ozij wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 7:13 am
I actually think the term "Clear Airway" apnea is a good operational description / definition of what the machine is reporting. i.e, this is an -a-pnea Icessation of breathing) not caused by an airway obstruction. The machine does not sense flow, hence "apnea", but - based on the way its algorithm works, identifies the airway as being clear.
We only know more about this type of apnea when we see the context in which these breathing stops appear in the chart.
Well said. I fully agree that "clear airway apnea" (1) is more accurate, (2) shows more humility regarding what a home treatment machine can actually report, and (3) may be the best choice for OSCAR.
But once the ad/marketing people at ResMed had done their thing, I acquiesced that a two-syllable word would likely win out in the vernacular in the long run.
I therefore choose personally not to correct OPs who speak of home-reported "centrals" and "bipaps," when that simply reflects the usage of what they've read elsewhere. If I know what they mean and get the intent of the question, I am willing to sacrifice some technical accuracy for friendly, helpful discourse.
dataq1 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 8:51 am
the CPAP user should seek to rule out nervous system dysfunction
No. A user who just started PAP a few months ago should not needlessly be told to worry about nervous system dysfunction. They need to become well-settled into optimized PAP. Full stop. Emergent centrals may well dissipate over time.
And it isn't strictly the percentage that matters when the number of clear airway events is still relatively low and a person may not be fully used to sleeping with a mask.
Alarmist rhetoric about a need to rule out brain damage is a much stronger indication of some nervous system dysfunction on the part of the alarmist than on the part of the PAP patient having a few centrals as his or her brain and body adapt to PAP.
Furthermore, it is when troubleshooting a truly significant number of centrals that THEN ruling out serious medical conditions should be fully explored before just jumping to ASV to hide the symptoms. It is only when nothing treatable is found that THEN it makes sense to give up on finding a cause and simply do what's necessary for the best sleep, which may or may not involve use of ASV.
In my opinion, OP ain't there yet. If concerns remain, a consultation with a sleep doc may be in order, sure. Hopefully, though, that won't be based on 'some guy on the Internet at cpaptalk.com told me that I have strong indications of brain/nervous-system dysfunction.'
That's the sort of thing that can give forums a bad name.
(Or, at least, a worse name.)