Why Am I Hyperventilating on APAP?

I've been hyperventilating for months on my S9 APAP - showing an average of about 20 breaths per minute once fully asleep, sometimes peaking around 27 or 28 BPM. My waking/resting BPM is only about 12.

I definitely use the Expiratory Pressure Relief feature.

My sleep doctor doesn't know why this is happening. I have an appointment to have the clinic "officially" collect the machine data to see if they can determine any possible causes.

My feeling is that I'm getting into some kind of vicious cycle with my adapting pressure (low=7, high = 12) and/or the EPR.

I don't have heart, liver or kidney disease/insufficiency.

Has anyone else had issues like this, or know what might be causing this?

Thanks!

Ken

KenTheriot wrote:I've been hyperventilating for months on my S9 APAP - showing an average of about 20 breaths per minute once fully asleep, sometimes peaking around 27 or 28 BPM. My waking/resting BPM is only about 12.

I definitely use the Expiratory Pressure Relief feature.

My sleep doctor doesn't know why this is happening. I have an appointment to have the clinic "officially" collect the machine data to see if they can determine any possible causes.

My feeling is that I'm getting into some kind of vicious cycle with my adapting pressure (low=7, high = 12) and/or the EPR.

I don't have heart, liver or kidney disease/insufficiency.

Has anyone else had issues like this, or know what might be causing this?

Thanks!

Ken

Ever try straight pressure?
Without seeing any reports (which should contain some clues), my suspicion is the same as your suspicion.
But, I strongly suspect it has something to do with your subconscious reaction to the pressure changes.

Pick a (logical/therapeutic) pressure between your minimum and maximum and set the machine to that for a week or so. Then, try different EPR settings including turning it off. At those low pressures, I highly doubt that you'd even "need" EPR.


Den

.

Have you checked and played with the Ti min and rise time settings? It could be switching from IPAP to EPAP and back at a fast rate.

Matt00926 wrote:Have you checked and played with the Ti min and rise time settings? It could be switching from IPAP to EPAP and back at a fast rate.

those setting aren't available on the autoset, just on some of the vpaps (s, st, t, auto, st-a)

Thanks. I"ll try those things. And yes, I sent back to the APAP machine (away from the VPAP Adapt) because my nasal surgery allows me to use my nasal mask now, which was the reason I needed a FF mask (which, for odd reasons would not work for me with APAP, hence, the ASV trial).

BTW, I tried JUST turning EPR off for 2 nights and things did not change on the hyperventilation front. Tonight I'll try straight pressure and see how that goes.

Thanks again!

Ken