If your doctor diagnoses obstructive sleep apnoea, they may recommend CPAP therapy for you.

You might be wondering what CPAP is all about. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. CPAP therapy is considered by sleep specialists to be the gold standard in treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea. When you have obstructive sleep apneoa, you stop breathing in your sleep. Of course, this is unhealthy and dangerous, and has major impacts upon your overall health.

CPAP treatment is used to support your airway so that it doesn’t close, and you can breathe normally while you sleep. With CPAP therapy, your entire body can once again receive all the oxygen and healthy sleep that it needs. CPAP treatment comes with many health benefits ranging from physical health to mental health. CPAP therapy improves your blood oxygen saturation levels, reduces your risk of developing chronic and fatal health conditions, supports your vital organs if they are already at a higher risk such as previous history of heart attack, stroke or with high blood pressure. CPAP therapy improves your sleep quality and on top of that, you will no longer snore!

SO, WHAT IS CPAP?

CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. It is used in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea, and as support for other forms of respiratory disease or disorder when indicated (such as babies born prematurely, that is how safe it is!) For people with sleep apnoea, CPAP therapy uses continuous air pressure to hold or splint the airway open while they sleep to prevent their airway from closing. When your airway is supported, your oxygen levels improve, your vital organs and health are supported and you stop snoring.

CPAP TRIALS & HIRE

Pacific Sleep suggests a clinically supported trial of CPAP for one month. At Pacific Sleep, we believe that we provide the best CPAP trials as our clinical staff have medical backgrounds, clinical training and are highly experienced and trained in CPAP therapy. We are also proudly and fiercely independent, and do not provide therapy to reach sales targets or commission.

During your trial our clinical staff will discuss your health, lifestyle and requirements for ongoing treatment. CPAP is not a one size fits all therapy, and during the trial Pacific Sleep clinical staff will specially fit you with masks to suit your needs, and change CPAP settings to improve your comfort as you adjust to treatment and ensure that the settings are appropriate to your requirements and health.

Throughout the trial, your CPAP therapy data will be reviewed frequently by either download of the device or through remotely connected modems. There are two forms of CPAP therapy, auto titrating devices and fixed setting devices. During the CPAP trial on your loan device you will use an automatic titrating CPAP device setting, and then a fixed CPAP device setting to allow you to experience both forms of treatment. Pacific Sleep will adjust settings during the trial to improve treatment efficiency and your comfort on treatment, as well as support you through any issues you may experience during this adjustment period.

You will see a Pacific Sleep clinician for the setup of the equipment, after the first week, again in the third week, then the fourth and final week of the trial. You will hear your clinician using synonyms such as AHi (Apnoea Hypopnoea index) which is how many times your airway closes and you stop breathing on average in the hour. Pacific Sleep staff are here to support you as you adjust to CPAP treatment, and this support doesn’t stop at one clinical appointment. If you need any further support during the trial, we encourage you to call us, or email us with any questions or concerns.

Whenever possible, Pacific Sleep aim to book your final appointment in line with your follow up appointment with your Sleep and Respiratory specialist. By now, Pacific Sleep clinical staff will have explained your CPAP results and treatment efficiency to you, and now your specialist will review your treatment results, may complete further testing when required and will help you decide on continuing with CPAP treatment if you are not sure, as well as discuss any other respiratory health issues that they may be concerned with. You may book an appointment with Pacific Sleep after you have seen your specialist to arrange for the extension of rental or purchase of equipment. Either way, Pacific Sleep have a solution for you to continue on with your CPAP therapy!