sleeptech

According to the results you posted, you didn't have a single central event. Based on that there is no need for you to get a BiPAP. Just having a high AHI is no reason not to use CPAP. A BiPAP can operate in CPAP mode and deliver slightly higher pressure, but this is rarely required, and a high AHI is no indication that you will require a high pressure. If your doctor is suggesting you get a BiPAP based on those results, I would suggest getting a different doctor.

Actually, BiPAP is the treatment of choice for central apnoea.

No. I rarely encounter patients with a speech disorder.

Don't get to worked up. Just because and event is scored as "mixed" on a diagnostic study doesn't mean that you have central apnoea. It is not really possible to tell with any great certainty whether someone has central or obstructive apnoea on a diagnostic study, especially a cut down home study of the type I suspect you had. The rules for classifying whether an event is obstructive or central are purely based on how it looks, and just because an event looks central doesn't mean it is. So you may not even have central apnoea.

Even if you do have central apnoea, it doesn't mean that something is wrong with your brain. I have had hundreds (probably thousands) of patients with central apnoea and almost none of them had anything wrong with their brain (beyond having central apnoea if you want to be picky). It is not usually an indicator of anything more insidious. Just take things a step at a time and deal with what's in front of you. Some more detail on your results would be quite useful.

Why are they selling you BiPAP? Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is treated by CPAP, not BiPAP, and a CPAP would probably be over a thousand dollars cheaper. BiPAP is only necessary for central sleep apnoea, hypoventilation and other more complex forms of respiratory failure. which is for more rare than OSA. Did anyone tell you which you have?

I've heard of worse.

I can' really comment on your specific situation for 2 reasons 1) I don't have the data required to understand the situation properly and 2) I'm not a doctor (I'm a tech). Also, I am in Australia, and I know that the cost of various treatments is very different in other countries. All I can say is that among the many patients I have seen the success rate with oral devices is quite low and they have all been very expensive. That doesn't mean it won;t work for you though. Look into it thoroughly.

With regard to your portability problem, it is possible to pick up travel CPAPs which are quite small. One of these may be helpful for travel. Have a look on https://www.secondwindcpap.com to get an idea of price, and google some pictures for size. You can also pick up batteries which are not too big and will run your CPAP for 8 hours or so at a time.

Just FYI (and to educate others who may read this)...

I very much agree that there is too much profiteering in the sleep industry and not enough genuine desire to help. Unfortunately it's an easy was to lots of make money if you are so inclined. Make sure that you doctor gives you the support you need. They are paid very well to do so.

Your BiPAP should have prevented obstruction if it were properly adjusted (and I've heard of may that aren't).

Because of the way sleep is scored, it is possible for a perfectly health person to still have an AHI of 4 or 5. They may have little irregularities in their breathing, for any one of a number of reasons, which get counted as events but have no effect on their quality of sleep or health. Conversely, some people will feel rotten with an AHI of 3 and vastly improved at and AHI of 0. As with almost anything related to medicine, people are different. AHI is not a perfect tool, but it is still useful. With some people it is no use at all, but in most cases it works pretty well.

Bear in mind that almost all of the data derived from your sleep study would only be from the time you were asleep, so what you were doing while awake will have little effect on it. I assume they put a sensor in the hair on your head to measure your brain activity. If not the whole thing is a load of garbage. I wouldn't get too caught up in the positional info because the position sensors can be a bit dodgy and they won't have video to correct it with.

All of the medical advice I've ever heard, and from a great number of doctors, is that any kind surgery for OSA should be approached with caution. Get all of the information you can and don't get pushed into anything.