Extra Oxygen Eliminated My [Central] Apnea.

[Phil57]

I have, or rather had, central sleep apnea.  A doctor prescribed a VPAP (not a CPAP) after misreading his own data and thinking I had obstructive.  At first I didn't know the difference but when the VPAP did no good I began to read and think on my own.  I realized that a VPAP (or a CPAP) is not expected to help with central apnea.  Before dropping the VPAP I wore it at elevations lower than my own (7,320 ft) in NM and at even the still high altitude of 5,000 ft. the VPAP said my apnea rate was down from 15 to 30/hr to only 2 or 3/hr.  So I central seems brought own by living at very high altitude.  I brought all this up with the doctor and he suggested dropping the VPAP and using only some additional O2 at night, using an oxygen condenser at 1.5 liters/hr.  To find out if this helps I fed the O2 tube into the VPAP and then my measured apnea rate went down to ZERO.  This happened two nights in a row and then two more nights exactly a year later.  I don't use the VPAP on normal nights, only to check on the effect of the extra O2.  I can't promise anything to anyone else, but for me at 7,000 ft with central apnea, using extra oxygen during the night eliminated my apnea.  And the blood pressure in my heart's right ventrical came down at the same time, so I lost apnea and gained a more normal heart.  (When I travel I'm always going to a lower elevation so I don't take an oxygen concentration with me.)

[Sleeprider]

We have seen supplemental oxygen reduce instances of central apnea in a limited group of members previously...I can only think of one. The gold standard for treating central events is the Resmed Aircurve 10 ASV bilevel. It provides intelligent pressure support on a breath by breath basis to maintain respiratory rate and volumes. I have no idea why oxygen supplement works, but it is apparently effective with CPAP or bilevel on a limited number of individuals. It might be interesting to hear your doctor's opinion on ASV as an option, however, it is hard to complain about effective results.

[nicholb]

A couple summers ago I visited Estes Park. During the visit mi AHI went from a normal ~5 each night. I was at 75 the last night there, mostly central. No doubt higher altitude can affect AHI.