Central and OSA is there a CPAP that will work?

[mon]

For many years I have known my sister has severe OSA and Central apnea. She was commenced on BiPAP therapy years ago but was unable to tolerate it. Her respiration rate is 6-8 per minute when awake and 4-6 while sleeping. The BiPap can't seem to work in with her breathing pattern and she is overwhelmed with pressure at the inappropriate time. She is so ill, suffering from severe fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Doctors seem to be at a loss as to what they can do to help her. It all seems to be in the too hard basket.

I have recently been diagnosed with OSA and have learned that perhaps there is a machine that may be able to help her out there somewhere. Is anyone out there who had similar symptoms and is able to tolerate a machine? Obviously she is in great need of treatment.

[TheRealMacGyver]

I'm new at this and may not be the best voice of advise, but in my experience of only 2 weeks I think you have to want to make it work before it will work. I'm struggling with my own issues and have nights when I somehow rip my mask off and sleep half the night with no Cpap. But I am trying and determined to make this work. Now, that said I'm not an MD and there may be some underlying issues that make it less tolerable for her. The whole thing is no fun at all, but I think if you want success you need determination. If she doesn't want it to work it probably won't. That's my two cents.

[cflame1]

if her doctor doesn't know how to handle her... maybe she needs a different doctor?

There are more sophisticated machines that'll help with CSA but the doc needs to know what they're doing.

[Suddenly Worn Out]

Before I got put on CPAP, I used to have unexplained, severe "fibromyalgia" symptoms all the time. Went around like that for ten years. I had one doctor even try to start dxing me with fibromyalgia type symptoms, formally. Basically, I my muscles (but not my joints) were sore all the time. And of course at the same time I suffered from ridiculously severe chronic fatigue, which was blamed on severe depression and also on some anxiety.

Soon as I got on CPAP, within days literally, those "fibromyalgia" symptoms went away. I now no longer have them. If I dont use my CPAP or lower the pressure too much, the "fibro" symptoms come back in spades.

Untreated sleep apnea causes you to move around in your sleep a lot. And of course causes sleep deprivation. That combined, can definitely cause fibro type symptoms.

I would be willing to bet at least some of the fibro symptoms and some segment of the chronic fatigue is...untreated sleep apnea. I would encourage her to continue to treat it with whatever will work. Is she working with a good brick and mortar, respiratory oriented DME? That is key IMO. The mask has to be right. The humidity has to be right. The machine has to be right. Maybe she will need oxygen as well in her sleep? I have found the general DMEs, the ones that are not respiratory focused, to not be so good for sleep apnea patients. Most of the sleep docs I have dealt with seem to throw off ALL equipment issues to the DMEs and they just assume the DMEs will do a good job...when many times the DMEs do an awful job. And then the sleep docs are at a loss why the patient is not doing well.

Eric

For many years I have known my sister has severe OSA and Central apnea. She was commenced on BiPAP therapy years ago but was unable to tolerate it. Her respiration rate is 6-8 per minute when awake and 4-6 while sleeping. The BiPap can't seem to work in with her breathing pattern and she is overwhelmed with pressure at the inappropriate time. She is so ill, suffering from severe fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Doctors seem to be at a loss as to what they can do to help her. It all seems to be in the too hard basket.

I have recently been diagnosed with OSA and have learned that perhaps there is a machine that may be able to help her out there somewhere. Is anyone out there who had similar symptoms and is able to tolerate a machine? Obviously she is in great need of treatment.

[ozze_dollar]

Get some professional assessment as to what machine you should use.