complex sleep apnea and BiPaP use.

Before I saw this thread I posted a query about centrals, I have just switched to a p b420e from a basic remstar so I now get feedback on my therapy which I don"t fully understand, in looking for info on centrals I found this, take a look if you have not seen it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apne ... leep_Apnea
it refers to a Mayo Clinic announcement of 2006 so it pretty up to date.

Ms Piggy wrote:Before I saw this thread I posted a query about centrals, I have just switched to a p b420e from a basic remstar so I now get feedback on my therapy which I don"t fully understand, in looking for info on centrals I found this, take a look if you have not seen it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apne ... leep_Apnea
it refers to a Mayo Clinic announcement of 2006 so it pretty up to date.

MsPiggy, that is a good article. Helps explain the significance of the Mayo clinic announcement (I was wondering why they were claiming the discovery was new). I believe now that they are claiming the 'complex' condition, has been accurately categorised and is now a legitimate new form of Apnea requiring a new form of treatment. The point being that cpap doesn't resolve this 'complex' form.

Put simply, I understand it to be ...

1) Person shows typical OSA symptoms.
2) Person goes on CPAP (or APAP), initially seems to work, in time seems to be not working.
3) Further evaluation shows the persons symptoms migrated to 'complex' Apnea (OSA & Centrals) once they went on CPAP (or APAP).


I would also guess that ...

- A Bilevel with any type of timed control rate, may disguise the 'complex' condition.

- A Bilevel without timed control will not.

DSM

I enjoy after you discuss these kinds of things inside your blogposts.

I have severe complex sleep apnea and was just diagnosed last year. In 2002 I also had a bilateral total joint replacement on my jaw/tmj area and all of the masks that I have used have made my severe chronic pain on my face and jaw worse. Still to this day I have not gotten used to using my machine and don't use it 99% of the time. I KNOW how bad that is for me especially how bad my complex sleep apnea is but I am in a difficult position. I have tried so many different masks and not one has worked for me. Anyhow, what I wanted to say was that I "thought" complex sleep apnea is when your brain fails to send a signal to your body to breathe? At least that is why my sleep doctor told me. Is this true or was I given the wrong information? I am having really major issues trying to get used to my machine and my oxygen that I am supposed to use along with my machine. I never feel good and am always so tired that I feel like I am wasting my life away. This sleep apnea is a difficult medical issue to deal with. I read so many success stories and I am so jealous and just wished that I had the same success as most of you. I am literally at my wits end and don't know what to do. But I really wanted to see what the true definition of complex sleep apnea is. Thanks so much as you all are so knoweldgeable in this field sometimes it blows my mind how much you all know. I don't know very much about this at all. I feel very stupid compared to all of you. Anyhow, thanks in advance if you can clear this up for me. My machine that I use is listed below and my pressures which are high and I just hate how it feels when I do put on my mask. K.. Thanks so much! TmjTerri