Here is an announcement of a recent study. Perhaps you can ask your doctors to look up the study, which looks at combining supplemental oxygen therapy and BiPAP therapy in treating Sleep Apnea in veterans prescribed opioids, with 92% success rate. (Perhaps combining supplemental oxygen therapy with ASV PAP therapy would have been successful with the remaining 8%, but that was not tried.)
Methods for Treating Sleep Apnea in Veterans Prescribed Opioids
Categorized in: Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), January 2013
DETROIT--Using a titration protocol with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and then positive (PAP) with oxygen effectively eliminates central sleep apnea (CSA) in veterans with underlying comorbid conditions and prescription opioid use, according to a new study from the John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medicine Center in Detroit.1
Noting that (PAP) titration protocols for CSA are poorly defined, the authors used retrospective chart review to determine the impact of a stepwise titration protocol using PAP therapy and supplemental oxygen in a sleep clinic population of patients with multiple comorbid conditions and particularly with prescription opioid drug use.
They point out that CPAP eliminates central apneas in 50% of CSA cases, while CPAP in combination with oxygen is effective in an additional 25%.
“There are no standard therapies for the management of central sleep apnea (CSA),” the authors explained in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine article. “Either positive pressure therapy (PAP) or supplemental oxygen (O(2)) may stabilize respiration in CSA by reducing ventilatory chemoresponsiveness. Additionally, increasing opioid use and the presence of comorbid conditions in U.S. veterans necessitates investigations into alternative titration protocols to treat CSA.”
With 162 patients diagnosed with CSA, the protocol was effective in eliminating CSA in 84% of patients. CPAP was effective in 48%, while CPAP plus oxygen was effective in an additional 25%. BPAP with oxygen was effective in 11%, but the remaining 16% were nonresponders.
Of the patients with CSA, 47 (29%) were on prescribed opioid therapy for chronic pain. For them, CPAP, CPAP+O(2), or BPAP+O(2) eliminated CSA in 54%, 28%, and 10% cases, respectively.
1.Chowdhuri S, Ghabsha A, Sinha P, Kadri M, Narula S, Badr MS. Treatment of Central Sleep Apnea in US Veterans. J Clin Sleep Med. 2012 Oct 15;8(5):555-63. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.2156. PubMed PMID: 23066368; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3459202.
http://www.usmedicine.com/articles/metho...R31XWcrHJR