Philips Respironics Bipap hijinks
I have a Philips Respironics Bipap that I have used for 6 months of 2013. The Machine was set lower that my prescription of 18/25. It was set to 12/18.
Anyway, I would awaken to go pee and noticed that the machine was hardly blowing at all. This was not intermittent, but constantly happening. One night I thought "Well, let me hold my breath and see if anything happens" Nothing did. No puff of air. No ramp up of the pressure. NOTHING. Hell, I thought, this will never save my life! I took it back to the supplier and sat down with a tech for 1/2 hour. He connected it to a digital tester, looked at the numbers and said, "nothing wrong with this." I explained the problem in detail and he just sent me home.
I later returned the machine and gave up feeling the whole thing was a rip off.
09-04-2014, 10:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-04-2014, 10:58 AM by NickDanger.)
RE: Philips Respironics Bipap hijinks
Sorry it didn't work for you, Throckmorton. I'm sorry you didn't find us earlier - we could have shown you how to download the data from the machine and determine whether it was doing what you need.
Holding your breath on a standard bipap would not cause a "ramp up" of the pressure - the pressure would stay at expiration level (12 in your case) until you started to inhale (when it would rise to 18). Also, holding your breath would be calculated by the machine to be a "clear airway" event, so even if you had an autoset type of bipap, it still wouldn't have increased the pressure (increased pressure is not used to treat central apneas, in most cases - there is a type of bipap called an ASV that attempts to force air into you if you stop breathing, but that isn't what you described yourself as having).
I disagree with your decision to stop treating your sleep apnea, but it is your decision to make. I wish you the best, but am concerned about your health.
RE: Philips Respironics Bipap hijinks
Hi Throckmorton,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I'm sorry to hear that you had such difficulties with your BIPAP machine.
Did you ask to try another brand? Maybe you would be beter served by doing that instead of giving up on CPAP therapy.
Hang tight for more suggestions and best of luck to you, I hope you will reconsider your decision to stop your therapy.
trish6hundred
RE: Philips Respironics Bipap hijinks
I would guess there is nothing wrong with that machine.
There is pressure and there is flow. The pressures used in CPAP are in centimeters of water. Like the pressure to hold up a column of water 12 centimeters high.
Flow, the machine needs to be able to produce enough flow to attain the set pressure while you inhale plus an acceptable leak number. It's a small blower in there. This is no "Hoover." An open end hose is not going to produce much breeze -- it was never intended to.
Philips Respironics Bipap hijinks
An in-lab sleep test is pretty definitive. If it indicates apena, you've really got it.
The effects of untreated apnea can be very serious. If you can stand it, CPAP is usually nearly a complete cure.
While it's possible that your machine was defective, I think you may have just misunderstood things.
To many people, you feel like you're trying to breathe into a hurricane when you first put it on. After you do it for a while, your lungs and chest muscles adapt to it, and you feel it much less. I use a pressure of 16, and I have to put my hand in the airflow to convince myself the machine is blowing.
Apnea is real, CPAP is real.
Many of the DME's (CPAP sellers) are shady characters who are used to ripping off patients on price and billing and give substandard service. However, the therapy is real and does save lives and improves the health of many people. I don't think many people are given CPAP if they don't really need it.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software
here.
Useful links.
Click
here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
RE: Philips Respironics Bipap hijinks
(09-04-2014, 10:42 AM)Throckmorton Wrote: Anyway, I would awaken to go pee and noticed that the machine was hardly blowing at all.
Not sure about your particular machine, but some will reduce pressure if they think your mouth is open, or if they think you pulled the mask off and tossed it on the floor.
There may very well have been nothing wrong with the machine, however when you received it, it should have been set to your prescribed pressure. It's not very useful otherwise.
