Central Apneas

So, I'm unclear about several things, but I'll pick just one. I'm using my machine in CPAP mode, not in APAP mode. Am I more likely to be able to determine that I'm have "non-responders" which might actually be Centrals if I switch to APAP mode? Or, am I better off by keeping at a set pressure rather than allowing the machine to "chase" Centrals which may make them worse?

Anybody know what percentage of people that have sleep apnea suffer from centrals?

Anonymous wrote:Anybody know what percentage of people that have sleep apnea suffer from centrals?

got a dart?

I have never seen any percentages, but I do know once you leave the sleep lab you have absolutely no way of monitoring them, you have no idea if they get better or worse, you can only assume they are still there.

some people can go in for the study, find their pressure put it on every night and be just fine and feel like a million bucks. Others can go more than 5yrs looking for the thing that leaves you feeling rested again and you may never really find it. So you keep exploring, trying different machines, options, etc. or anything that may improve the situation.

I'm told it is rare, but there has to be more people with it than what is advertised for them to put up money and manpower such as what was done with complex sleep disordered breathing and for them to go to the time and expense to develop special machines to address it, like the Resmed VPAP Adap SV and Respironics with their gray model, they wouldn't be developing those machines and doing those studies if there was only a hand full of patients.

I always like the doctor that says the ones seen on the PSG are insignificant, yeah insignificant for them because they don't know what to do about them, anyway, but if you have them even a few per night and the residual fatigue associated with them they are far from insignificant.

the point is once you leave the lab, you loose the ability to monitor them, so you have no idea if they still exist, are insignificant as the doctor says or if they are getting worse. All you know is you feel like the walking dead the next day.

Then you go back to your ABSM certified sleep doc and he doesn't have a single clue other than send you for a 5th or 6th PSG. My sleep doc owns the sleep lab I went to, so I know I'll never find any answers from that guy and he was one of the first to become ABSM certified.

There is a lot to these sleep disorders left unresearched and/or no answers can be found.

John, before you take such a drastic step as having another study, you might try some of the suggestions mentioned here first.

Changing cflex - off, or lowering it.

Maybe even lowering your pressure down a little. My auto titrates me at 9 or 9.5, but I feel better at 7 to 7.5.

Change one thing and try it for a week. Then try something else. Eventually you will find your "sweet spot".

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): cflex, auto

Linda...Given your machine titrates you in the 9-9.5 range, what sort of AHI differences do you get when you set your maximum pressure at 10 versus 7.5?

LOL, I just answered that question on another thread. Here it is:

I've had the software for about a year. But three years ago I have my card read by an online DME. He sent me the entire Pro report and suggested I bump my auto up from 6/9 to 6/10. My 90% was 9.5

Over this past year, I've experience plugged/painful ears and swollen eyelids, so I bumped my pressure back down - slowly.

Yes, I have a few more apneas (average AHI of 2.5 to 3), but I feel alot better. So I no longer strive to make the Zero AHI Club, I just do what comes naturally.

I also don't use cflex, and haven't for almost a year now.