complex sleep apena

can anybody tell me about complex sleep apnea I know I have the condition I weigh 246 LBS if lose enough weight will my condition improve because I seem to think that even though I lose the weight I will still have the condition no matter how much weight I lose. I will be getting my air curve 10 ASV bipap machine next October I will say that 2 year ago I weighted 229LBS and I still had complex sleep apnea. I always ask myself this question will I need to use a bipap machine for the rest of my life? I think so

Complex sleep apnea is a condition in which the apneas experienced are a mixture of obstructive and central apneas. The term is usually applied to patients who are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and then develop central sleep apnea (CSA) as a result of the pressure required to treat the obstructive events. Sometimes, as in my case, the condition is diagnosed immediately as part of the diagnostic sleep study and doesn't develop later. If your original diagnose showed the presence of CSA events, then losing weight will likely not have any affect on them.

Losing weight may reduce the occurrence of OSA events, may reduce the pressure needed to treat them, and may reduce or eliminate the pressure induced CSA events that got you to this diagnosis. On the other hand, it might not. Excess weight is only one factor in sleep apnea. Some very thin people suffer from sleep apnea.

I see from your equipment list that you are currently using a Respironics machine. Is there a reason to switch to the ResMed one? ResMed cpap machines, for some folks, feel different than Respironics machines and they find that difference disturbing. The number of folks who find this to be true is quite small. Staying with the same manufacturer eliminates the possibility. The change to an ASV machine will be significant enough so any other issues that can be avoided might be a good thing.

JDS74 wrote:Complex sleep apnea is a condition in which the apneas experienced are a mixture of obstructive and central apneas. The term is usually applied to patients who are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and then develop central sleep apnea (CSA) as a result of the pressure required to treat the obstructive events. Sometimes, as in my case, the condition is diagnosed immediately as part of the diagnostic sleep study and doesn't develop later. If your original diagnose showed the presence of CSA events, then losing weight will likely not have any affect on them.

Losing weight may reduce the occurrence of OSA events, may reduce the pressure needed to treat them, and may reduce or eliminate the pressure induced CSA events that got you to this diagnosis. On the other hand, it might not. Excess weight is only one factor in sleep apnea. Some very thin people suffer from sleep apnea.

I see from your equipment list that you are currently using a Respironics machine. Is there a reason to switch to the ResMed one? ResMed cpap machines, for some folks, feel different than Respironics machines and they find that difference disturbing. The number of folks who find this to be true is quite small. Staying with the same manufacturer eliminates the possibility. The change to an ASV machine will be significant enough so any other issues that can be avoided might be a good thing.

You're right. Different people have different causes. Since I was significantly overweight when I was diagnosed, I was hopeful losing weight would really help--despite the fact my doctor warned me I'd likely never get off cpap even if I lost weight. I was disappointed that even after losing 100 pounds (350 down to 250 pounds) my pressure only went from 18 down to 17. However, there are other people who have really seen the pressure drop by losing weight. Give there are a lot of other benefits to losing weight, it certainly doesn't hurt to try.

I also have complex apnea. My centrals showed up on my machine when I was looking at the data. They were usually in clusters around 3:00 and 6:30, but the sleep test always ended at 5:00 am. It took a home sleet study to get the proof needed to get me on an ASV.

I also lost some weight, and had been able to get my pressure down to very low, and I hoped that I could get off of the CPAP..... but that did not work out.

For some reason I had 0 apneas on a straight cpap at 4.... as low as the machine would go. But over time the AHI increased and then the centrals came back. So I am resigned to using a cpap machine for a long time.


I started out on a RESMED, and after 3 years I was up for a new machine. I tried the PR 60 ASV for a month, but it did fit me well. I was able to switch back to the RESMED AIRCURVE 10 since I was renting the machine for the first 3 months. (a new policy that my insurance started Jan of this year....)

I understand how loosing weight can affect the obstructive apneas. With the weight loss, I now have 0 obstructives. All of my apneas are now either hypos or centrals. Before I lost the weight I had obstructives and centrals. Now it is hypos and centrals.

My snoring has also gone way down since I lost weight.

As I understand it, a central is when your brain does not tell your body to take a breath. I hate to say it, but I do not think that loosing weight will help the brain.


Sorry if I am rambeling.

Why do you have to wait until October? I assume it is when your machine reaches replacement age.

I am very happy with my aircurve.

THAT SAID>>>>>> MANY ARE ALSP HAPPY WITH THE PR 60. It is a much more gentle algorithm, but it did not work for me.