About 20 years ago I had my first sleep study and was diagnosed with OSA. Couldn't tolerate CPAP, so the doc put me on a nasal spray which helped.
 On a second sleep study a year later they detected that my brain was not properly communicationg with and telling my body to breathe. At that time I don't think that there was a lot of information on Apnea.
 Fast forward 18 years, different doc ordered a sleep study and tried me on CPAP again. Same problem so he reccomended a dental appliance, This stopped the snoring but when an oximeter test was recently done with the dental device in use, my oxygen level dropped below 90% on over 200 occasions. Once dropping as low as 70.
 Doc put the fear of death upon me! I met with an excellent R/T who fitted me and taught me to use a full face mask. I have been back on the CPAP for a week now.

 Is it possible that I have mixed apnea?

 The question that I have been unable to find an answer for is, will a CPAP help central apnea? I can understand it helping OSA, but if the brain is not sending a signal to the chest, how can a CPAP help?

opie1 wrote:

About 20 years ago I had my first sleep study and was diagnosed with OSA. Couldn't tolerate CPAP, so the doc put me on a nasal spray which helped.
 On a second sleep study a year later they detected that my brain was not properly communicationg with and telling my body to breathe. At that time I don't think that there was a lot of information on Apnea.
 Fast forward 18 years, different doc ordered a sleep study and tried me on CPAP again. Same problem so he reccomended a dental appliance, This stopped the snoring but when an oximeter test was recently done with the dental device in use, my oxygen level dropped below 90% on over 200 occasions. Once dropping as low as 70.
 Doc put the fear of death upon me! I met with an excellent R/T who fitted me and taught me to use a full face mask. I have been back on the CPAP for a week now.

 Is it possible that I have mixed apnea?

 The question that I have been unable to find an answer for is, will a CPAP help central apnea? I can understand it helping OSA, but if the brain is not sending a signal to the chest, how can a CPAP help?

Hi Opie,

You are right, there really isn't much information out there about Central Apneas.  And I don't know much about it myself.

My question to you is what was the result of your recent sleep study?  Do you have a copy of the report from that study?  It should say what types of apneas you had and how many.  

I've been told that cpap helps centrals in some cases, but I don't really understand it myself.  However, if there are some obstructive apneas happening at the same  time, there might be relief from cpap.  There is some information in our Frequently Asked Questions section (FAQ), but not much.  Below is a link to that topic, if you haven't already seen it:

click here for link to FAQ topic on Central Apnea



Linda

In addition to the very good link Linda gave you, opie1, here's a link to many interesting discussions about Central Apnea:

Links to Central Apnea

Thanks!