New to BiPAP - Advice on Equipment

[cdl]

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with central sleep apnea and prescribed a BiPAP machine. What are your recommendations on models? Of course, the doctor's office had an over-priced ResMed unit (about 40% higher than online). I'm wondering what your recommendations are from experience?

Thanks!

[ChicagoGranny]

How are you paying? Insurance or out-of-pocket?

[Pugsy]

Central apnea only?

I would want the Resmed AirCurve 10 ASV machine as my first choice.
It's a bilevel and takes care of central apnea quite nicely plus it can also take care of any obstructive apneas that might pop up.

BiPap is nothing more than the trademark name for a bilevel machine that Respironics uses...
And there are several different bilevel models each doing something different.

Do you have a copy of what the doctor ordered...what does it say? I am sure it says something more than "BiPap".

[cdl]

The prescription says:

BiPAP 10/6 "aup" [note: not sure on that, hard to read], 10 IPAP/6 EPAP


Thank you again!

[Pugsy]

Wonder if "aup" is maybe ASV?

That is not what a typical RX for someone with central apnea would be having on the RX unless the doctor wants to try simple bilevel first and it wouldn't have much chance of helping when someone has central apnea before ever starting cpap.
And an ASV type of machine would require more than 10/6 in the settings.

You might want to also get a copy of your sleep study results.

Bilevel machines in the ResMed model line...look here for the various AirCurve models and what each mode sort of addresses.
https://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/p ... vices.html

Respironics brand has a similar model line but they use BiPap in the model name instead of AirCurve.

[cdl]

Yeah, I have a request out to get a copy of the records. I don't know regarding the central sleep apnea; I'm just repeating what I was told :-\

[cdl]

For reference, I included the line with the suspicious "AUP". I'm open to other interpretations

[palerider]

For reference, I included the line with the suspicious "AUP". I'm open to other interpretations

I'm thinking that might be CWP, Centimeters Water Pressure.

[cdl]

Oh, doh, now that you say that, it does look like CWP. I did not see that

[Pugsy]

I also think maybe centimeters water pressure. It would make sense with the context of where it is on the RX.

[palerider]

also, 10/6 won't do squat for central apnea, ... well, it might make it worse.

[ChicagoGranny]

Curious that he marked out 24/14 and scribbled something beside it. The scribbling could be "Error" and the doc's initials (AK?)??

[Pugsy]

Curious that he marked out 24/14 and scribbled something beside it. The scribbling could be "Error" and the doc's initials (AK?)??

Yeah...that is a common practice...doctor changes his mind and changes something and initials the change so that everyone knows the doctor did it instead of the patient.
He sure changed his mind big time though. Big difference in pressures there. Makes me wonder why the big change.
There's a lot about this RX that bothers me without knowing a lot more information when someone says "the doctor says I need bipap and he said I have a lot of central apneas".
The RX as it stands now....like PR says...won't do squat for central apneas and might make them worse.

[Okie bipap]

When my wife first started treatment, she had a lot of central apneas when they titrated her to the required pressure. They started out at a much lower pressure and brought it up slowly over a four month period. At the beginning, it was common for her CAs to be as high as 8 or 9 per hour during the night. She still has a few CAs, and averages 1.7 per hour for the past six months. They took this approach because she did not show many CAs during her initial sleep study, only when titrated pressure got high. They wanted to make sure she could get by with an auto bilevel machine instead of needing the ASV.