WhiteBeard

Hi VersatileMagentaLlama0669, your story sounds allot like mine, but mine was back in 2007! If your suffering from mixed apneas, and are having centrals, back then they found that increasing pressure on CPAP or BiPAP often increased the number of Central Apneas, and that just compounded the problem and made things worse! I went through that quite a few times, each sleep study they would increase the pressure, and get the apneas under control, and send me home. Within just a matter of a couple of weeks I was back in complaining that my condition was getting worse, and sure enough after another sleep study they found I was right! Central Apneas were getting worse, and oxygen saturations were going down and staying down while I slept! I know what I went through during those 18 months, and I don't wish that on any body! So I think I can definitely empathize with you!

You might want to ask your sleep doctor ( since your having some central apneas), why he isn't considering you for the ASV machine? Better yet ask him if he knows of any other PAP treatment that is more effective against mixed and central apneas, Then maybe mentions about the ASV machines. You might want to go to the ResMed and Philips Respironics web sites and look up central and mixed apneas and also ASV machines. It helps to be knowledgeable, and also I have found, especially concerning sleep apnea, you really have to be your own health advocate! Dealing with Doctors can be tricky and I have found that it is best to use lots of tact! ( they {Doctors} often don't like to be told by their patients how to treat them) so politely lead them in the direction you want them to go, and make them think it was all their idea! ( I have worked on both sides of the medical profession, patient and care giver and from my personal experience I have found this technique often works the best!) Of course ASV might not be the answer to your problem, but again it might be????? At least it might be worth checking out!

I personally like the full face mask, I also had a deviated septum and it was so bad that I ended up having it surgically corrected. I still suffer from nasal stuffiness so often just before going to bed I will take a Benadryl. Also do you use a humidifier with your PAP machine. That is one thing that I have to have, and I used it with all the different machines I've had. I fill my humidifier on my ASV machine every night with distilled water, and I have it set on high. I have found without it, I just cannot breathe! So that might also be something that you might want to talk with your Doctor about! The best advice I can give you is just keep pressing your sleep doctor for adequate treatment! Persistence does pay off in the end! Remember, Doctors work for you! You hire them and you can fire them! Even if your payment is done through your insurance, you pay for the insurance, so your paying their wages. If your not getting adequate treatment from your sleep apnea doctor, then go to someone else for a second opinion! Complex sleep apnea can be difficult to treat, and not every sleep doctor or clinic is capable of adequately treating it! I Wish you well! Good Luck to YOU!

Hi I'm new to this forum, (just joined yesterday) I must say I am kind of taken back by all this discussion on mixed and complex apneas. They have had fairly good treatment out for these apneas for quite a few years now. I know when I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea back in January of 2007 I had a great deal of problems getting adequate treatment! I was originally diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and was started off on standard CPAP machine. This machine did very little, to help my condition, and I continued to have bed drenching night sweats and waking up in the night choking and gasping for air, even with my mask and machine on! Anyway to make a long story short, in a period of just less than a year and a half, I had under went five full in lab sleep studies, I had several pressure changes, and went from CPAP to BiPAP to BiPAP with O2, and none of this helped! Well finally in April of 2008 my sleep apnea doctor who was a neurologist, got sick and I was transferred to the care of a Doctor in Pulmonary Care Unit who was in charge of the Sleep Study Unit. Anyway after his thorough review of my case, he recommended a ASV titration study and said according to my previous studies that I should have been given this ASV titration study right at the very beginning! Anyway in May of 2008 I had the ASV sleep titration study done and was put on the ResMed VPAP Adapt SV machine, with 3 liters of O2! The rest is history, within two weeks or so the bed drenching night sweats disappeared, and within a couple of months the dreaded sleep apnea brain fog also lifted! And I was no longer getting up every hour and a half going to the bathroom! I could actually go six or more hours at a time without having to go potty!

This was all seven or more years ago! Back then the ASV technology was new, ( at least to here in the states) in fact I had found out later on that is why my first sleep doctor refused to prescribe it, as he felt the treatment was to new and unproven! But now I am presently sitting here reading all these post, and it is like nothing has changed in all these years!!! At least in the treatment of Central and Complex Sleep Apnea! Admittedly these apneas can be difficult to diagnose, and to some extend difficult to treat, but they do have effective ( at least for some if not most) treatments for this condition!

Anyway I just thought I would pipe in and give my two cents about this topic. Funny how the more things change the more they seem to stay the same??? At one time back in 2007 and 2008 I was fairly active on the old Sleep Apnea Support forum. I am a big supporter of Sleep Apnea treatment, when I finally got the proper treatment, it literally changed my life! So my advice to anyone having problems with their sleep apnea treatment, is don't give up, persistence and perseverance is the key here, keep pushing for a resolution, of your problem! There are treatments that work!

Hi I just joined this forum, for along time I was very active in the old ""Sleep Apnea Support Forum"" I was diagnosed with sleep apnea back in January of 2007. Had a very difficult time of it, as CPAP didn't help, in a period of less than a year and a half, I had 5 full in lab sleep studies done, went from CPAP to BiBAP to BiPAP with O2, and numerous pressure changes! Finally in May of 2008, my normal Sleep Apnea doctor got sick and I was give a different doctor, who thoroughly reviewed my case, and suggested that I be given a ASV titration study because of the history of mixed apneas, (Central and Obstructive) The rest is history I have been on the ResMed VPAP Adapt SV machine with 3 liters of O2 ever since, and have done great! I am one that sings the praises of the ASV machine! I use it with the Respironics Fitlife total face mask. Within two weeks of using the ASV machine my bed drenching night sweats completely disappeared, and within a few months the dread sleep apnea fog also finally lifted! Anyway I heard about this web site, on a very very late night talk radio program, and thought I would check it out and then decided to join. I am a very avid supporter of treating sleep apnea, and as I used to say, and still do, is: the whole secret to success is persistence in getting proper treatment, and then in the case of "PAP" using your mask and machine, every night all night long!