Thinking maybe Bipap might help

I currently have a Resmed Elite II and have had it since last year. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea in November of 08. Ever since I started on cpap, my AHI's have been between 12 and 22. Mostly hypopneas and my AI's are usually under 3. My prescripted pressure was 10 cm H20 back at my sleep study. That is what I have been on. However, with my numbers the way they have been, I upped my pressure to 12 to see if that would be better. It seemed to have helped my numbers a little bit. I went to 13 and my numbers were a little better yet. BUT..... I get full of air and wake up and can't get back to sleep. At the higher pressures I have this problem, but I think I have to go even higher yet to get my AHI under more control. I do have Rescan, so I do watch my data carfully. So my question is: Does anyone think that this would constitute a bipap. A bipap would fix this problem, wouldn't it? I have an appointment with my sleep doc on Tuesday morning and I am going to share this with her. My problem is that I have had this Elite II for about a year and a half now and I don't think they'll let me change it. Has anyone experienced having a cpap for a while and gone back and needed a bipap? If so, did your insurance pay for it or did you have to wait like 5 years before it would pay for it. I am really nervous about Tuesday.

Jason, I started with CPAP and then moved to autotitration and then finally bipap. I found the bipap the most successful. The CPAP caused me so much discomfort (ingesting air - stomach bloating - aerophagia). The bipap has relieved the discomfort for the most part. Each time, my sleep doc simply wrote another prescription for the new equipment and my insurance provider had no issue. Wish you luck.

If you don't mind, could you tell me what your original pressure setting was on cpap, then auto and then bilevel? What did your efficiency data look like? Was cpap able to control your apneas or was it just the discomfort that didn't agree with you?

Jason,
I had a similar experience going from APAP to BiPAP. My usual 90% pressures ended up at 16/13 on BiPap versus 17 on APAP. My original CPAP titration in the lab was prescribed at 19cm. I had a similar problem with swallowing air also.