03-02-2025, 07:32 PM
RE: explaining a burst of CAs
Well! That sleep study changes the picture. Now what puzzles me is why you had so few CAs to start with. I am also struck by the fact that your sleep study includes 20% of your sleep tagged as Cheynes-Stokes breathing, which is a subclass of periodic breathing that can be associated with heart failure.
The central component of your apnea may be "idiopathic," meaning no one knows what causes it. But there are a few questions worth asking. Do you live at a high altitude? Do you use opioid or opioid-like medications? Do you have heart failure?
Did your doctor discuss with you the fact that you have mixed apnea (both obstructive and central) and that it may call for special treatment? Often people with a significant CA index in their sleep study will be started on CPAP. Then if that doesn't work, they'll be moved to a bilevel machine. And if that doesn't work, they'll be moved to an ASV machine (adaptive servo-ventilation). Perhaps that's your doctor's strategy.
For now, stick with your current settings. Who knows, your CAs may settle back down on their own. You could give it a week or two to see what happens. Occasionally central apnea will respond to ordinary CPAP. But if you continue to see a CA index over around 5, you need to see your sleep doctor.
Keep us posted, would you?
The central component of your apnea may be "idiopathic," meaning no one knows what causes it. But there are a few questions worth asking. Do you live at a high altitude? Do you use opioid or opioid-like medications? Do you have heart failure?
Did your doctor discuss with you the fact that you have mixed apnea (both obstructive and central) and that it may call for special treatment? Often people with a significant CA index in their sleep study will be started on CPAP. Then if that doesn't work, they'll be moved to a bilevel machine. And if that doesn't work, they'll be moved to an ASV machine (adaptive servo-ventilation). Perhaps that's your doctor's strategy.
For now, stick with your current settings. Who knows, your CAs may settle back down on their own. You could give it a week or two to see what happens. Occasionally central apnea will respond to ordinary CPAP. But if you continue to see a CA index over around 5, you need to see your sleep doctor.
Keep us posted, would you?
