of pressure variations. When I started cpap use this past summer I would wake with a steady pressure rise from 7 —> 14cms and that was a gradual rise.

Is it literally cramming air into our lungs and fighting the pressure is a futile effort? Does the machine stop or does it force you to inhale for a certain duration?

This will be interesting beer talk the next time I talk to my buddy over beers

The machine is opening your airway..you are inhaling the air into your lungs. It is not cramming the air into your lungs.

An ASV or ST machine *is* literally cramming air into your lungs, otherwise, they'd be ineffective at ventilating you.

[greenall]

Well, here's my experience.

I used a fixed cpap machine at a pressure of 16 for about 2 years. Worked fairly well but every morning work up feeling like an overinflated beach ball. My AHI averaged anywhere from about 1 to 5 (but usually closer to 5). I tried various things to bring that down but there was really no pattern to the events that would happen. Some nights I would have a lot of Centrals, or nights not.

I switched to a Resmed ASV machine about 2-3 weeks ago on my own. No more waking up pumped full of air because my average pressure is lower, and I haven't had a AHI above .5 at all during that time, and usually those events are just wake/sleep junk. I won't go back to the fixed machine.

Yeah, the first couple of nights did feel a little strange especially after being on a fixed machine. That jump in pressure really does make you take a breath when it thinks you need to.

I've attached below one of my typical nights below.

[CPAPSteve]

Thanks for answering a CPAP wonder for me

I appreciate everyone taking the time to share their knowledge and experiences.