Bi-PAP users, tell me your story.

Thanks robysue for your response. I think part of my problem is I'm not sure if the sleep I'm getting is as good as it gets. For years, I slept like crap with untreated OSA, but didn't really seek treatment until I got the hangover style headaches without an ounce of alcohol. So when I started APAP, I did feel much better. In fact, I think I felt better after initially using APAP, but gradually not as good as before. I figure I was just paying back some of my sleep debt, but now that I"m debt free, I feel I've become a light sleeper.

It's been so long since I've had an OSA free nights sleep, that I'm left wondering if this is how it is supposed to be. Maybe I shouldn't expect to feel better than this. I certainly feel much better than without the APAP. Even your tale sounds like you were much worse than I am now.

Is there much of a noise different between C/APAP and BiPAP. I'm a little concerned about the machine changing pitch between IPAP and EPAP.

I don't have a story with bipap yet, as my first night is tonight. I'm trying it due to my aerophagia on APAP/CPAP. I couldn't get past 9cm and I need 13cm (Rxed 12-14). I'm starting low on bilevel at 12/8. Just praying that I don't get aerophagia at lower bilevel pressures or they'll be no hope for the higher ones.

davelikesbeer wrote: Is there much of a noise different between C/APAP and BiPAP. I'm a little concerned about the machine changing pitch between IPAP and EPAP.

Hubby can't tell any difference between my old S9 and the current System One. They're both pretty quiet. When the System One was new, I did notice its noise a bit more than the S9---but that was because the whine of the S9 is at a higher frequency where I've got some hearing loss.

RIght now, I'd say that the System One seems virtually noiseless to me. With one exception: When the hose is in just exactly the wrong spot, I notice the sound of my own breathing (and the machine adjusting pressure) as conducted noise coming through the hose to my pillow or covers and then directly into my head through my skull. To be fair: The conducted noise problem is no more or no less present on a nightly basis than it was back when I used the S9 APAP. Fortunately, the fix for conducted noise is to move the hose or the pillows or my head. Usually it only takes a minute or two to find a spot where I don't notice the conducted noise anymore. But if that doesn't work, I just slightly increase the volume of the Gregoian chants I have playing in the background at night to mask my tinnitus and the sound of the PAP machine in the first place. (I started playing the chants back with the S9 to mask its sound and the conducted noise through its hose as well.)

cflame1 wrote:I'm guessing that Alan was either on a Bipap Pro... or it was set to a straight Bipap mode.

You guess correctly.

And yes, the transitions were well under a second, that was the problem, because they were so rapid and sharp, my brain noticed and fixated on them. There was also the issue that it woudl frequently switch into "exhale" mode while I was still very much inhaling, and vice versa. Nothing screws up the gentle falling into sleep quite as much as breathing in and suddenly breathing in a lot less air.

I'm also one of the bipap users who went home with a bipap without trying cpap or apap first. During the titration study, it was a struggle to exhale against the pressure. I didn't get any quality sleep at all the first night. They brought be back again, and after a couple of hours of struggle, they switched to bipap and sweet dreams! The bipap is just so much more natural to my breathing patterns. I've been on bipap for 15 nights, and my ahi has ranged from 0 to 0.1 most nights, with only one night reaching 1.5. My pressure is 13 IPAP/9 EPAP.

The machine is quiet--its only the masks that seem to make any noise. I've tried a mirage liberty and mirage quattro, since I couldn't control my mouth breathing in the lab. But they never gave me a chance with the nasal pillows or nasal mask after they switched on the bipap. I got my hands on a Swift FX and I do great with it--0 leaks, and 0 to 0.1 ahi over the last 5 weeks. Who would have thought I could control my mouth breathing on bipap but not cpap.

There's a lot of variables governing your sleep comfort to eliminate arousals. If your insurance will let you try bipap--give it a try!

davelikesbeer wrote:Is there much of a noise different between C/APAP and BiPAP. I'm a little concerned about the machine changing pitch between IPAP and EPAP.

I can't hear the machine running or hear it switching between IPAP and EPAP.

I sent email to my doctor on Friday to move forward on getting the BiPAP. Hopefully, I will be on it no later than Tuesday night.

Dave.