Does CPAP PREVENT apneas or INTERRUPT them?

[mountainlvr]

I'm confused again. I had my third study Friday night and in the morning the tech told me I had NO apneas the entire night! He also said I only went into REM once (at 4:00am) and for less than 30 minutes. He said my temperature spiked as soon as I went into REM and dropped as soon as I came out. In my last study I never went into REM at all.

What I want to know is, does CPAP stop apneas once they begin, or does it prevent them from happening at all?

I recently went off of Ativan (Lorazepam) which I was taking when I had the first two studies done. Both of those studies showed apnea. I'd been off the Ativan for several weeks before this new study which showed zero apneas. I wonder if there is a connection there. And I also recently had the septo/turbinate surgery before this new test.

Any thoughts??? Thanks!!!!

[jdm2857]

The goal of titration is to find the lowest pressure that will prevent apneas, hypopneas (partially obstructed breaths) and even RERAs (Resiratory Event Related Arousals), which have less obstruction than hypopneas, but still cause arousal. So, in theory, a CPAP set to the correct pressure should prevent all apneas.

But the real world isn't so simple. There a auto-adjusting machines (APAPs) that detect breathing events and increase pressure in response to them. These react to events in the hopes of preventing future ones.

[Jason S.]

Both. CPAP is a static pressure designed to keep the airway continuously open and prevent apneas. APAP would lower the pressure during good sleep but senses when apnea events are happening or about to happen and ups to pressure accordingly to terminate or prevent the event.

[ozij]

Autos are supposed to prevent apneas, be sensing their precursors, and raising the pressure in a way that keeps them from happening. They rarely do that as well as their manufacturers would have us think.

Autos never "interrupt" apneas, because they wait to see if this is really an apnea that warrants a higher pressure. The Respironics auto will only respond to apneas if they appear one after the other within 2 (or 3?) minutes. Most of its pressure response is supposed to be based on the apnea precursors.

You may definitely be benefiting from going off Ativan and having had the nasal surgery.
O.

[rested gal]

I had my third study Friday night and in the morning the tech told me I had NO apneas the entire night!
---
He said my temperature spiked as soon as I went into REM and dropped as soon as I came out.

They were monitoring your body temperature during a sleep study???? Never heard of that being monitored during a PSG sleep study, but I'm just a CPAP user, not a sleep tech. Interesting, that he said that.

ozij answered your question correctly. Autopaps try to prevent apneas. They don't try to treat an apnea that is already happening. That's all the more reason (imho) to have the minimum pressure of an autopap set high enough in the first place to prevent most apneas.

Results: 1st night with Auto A-Flex (topic started by TSSleepy)
Two nights graphs posted using pressure range 4 - 20 and 10 - 20
viewtopic.php?p=348963#p348963

November 2008 Just got an APAP (topic started by turbosnore)
viewtopic.php?p=319619#p319619

October 2008 Turning off Aflex and Cflex (topic started by DoriC)
viewtopic.php?p=307265#p307265

September 2008 New Guy - Need Help w/Settings (topic started by alanhj13)
viewtopic.php?p=294319#p294319

Wulfman, DreamStalker, and ozij explain why autopaps make changes slowly.
December 2008 Why adjust APAP. Isn't it auto? (topic started by oxygenium65)
viewtopic.php?p=323218#p323218

[Julie]

Hi, I would think that Lorazepam and similar meds could easily make a difference to how you sleep, and being off them is certainly better as your sleep will be more natural and tracking progress will give more valid results. It is possible that you might not need Cpap now, but I would definitely not just decide that on your own. DO talk to your MD about it all, do give cpap a good trial and do track your progress with the software (you do have it?). Don't just hand over the card to the tech periodically to be 'checked' because they only look at compliance stats, not necessarily anything else (well I mean don't 'not' hand it over if your situation calls for it, but don't depend on that alone to make your decision).