09-27-2017, 04:54 PM
14 Years on BiPap and Study Says I'm Cured?
Hello All,
I was diagnosed at Stanford in 2004 with an AHI of 59 and have had another 4 studies done there since, the last one in 2008. I have put some weight on since then, about 30 pounds, so I am definitely obese and feel I am overdue for another BiPAP titration. I no longer live near Stanford, so I went to a local clinic (they seem to be popping up everywhere) and had an overnight "split study" done.
The split study, so they claim, is for insurance purposes- they make you sleep without any CPAP for half the night (minimum of 2 hours) to see if you have any apnea events. If you do, then they put a mask on you and begin titrating your pressures.
To my utter consternation, I was never awakened by the tech halfway through, because they claim I slept without abnormal apnea events. For two days afterwards, I was so tired I laid around the house the whole time. I was convinced there was some kind of error or perhaps incompetence, given my long history, my symptoms, and my favorable response for 14 years to BiPap therapy. My pressures are 13.7/10.3, and my AHI as reported by the Respironics M series AutoBiPap is less than 1 event per hour.
When I met with my doctor to review the study, he suggested we do another study at a different clinic, which I underwent last night. I struck up a rapport with the tech, so this morning at 4:45 am he revealed that the first half of the split-study... showed normal! Once again, I "slept" through the night with some bad snoring, but evinced insufficient apneas to trigger a titration. He even detected some REM sleep. I will get the full report in a week or two.
I choke myself awake in easy chairs, gag if I lie down on my back within a minute or two, and continue on BiPap with the same pressures for many years. And a night without my machine leaves me a fogged zombie. If I didn't take dexedrine, I couldn't sit and compose this text.
So... what could possibly be happening? Is is test/measurement error? Does CPAP cure Apnea? Is anyone else out there in the same "boat" as me? Thanks ....
I was diagnosed at Stanford in 2004 with an AHI of 59 and have had another 4 studies done there since, the last one in 2008. I have put some weight on since then, about 30 pounds, so I am definitely obese and feel I am overdue for another BiPAP titration. I no longer live near Stanford, so I went to a local clinic (they seem to be popping up everywhere) and had an overnight "split study" done.
The split study, so they claim, is for insurance purposes- they make you sleep without any CPAP for half the night (minimum of 2 hours) to see if you have any apnea events. If you do, then they put a mask on you and begin titrating your pressures.
To my utter consternation, I was never awakened by the tech halfway through, because they claim I slept without abnormal apnea events. For two days afterwards, I was so tired I laid around the house the whole time. I was convinced there was some kind of error or perhaps incompetence, given my long history, my symptoms, and my favorable response for 14 years to BiPap therapy. My pressures are 13.7/10.3, and my AHI as reported by the Respironics M series AutoBiPap is less than 1 event per hour.
When I met with my doctor to review the study, he suggested we do another study at a different clinic, which I underwent last night. I struck up a rapport with the tech, so this morning at 4:45 am he revealed that the first half of the split-study... showed normal! Once again, I "slept" through the night with some bad snoring, but evinced insufficient apneas to trigger a titration. He even detected some REM sleep. I will get the full report in a week or two.
I choke myself awake in easy chairs, gag if I lie down on my back within a minute or two, and continue on BiPap with the same pressures for many years. And a night without my machine leaves me a fogged zombie. If I didn't take dexedrine, I couldn't sit and compose this text.
So... what could possibly be happening? Is is test/measurement error? Does CPAP cure Apnea? Is anyone else out there in the same "boat" as me? Thanks ....
