My Bipap Titration

Sometime ago I borrowed my dads bipap for a week cuz he wasn't using it. I put my card in it and titrated myself over a weeks time. Brought my Encore charts to show my sleep doc on a follow-up visit. She liked what she saw and prescribed a bipap at 18/15cm instead of cpap @18cm.

Over time my doc ordered an overnite O2 which showed a dip so a repeat was ordered but showed another dip. She then ordered a bipap titration.

Talking to the sleep tech last nite he told me he would be starting at 12/10cm. He talked about starting the titration at 4cm. When I explained how an auto works to him, he agreed we shouldn't do that. After all it wasn't a question of whether I have OSA, just whether I am at the correct pressure to prevent o2 destats.

He said I was fine at 12/10 while on my side. But had to bump up to 18/16cm when I rolled over onto my back with no desats.

Oh did I mention how hard the beds were? They use std. hospital beds, go figure.

I am surprised they didn't try 4 cm pressure support. That is probably what the tech was meaning, not starting you at 4 cm EPAP pressure but starting you with 4 cm Pressure Support "delta" (i.e. 12/8, 14/10, 19/15).

Sounds like they went by the old method, using only a 1 or 2 cm delta and moving you up from there watching for obstructive apnea to resolve then moving IPAP higher to kill residual Hypopnea. Despite the consensus from the Mayonnaise clinic, I think that still works.