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I can tell you that it is absolutely possible for your airway to obstruct while on your stomach. The precise mechanism which causes the airway to collapse is something which is the subject of much research because we don't really know. I know that a lot of people think about snoring as being in the nose, but in my many years of experience opening up the upper airway eliminates snoring in well over 99% of cases. In over 15 years I have seen fewer than 10 instances where people have still snored once their upper airway obstruction was eliminated, and in all of those that I can recall it was because we couldn't get the pressure high enough to fully eliminate snoring (but the snoring was still reduced). I attended a lecture by Dr Collin Sullivan (inventor of the CPAP machine) in which he theorised that snoring could possibly damage the walls of the upper airway over time and make it more likely to collapse, but I have seen no research to back this up. So, in short, there's no reason to think that snoring would cause OSA. Not everyone who snores has OSA, but most do and even in instances where someone snores but has no other signs of OSA, CPAP will still fix it.
I have used the Amara View with a number of BiPAP patients and pressures as high as any machine can generate. It generally fits as well as any mask and better than most.
If your BiPAP is not set correctly, it could hyperventilate you (make you breathe too much) and send your CO2 level too low. This can then cause central events (induced Cheyenne-Stokes respiration). I hope you had a sleep study with the BiPAP on, and when you did so you should also have had your CO2 level monitored to make sure it was OK. What are your pressures?
Sounds like you need a humidifier. Or, if you already have one, it may not be set correctly.
Actually, 100% of the air flow is to you and none is from you. All of the air you exhale is blown out of the exhalation port. So you are right, as long as your tube stays dry there is no risk of pathogens growing in it.
If you've had 2 sleep studies, they should absolutely have noticed if your oxygen was dropping, so that should not be the case. Do you get any leg (or other) twitches that you know of? These could cause such a result.
Do you use a humidifier? If you are getting condensation in the mask/tube it can make odd sounds. I have only played with one a little, but the DreamStation seems fine. It has about the simplest humidifier setup I've seen. Having said that, The latest model ResMed BiPAPs (which they call VPAPs), the AirSense range, are good too. There's little to separate them. The DreamStation also has slightly simpler controls.
When you say " make the adjustment to a bipap", what sort of adjustments are you talking about? The pressure settings should not be fiddled with.
I've taken them to higher pressures than that plenty of times with no particular problems. I seriously doubt that you will get a third party tube as it is proprietary Respironics gear.
Your machine shouldn't need anything more than a regular check of the filter, and the occasional wipe to keep the surface clean. That's it.
With transcutaneous CO2 monitoring. This usually happen as part of s sleep study, although could be done on its own. Breathing in higher levels of O2 than occur naturally in air can cause your CO2 levels to increase and this can be very harmful. Any supplemental O2 should be used with care.
