First post

[Jalon]

It is my first post in this forum and I want to introduce myself.

 

My name is Julio Alonso, I am Spanish and I live in Madrid, I am 69 years old and I am a retired university professor. My wife is American, from Ohio, and I have a son living in Madrid and a daughter married to a Scot and living in Scotland. My English is currently quite poor, because now I do not practice it, neither at work nor in the family, so I apologize for my mistakes.

 

I've always snored and had respiratory failure at bedtime, but I had not seen the doctor. Some time ago, my cardiologist advised me to do a polysomnography. I did one and then, in other circumstances and city and with more weight, I made another. The results left no room for doubt. Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome of severe intensity (AHI = 54 in one and AHI = 57.9 in another). In one, obstructive hypopneas: 129; Obstructive apneas: 275; Mixed apnea: 38 and in the other obstructive hypopneas 145; Obstructive apneas: 212; Mixed apneas: 116; Central apneas: 3. Significant impact on oxygen saturation (T90 = 19%). Mean saturation: 93% in the first and significant impact on oxygen saturation (T90 = 36.2%). Average saturation (90%) in the other.

Recommendations in both cases: use CPAP to 7 cm of H2O.

However, when I went to the pulmonologist, I was prescribed a BiPap with 9 cm H2O and humidifier and nasal mask. And here began my many doubts, which I will try to satisfy by reading this forum.
Thank you for your many contributions on this topic, without doubt the best forum in the world.

[Matzaball2016]

Welcome to the forum.

Your English is great!!!!

[DavePaulson]

Welcome, 

Your English is fine. I do not believe your machine is capable of providing detailed data. How long ago did you get your BiPap? Would you able to purchase a more modern machine that is data capable? If you have been watching this forum for awhile you know that most people here use SleepyHead software to track their progress and get help from others, there is a link at the top of the page. If you have not seen the recommended machine choices here is a link Recommended Machines, go to the bilevel section I think there must be a reason they gave you a BiPap, but you never know. Some of the more experienced people will be here shortly to assist. 

Best of luck,

Dave

[Gideon]

Welcome to the forum.  By the numbers you need the BiPAP, to help you we need to see your charts.  Please download SleepyHead, organize your charts, and post them, This will provide the data we need to help you.  

Instructions are in the link in my signature.
New to Apnea - helpful tips to ensure success

Using Sleepyhead (the 8th item in the table of contents.

Fred

[trish6hundred]

Hi Jalon,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Don’t worry about your english, it is fine.
Hang in there for more answers to your question.
Good luck to you as you continue CPAP therapy, and also with getting it fine-tuned to meet your needs, you have come to the right place for guidance.

[stanleydean]

Welcome Jalon,

You are in the right place to find answers and your command of english will put some of us to shame. Your post is very readable. I once wrote a construction proposal for a retired high school english teacher and was a little bit self conscious about that but it worked out OK and we got the job.

First off, go ahead and see if you can get SleepyHead up and running and post some data. That will be a big help. Then you can start to get answers. Wishing you succes in your journey.

Stan

[Yoda1989]

Welcome! I too am new and have already received a great deal of help. I have only been on my machine for a month after several decades of denial. It really is helping and these friendly folks are a wealth of information and support! Good luck and I hope things improve for you soon!

[ajack]

M series is an old model by 2 or 3. I'm guessing it's just one they had there, given on the health system, I assume it was free?
You can run a bpap as a cpap, so it isn't an issue.
There is probably a cpap mode they have it set in. Or they may have epap and ipap set on 7, which is the same as cpap 7.

7 is a low pressure and you may be very happy using it as is. There may not be any pressure discomfort after a week of use, but some take a couple of months to get use to all the variables of treatment.
The machine can be adjusted, if you go to the link at the top of the page for the manual. There is the biflex, you may also like to have ipap 7 and epap 6, this will give a 1cm pressure relief on breathing out.

[DeepBreathing]

G'day Julio

Looking at your second sleep test, there is a fairly high number of central and mixed apneas, which did not show up in the first test. This would be the reason your doctor prescribed a bipap machine. A plain CPAP is not suitable for treating this type of apnea and you should not set your machine to CPAP mode. The prescription should include more than one pressure - at the very least it should have an EPAP and PS or IPAP set.

EPAP - expiratory positive airway pressure (the pressure when you're breathing out)
IPAP - inspiratory positive airway pressure (the pressure when you're breathing in)
PS - pressure support (the additional pressure added to EPAP to achieve IPAP)

Most bipap machines also have some sort of automatic range (eg EPAPmin to EPAPmax) which requires additional setting to be specified. Are you able to tell us exactly what your settings are?

... and I suppose before we start offering any advice, we should find out if you're having any problems with your treatment?

[Jalon]

Thank you very much for all your answers. Very friendly.


I just discovered this forum on the internet. I found it very great, friendly and educational, but I'm just starting to move inside and learn something.
To begin with, I have been very helpful comments from ajack. I'll look and start there.
Indeed, the machine is free, provided by my medical services.

I've been wearing it for almost a year. At first he only slept 3 or 4 hours in a row, with the free masks of the health service. They were all small for my nose. I am not very big, but I measure 6 feet and 1/2 inch, weight 202 pounds and I have a nose that has grown for 69 years!   . Then I started to buy other masks that fit better. With the current mask was sleeping in Madrid more than 7 hours in a row, every night.

Madrid is located at 700 m above sea level, but I have a house in Cantabria, the north of Spain, a green and not very warm region, something like Ireland. And this house is only 70 m above sea level. When I come to this house I am sleeping again less than 4 hours in a row. I think that may possibly influence, but I do not know.

I will continue reading and informing me, and when I am more prepared I can ask more appropriate questions.

Thank you very much for your kindness.