Sleep apnea CPAP treatment not effective?
Hi there, I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. I am a 27 year old male, and obese.
I was wondering if it is possible for CPAP/APAP treatment to be ineffective? My GP and specialist tell me that the machine says everything is working fine and I’m breathing normally, however I still experience most of my apnea symptoms and I notice a huge difference of quality of sleep based on which position I sleep in, just like before I started treatment. Lying on my back is the worst, side is ok, and stomach seems best. Just like the overnight sleep test indicated without the CPAP.
Is it possible that my treatment is not 100% effective, and that I still suffer apnea, despite the computer saying I breath normally? I had 115,7 breathing pauses per hour (extreme). That’s like two per minute. Is it possible my body is "cheating" the machine?
Thanks so much!
Tagged with: gp • sleep • sleep apnea • sleep test • stomach
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Symptoms
CPAPs are not always effective for everyone… but should still be given a chance to work. They can be very helpful
Some people are too claustrophobic. There are some stream line machines that many patients like.
Positional sleeping is a big thing as well. Hopefully you have a machine that does not hinder your stomach sleeping…We all have our favorite position and it is hard to learn a new one. From personal experience…Stomach sleeping is the only way I can get any rest…Since birth…LOL. Have you tried sleeping on your stomach while wearing your machine still?
Your settings may not be correct for you…your alarm settings may not be set properly…maybe to loose. If your machine is set to alarm after 30 seconds…you may not be triggering the alarm if your apnea is only 20 second. You might need a stronger pressure to keep your airways open. Or there is a possibility that you need a Bipap….this machine has the one pressure while breathing out….like continuous pressure of a CPAP…but it also has a second pressure to help you take breath in. Maybe this will work better for you…
Finally, there are two types of sleep apnea…obstructive= some part of your anatomy is obstructing your breathing. The other is central=your brain is just not telling your body to breathe. This can be caused by heart failure…Your doctor can treat that to lessen the apnea spells.
In the end…it is still a machine..if you are feeling it is not working…talk to your doctor…they are very helpful…other ideas maybe possible.
I hope I didn’t ramble on…and helped some.
I’m not sure, but my father, who had pretty much same description as you listed, would sleep on side or half sitting up _propped with pillows_ and would have to change between the two several times per night.
Sleep apnea machines are pretty accurate. However, I am a great believer that you know the most about your body because you’vee lived in it all your life.
Tell the doctor again that you are not getting apparent relief and ask if he will order another sleep study using your machine instead of the labs machine and see if the technician doing the study finds that you are still experiencing apnea even though your machine gets different results.
If that is not possible, another option is to post this very interesting question on http://www.apneasupport.org. That group helped me alot with all of my questions and problems as I was beginning to use my machine.