Do pressure needs change with age?

Assuming all the other variables remain constant (bad assumption I know), will pressure needs on cpap increase with age? If you have experienced this, please share you experience.

Generally, yes. Generally, most people gain weight as they age. Many gain a lot of weight as they age. Additionally, as people age they have other health problems which are normally addressed by various prescription drugs such as hypertension drugs, type II diabetes drugs, heart drugs, anti-depressants and sometimes anti-anxiety drugs...many of which are more sedating than stimulating. Which means your muscle tone in your sleep relaxed state will decrease, likely increasing pressure needs.

Also, seems like I read the jaw recedes with age. A receding jaw can mean a different pressure.

All of the above being said, its heavily individualized. Im talking GENERALLY. I am sure there are people out there who plod along as they age at roughly or even exactly the same pressure that the started out with. Its simply very individualized, in the end.

Eric

bavinck wrote:Assuming all the other variables remain constant (bad assumption I know), will pressure needs on cpap increase with age? If you have experienced this, please share you experience.

It hasn't been my experience. I was prescribed a pressure of 18 cm in April 2005. Couldn't handle that much to start off with and reset my machine to 10 cm. and then noticed through downloading my card that that was actually pretty close. I stayed with 10 for a year and then decided to experiment......went to 12, back to 11, acquired an APAP and set a range of 10 - 15 cm for a week. Only hit 15 for one night for a few minutes. The reports confirmed that I had "guessed" pretty good to begin with and that 12 cm. was going to be the best fixed pressure setting. I've been using 12 cm since 2006 and my AHI has consistently gone down from slightly under 1.0 in 2005 with 10 cm to about 0.2 currently with 12. The main thing the extra 2 cm. did were to reduce the snoring numbers.


Den

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Wow 18 - how did they mess that so bad?

bavinck wrote:Wow 18 - how did they mess that so bad?

You'd have to know the "sleep doctor" I had back then. The sleep study actually stopped at 16 cm, but there was apparently a little residual snoring, so this jerk decided to add another 2 cm to that. He even "hinted" that I may need to have my throat opened up (maybe a UPPP) to allow even more pressure. Unfortunately, neither he or my GP doctor thought to refer me to an ENT. I think I have enlarged turbinates and deviated septum. But, I'm not going to second guess that now.

Anyway, I grabbed the prescription out of his hand and went home and placed my order with CPAP(dot)COM. I had visited some of the local DMEs in this area and wasn't impressed. I got a REMstar Pro 2 (data capable, straight pressure machine) and have never looked back. Other than maybe bumping up my pressure a little bit sooner, I wouldn't change a thing with regard as to how everything worked out.


Den

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Maybe YEA or maybe NAY, we are all different. For my I've been at 14.5 for eight years, and gained 60 lbs (NA Y), so no change for me. Jim

Is it possible to need more pressure than a machine can provide? What would a physician do in that case?

You'd be switched to a BiPap.

bavinck wrote:Is it possible to need more pressure than a machine can provide? What would a physician do in that case?

CPAPs can go up to 20 cm. If a person needs more than that, they "graduate" to Bi-Level.......which can go to 25 and in some cases even 30 cm.


Den

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All I know is my bra needs more help now then it did 20 years ago.