Sleep Apnea Treatment

Question by lpdunit107: Please explain Sleep Apnea?
I have it. I use a Bipap and it works great. I’m a changed man.
I understand that the Bipap suplies air pressure to keep the passages open. Ok, what I dont know is they told me after my sleep test that I stopped breathing alot, while sleeping. So bad in fact they wanted to hospitalize me until they could get a bipap delivered to me at home. So how does air pressure from the Bipap start me breathing again?

Also I travel alot and bought a used Cpap so that my Bipap didn’t get broke on the road. It seem to work for me just as well as the Bipap. Is this ok or should I stick with the Bipap.In fact it seems to work better for me. I have less trouble breathing with it and my wife says I seem to fidget less.

One more thing. Bipap. Two air pressures? Why and how does this benefit? I know it works but my Dr never seems to have the time to explain fully. Thanks

Best answer:

Answer by Mary
There are two types os SA obstructive and central. Most common is obstructive. In OSA, there is an obstruction in the airway (different places in different people). During the night, the obstruction occurs and the air can not get in the lung. Your body is attempting to breathe but the air is not getting through. The pap (ie Cpap or bipap) splints open the airway so the air with the oxygen gets into the lungs. Now cpap is the most common treatment for OSA. It is a single pressure to splint the airway open. Bipap is 2 pressures, one to breathe in and a lower one to breathe out. It causes you to take bigger breathes, So it is used when people retain CO2 or when your pressures are higher (ie greater than 14), or you can not tolerate the cpap. CPap and bipap (S) does not breathe for you. You breathe on your own. On the other hand Bipap ST has a timed backup. It takes a breath for you every so many seconds if you do not. It is more like a ventilator. It is used for people with neuromuscular diseases and central apnea.

So I would not use a CPAP if a Bipap was prescribed. There is a reason that you needed it. They are hard to get through the insurance. I have been on bipap for 9 years now. I was a CO2 retainer and was hospitalized. I am a new person. I even went back to school and became a resp therapist. My MD, felt like I was doing better and could go to cpap. I told him that I had the bipap and it was working well. My bipap broke after 7 1/2 years and I borrowed a friends cpap who was not using it for a few days until my new one came. My symptoms returned. I set the pressures to match. I would buy a backup bipap. if I was you. I travel a fair amount and never had a problem. I carry a back up mask, tubing, and an extension cord. I have not had a problem. There are sites that auction cpap. I bought a used bipap with 20 hours on it for under 400 dollars less the price of a cpap. Best wishes. Feel free to email me if you have more questions. I highly recommend the site. www.sleepnet.com

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I have been told that if I do not sleep through the night, snore, feel tired and groggy when I do have to get up that I may have sleep apnea and that it is very dangerous…. I would like more info as I am going to have to convince my husband why we need to invest in a magnetic air sleep system I have been investigating at http://www.mynikken.net/winters Thanks, Fact & Figures would be helpful.

When I was a child, around 3 or 4, I would wake up essentially having a nightmare. I might see Skeletor from He-Man projected on the wall, emitting too much light for me to go back to sleep. I might wake up and find a bear in my room, or glowing eyes in the darkness. All these things would cease when I left the room and got a drink of water. However, it doesn’t sound like night terrors or hallucinatory sleep paralysis, as I can still remember what I saw and could move around the images, as they were in three dimensions.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I can’t find any disorder that matches my experiences.
To add to the weirdness, the house burned down shortly after we moved out.

(sorry for the grammer and spelling)
So far i found out that tissues at the back of your throat are collapsing and that’s normal but the thing that prevents it from collapsing is the problem.
Well, my cousin’s son (infant) is having a problem breathing and some doctors said that there is something wrong with the brain (the neurons go to something, i don’t know; i’m sorry). The probable diagnosis was central end-peripheral sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea.