Sierra

In all of this TV coverage with all kinds of medical experts offering their advice on COVID, I recall one doctor responding to a question about using a CPAP instead of a hospital ventilation device. The answer was basically, "no", that a CPAP cannot function like a ventilator in that it essentially cannot force a person to breathe. In my non medical professional opinion I think a CPAP could help assist breathing though. There is a slightly different version of the CPAP called an ASV that is often used for central apnea, that does monitor your breathing and actually can step in and to some degree force the breathing. There are also some BiLevel machines that have a backup rate, which attempts to force breathing to a certain extent at a fixed rate. A BiLevel machine can also do more to assist breathing more than a CPAP. A CPAP typically can only put about 3 cm of pressure on inhale compared to exhale. A BiLevel machine can provide quite a bit more pressure support, and it also can go up to 25 cm of pressure, compared to 20 cm with a standard CPAP (or APAP).

But, back to your question, both myself and my wife came down with a very nasty cold back in January. The symptoms were very similar to what is attributed to COVID. I found that my APAP which is currently set to a fixed pressure of 11 cm and no EPR after I go to sleep, provided a lot of assistance in breathing while I had the cold. I suppose it might have provided more assistance with a higher pressure and the EPR turned on at 3 cm, but I never found it to be necessary. As for your mask, as long as you can use the CPAP without opening your mouth at the pressure you need, a nasal mask should be just fine.

Hope that helps some,

Yes, your sleep report should have an overall number called AHI or Apena Hypopnea Index. These are the ranges for Apnea diagnosis:

• <5 - Normal
• 5-15 - Mild Apnea
• 15-30 - Moderate Apnea
• 30+ - Severe Apnea

Yes your apnea will be different each day, but it should be in an approximate range. It gives you some idea how well the machine is working for you.

That is good to hear. Perhaps you can keep checking in now and then to help other BiPap users... I know how they work, but no personal experience.

Can you provide a little more information and background? What was your apnea AHI determined by the sleep test? What is it now with the CPAP?

Make sure you change the mask type in the machine configuration to match the type you are using. That will make the leak rate score more accurate. Ideally you want to keep leaks under 24 L/min. OSCAR has a good graph that shows how much you are leaking and when.

An AHI of 3.2 is OK. The treatment standard is less than 5. However many get under 1.0 when there is no central apnea involved. I do suffer from central events, and am pleased when I get under 3.

On masks I use a nasal mask with mouth taping to keep me from losing air out of my mouth during the night. A full face mask may make it easier to swallow air at higher pressures.

The SleepyHead download site has been suspended. However, OSCAR is essentially the same, and can be downloaded. See link below:

OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter

You need a PC or Mac with a SD carder. The SD card needs to be removed and locked, then you can transfer the data from the SD card to your computer to view it in OSCAR.

The condition you are describing is most likely Aerophagia. See this link for more information.

AEROPHAGIA CAUSES AND RESOLUTIONS

My suggestion would be to look at your Daily Report in Oscar and try to determine if there are any opportunities to reduce pressure. This should be not done arbitrarily, but after discussion with your machine provider. The link below may be helpful in understanding your AirCurve 10 machine.

AirCurve 10 Technical Manual

I am also a diabetic. If you have any specific questions, just ask.

Sounds very strange. Are you sliding the data lock switch on the SD card to the lock position before you upload the data to OSCAR? That should prevent anything on the card from being changed.

Here is a link to a technical manual for the Phillips DreamStation. About the only thing that I could see that could be causing things to reset is the "Reset Data" function described on page 4-25. Perhaps if your computer is writing something to the data card, the machine thinks there is a new user and resets the data??? What operating system are you using? I believe Windows 8 had some issues with SleepyHead. Perhaps they carried over to OSCAR...

To my knowledge there are no settings on the SD card, only data. When you leave the SD card out, no detailed data is collected.

I you have not already, you may make some further improvements by setting your ramp to "Auto", your Ramp Start Pressure to 7 cm, your EPR to 3, and the EPR Type Ramp Only. That will give you 7 cm of pressure on inhale and 4 cm on exhale immediately and for the duration of the auto ramp which will end when you go to sleep. Then it will stop the EPR reduction on exhale. This is likely to reduce your maximum pressure needed to control apnea by 2-3 cm.

The US is a significant source of infection for returning visitors in Canada as well. However I think a large part of that is just the volume of travel. Apparently at least in normal times, 400,000 a day cross the Canada/US border. Unfortunately the US seems to have fumbled the ball big time with testing. In Canada we have had 1 death and 300 confirmed infections. In the US they have had about 60 deaths and 3000 confirmed infections. At the same ratio of infections to deaths as Canada, the US should have about 18,000 infections. Suspect it is much worse there than is being reported, due to lack of testing kits.