Question for Bipap Users

I have posted separately about humidity problems with my bipap and different types/brands of masks.

But that is just part of a Huge Problem. I don't have any major heart or lung etc problems. Pressure of 11-19 and Support of 2 and AHI's are fairly consistent at about 2-5. Average pressure results are around 13-16 - I have posted a couple of graphs before and comments said they didn't see any major issues going on.

**BUT - each day gets worse - last few days woke up shaking, crying, panicking, out-of breath and terrified of the machine and convinced I am dying. It nows takes no less than 5-6 hours just to stop shaking and crying and getting over the previous night's "pretty sleep" of AHI of 2...

The humidity mess may be part of it, but I haven't changed meds or rooms (temp of 70) or done anything except lower the pressure setting of 5 to 2 which improved the AHI's from about 6 to 2-3, and it feels better when exhaling, and all feels ok when i begin to fall asleep.

Since neither my sleep "doctor" (turns out she is Not a doctor - just has a little "training" in sleep - Surprise!) nor my Medicare DME has any idea what the other settings mean on a Bipap and what they should be set on, could someone please tell me what those mean and what the "normal" settings for a person without heart/COPD/etc problems should be?

I know the upper and lower pressure ranges. My understanding is the pressure support is similar to the EPR on an auto machine? But strangely I have read in a couple of places that it should be the "difference between the upper and lower pressures"!! Not only does it not go that high, but that sounds Crazy. I would think it would be what the name says - like the EPR.

**What are the other 2 or 3 settings on a Bipap - what are they for, and if "unused or unchanged", what should they be set on. The DME didn't know what they were or what they were for, and the sleep "doctor" didn't even know they existed! Could that be part of my problem - something set weirdly with those settings that they don't know about causing some sort of weird breathing response or lack thereof.

Anyway, I did want to at least recheck the settings on my Bipap and since I don't know what some of them are, need help with that.

Since I can't face another night waking in a panic attack, heart racing, and taking 5-6 hours to quit crying and shaking, I think I need to:

1 -Go see the GOOD local DME (non-Medicare) and pay for time with their GOOD technician to get some mask trial fittings and advice (they actually have a "bedroom" where you take your machine and he works with you trying different masks) and also just pay them to check out this Bipap to see if functioning ok. I would think it would be, with the "pretty AHIs" and the consistency of them, but who knows. I know that doesn't mean the humidifier hasn't lost its mind, but maybe they are able to check that?

2 - Find and make appt with an ACTUAL Sleep Doctor that has an ACTUAL sleep lab and Qualified Technicians (not a third party offsite weird place with a technician that puts masks on upside down and says they don't understand bipaps). I know that will take weeks if not months, but have to start somewhere. Then the doctor/technicians there can review the sleep studies and decide if another study is warranted (using qualified personnel), or if they can figure out what the problems are, and if I even should have been switched to a Bipap. Plus then I would have someone to see for future problems and support.

3 - Probably just return to the old S9 autoset with not great AHIs (5-10) and some fatigue during the day. I cannot continue like this last week - housebound, shaking in fear 5+ hours a day, beyond terrified to go to sleep at night knowing what will happen when I open my eyes. I have exhausted every single logical thing I can think of, and have never read of anyone having this severe of a reaction to a Bipap. 3 Weeks ago when this was all getting worse and worse, I thought I was developing a bad "anxiety" problem. But...in the past 0.25 Xanax would stop any anxiety cold - nothing is stopping this horrible terrifying wake up situation - not any amount of xanax or anything. As my husband and I said to each other this morning when I flew our of bed gasping for breath and was shaking and crying and almost screaming (and no, it's not nightmares) - "this is NOT an Anxiety problem - this is a CPAP Machine Problem".

***That's why I keep wondering if there's anything about those "other" settings that are set horribly wrong or just horribly wrong for me even when set "normally" or "factory".*** It makes no sense that a good brand, frequently used Bipap would cause someone to feel like they are going to die every single day when their eyes open......

Thanks for any insight and information on Bipap settings and how they are supposed to work. I so appreciate your help.

The settings you have right now have your machine working like your old S9 auto set to a pressure of 13 to 19 with EPR of 2. With these settings, why were you switched to a BIPAP machine? What were the settings on your S9 auto? What other settings are you referring to? Do you have the clinician manual? If you would like, PM me and I will try to help you with some of your questions.