Can I use my bipap like a sleep study

[joeshmoe666]

I have a Bipap machine and I usually use settings of IPAP: 17 and EPAP: 15. I thought if I set the machine down to it's lowest setting of 5 it would in effect act like a sleep study by not having enough pressure to help my apnea but the machine would still record AHI. I expected to see my AHI go way up to roughly what it was during my sleep study, but it actually was really low ( . . My question is, if I set my IPAP/EPAP to 5, is that too low for the machine to record apnea events? In other words does it need at minimum pressure to detect an event? Or is it possible that it's working the way I expected and my apnea has gotten much better since I did my original study (my original AHI was 20 in the sleep study).

Hopefully I explained it clearly. If not, let me know.

Thanks

[palerider]

I have a Bipap machine and I usually use settings of IPAP: 17 and EPAP: 15. I thought if I set the machine down to it's lowest setting of 5 it would in effect act like a sleep study by not having enough pressure to help my apnea but the machine would still record AHI. I expected to see my AHI go way up to roughly what it was during my sleep study, but it actually was really low ( . . My question is, if I set my IPAP/EPAP to 5, is that too low for the machine to record apnea events? In other words does it need at minimum pressure to detect an event? Or is it possible that it's working the way I expected and my apnea has gotten much better since I did my original study (my original AHI was 20 in the sleep study).

Hopefully I explained it clearly. If not, let me know.

Thanks

to answer your question, in short "no".

in long, "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo'

ok, just kidding... the machines detect events by watching disturbances in the *flow* of air, if you've got a machine supported by sleepyhead, you can load the data into it, and SEE every breath you took.

if you get a very low ahi at 5, then you're not currently needing much pressure to keep your airway open. that doesn't mean your apnea would be better, without the machine, just that you don't need much pressure to control it.

the severity of the apnea has nothing to do with the pressure needed, some people with really severe apnea apnea (5x yours) only need a little pressure, and some people with mild apnea need bucket loads of pressure.

[bwexler]

You didn't mention which machine you have. If it is an auto bi level you can do a titration study using Sleepyhead software. PAP machine are not intended to do the original sleep study, which in lab includes many facets like EEG, EKG, Video, etc. Your PAP machine doesn't include any of the sleep lab equipment or equivalent until you get to titration. Then maybe with the right machine you can do a titration if you don't have complex apnea, or if you thoroughly understand what you are doing.

[joeshmoe666]

Thanks guys. I guess if I started out needing 17/15 of pressure and now I have almost no AHI even at 4/4 then my apnea must be getting better. I've been taking allergy shots which is helping my asthma so I do think my apnea has improved. I have a Philips Respironics System One Bipap S/T with humidifier and sleepyhead does not currently work with that. I figured out my .002 file structure but it seems that the person who wrote sleepy head is no longer updating it with new machines, so I threw together a PHP/web based app to do some quick and dirty reporting and graphing and I also have the Encore Viewer software.

Thanks again