bbdgriptonia

I want to elaborate on this a little bit as these two modalities are extremely different.

Mlarson's father's PAP device (positive Airway Pressure) is either Cpap or BiPap. Cpap is a single pressure all the time to create a pneumatic air splint allowing the patient to breathe. BiPap is essentially the same, but the device has two pressures; one high pressure for inspiration and a lower pressure (normally at least 4cm/water pressure lower) for expiration. The difference is for comfort or for other underlying pulmonary complications (emphysema, copd, fibrosis...).

VanOlenger's device is designed to assist with his central sleep apnea by analyzing his breathing and determining whether he is breathing on his own or not. If he is breathing spontaneously, it continues to act like a normal Cpap/BiPap. If it senses a lack in respiratory drive, or his breathing rate falls below a specific number, the device then increases pressures to act like a ventilator.

VanOlenger's device is more intrusive and uncomfortable. Cpap/BiPap are a cake walk comparatively.

Source: I am a registered sleep technologist (Polysomnographic Technologist) with about 8 years in the field, currently managing a lab in California and specializing in sleep education and Pap therapy compliance.

Sleep Technologist and Clinical Sleep Educator checking in. Although my expertise will not be as thorough as the physician's, i thought this might help.

When you breath you are changing the gas concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide (among other gases) within your blood. these gases are measured via chemoreceptors within your cardiovascular system. The receptors initiate an action potential to the brain about the varying levels of these gases, causing a response - eg, too much O2; reduce respiration level/rate, too much CO2; breath more, etc. In patients that have suffered chronic sleep disordered breathing (and other chronic respiratory disorders for that matter) the levels that these receptors respond to vary given the lasting scenario (If you spend enough time around manure, you tend to forget the smell sort of situation). Patients with obstructive sleep apnea for long periods of their lives will not respond as readily to low oxygen/high carbon dioxide levels as a healthy individual.

In your case, the PAP device is regulating your airway so that you may breath at a normal rate and level, thus the gas concentrations would be more of a normal healthy breathing individual's. Your chemoreceptors should be reading in normal ranges. If you were to go a night without PAP you may observe you have a terrible nights sleep due to your receptors acting appropriate when gas levels change due to an airway occlusion and causing your recticular activation system to wake you up so you can breath again.

tl,dr: PAP normalizes your body's breathing ability so your reaction to not breathing at night will be as sensitive as a healthy person's, not the other way around.