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Cherise77

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Joined
Jun 18, 2018
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72
Reason
Loved one DX
Diagnosis
07/2018
Country
CA
State
BC
City
Vancouver
My Dad goes to his sleep clinic appt tomorrow and I wanted to get some insight and advice from other PALS before.
He did an over night sleep test last week and found out that he has sleep apnea. Tomorrow he goes to pick up a machine from Mainland Sleep. The sleep technician said he should start with a CPAP but when he asked the neurologist at his trial appt he said he would suggest getting a BiPAP.
My question is are any PALS here using a CPAP or have sleep apnea?
What would others suggest based on your knowledge and experience?
His SVC was just checked and at 83% so breathing is not an issue just needs a machine for sleep.

Thank you for your help!
 
The CPAP provides continuous pressure which helps with Sleep Apnea. The BiPAP does what the CPAP cannot... it helps reduce the very critical CO2 buildup that happens to those with ALS who cannot exhale enough to clear CO2. As the BiPAP will most certainly be needed, perhaps sooner than later... and due to the fact that the BiPAP can be adjusted to act much like a CPAP... I'd suggest that the BiPAP would be the better of choices. I would take my reply as only one answer... and would suggest that you wait for additional answers to make your decision from.



My best...


Jim
 
BiPAP.

Yes, you may hear from PALS here who were on CPAP for sleep apnea before "needing" BiPAP. My husband was one. As soon as he was diagnosed, I switched him to BiPAP.

The school of thought is that everyone currently on CPAP will in the not-too-distant future, be on BiPAP. When CPAP was invented, motors for all the machines were much more expensive to make, and much bigger. So CPAP was the portable, affordable alternative and BiPAP was much less accessible.

Today, it's recognized that even people with sleep apnea, not neuromuscular disease, benefit from the lowest possible EPAP, both to reduce work of breathing and to get deeper, often slower breaths. To get that, you need a machine that allows for more than 3cm difference (the max that CPAPs offer) between IPAP and EPAP.

Best,
Laurie
 
Yep, definitely what Laurie and Jim said :)
 
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