blueraccoon: (sleepy cat)
blueraccoon ([personal profile] blueraccoon) wrote in [community profile] who_needs_sleep2011-08-09 01:58 pm

BiPAP help!

The very abbreviated sleep history of becc, age 31:

April '08 - diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. given CPAP and told if I lost weight, the apnea would probably go away.

July '08 - had bariatric surgery.

somewhere in fall of '08 - stopped using CPAP as apnea had in fact gone away.

July '11 - went to doctor because sleep was becoming even more problematic than usual (I'm a crappy sleeper, always have been; I have anxiety so falling asleep is an issue and waking up several times a night also happens) and got referred to sleep doctor.

--Sleep doc did one study, and confirmed I have complex sleep apnea--so now in addition to my throat getting closed off, my brain keeps forgetting to tell my body to breathe*.

August '11--given BiPAP machine.

The BiPAP? Sucks donkey balls. Sorry for the language. It has a 20-min warmup to the stated pressure, which is great, and at about 25 minutes I can't breathe with it and I'm ripping the headgear off my head. It's trying to force me to breathe in rhythm with it, only if I breathed with the biPAP I'd be hyperventilating. I can't stand the changing pressure and it makes me feel claustrophobic and...gah.

Does anyone out here use a BiPAP and have suggestions for breathing with it? Because I'm about to go Office Space on this thing.
sorchar: Sparkly brain (Default)

[personal profile] sorchar 2011-08-10 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
I'm pretty sure mine is the C-flex kind, which is much easier to breathe with once it gets your rhythm. Is there any way you can change up to one of those?
firecat: damiel from wings of desire tasting blood on his fingers. text "i has a flavor!" (Default)

[personal profile] firecat 2011-08-10 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Some BiPAP machines will adapt to your breathing rhythm.

http://www.cpap.com/cpap-machines/bipap-machine.php