Does using a BiPap machine lead to using oxygen tanks?

[VCammarano]

My girlfriend is telling me that if I use a BiPap machine I will end up having to use oxygen all the time. From what I have read this is not true. Is there any medical advice regarding this? Also is there any well know sites that cover this topic. I know we are all dependent on oxygen, but she seems to think that I will have to have it with me all the time, and not just the BiPap for sleep.

[Sheriff Buford]

Heck no... she's wrong... but let her off gently... if you know what I mean . I am in the process of getting a bipap machine. I went to crapia... er apria... this weekend to pick it up, and they didn't have in stock. A bipap will offer higher pressures (autopap= up to 20 cm/h2o and a bipap= 25 cm/h2o). It also has some respiratory advantages that the auto pap doesn't have. That's about it. If you need oxygen, it doesn't matter if you have a bipap or autopap.

Sheriff

[Pugsy]

Is there any medical advice regarding this?

None.

If a person who happens to use a bilevel pressure machine ends up needing added O2 to their life...it is because of something else going on with their body and not related to the machine. I suspect she is thinking about the bipap acting like a ventilator and a person getting to the point where the lungs won't work on their own and that simply doesn't happen just from the use of any cpap/bipap machine. Old wives tale.

[Guest]

Sheriff is right but I'm not so sure I would let her down easy.

To expand the thought supplemental O2 is not for sleep apnea but other medical problems so if you develop problems that require the use of "supplemental O2" the yes you could end up on O2. Otherwise she is right you are already there.

OTOH - should you not use a bipap or cpap as directed - your O2 needs will be short lived.

The biggest feature that bipaps offer it exhale relief. It becomes increasingly difficult to exhale as the pressure increases. Also some medical problems make it difficult to exhale.

[JohnBFisher]

20 plus years of using BiPAP type devices. No oxygen yet.

Nope. Experience shows a different reality than what your girlfriend sees.

[chunkyfrog]

Many find changing to a bipap is more comfortable because of the lower expiratory pressure.
Some even see an improvement over previous aerophagia.
Oxygen supplementation is an unrelated matter, but any pap device can be used with oxygen if needed.
Unless you have a lung disease or are working on one (by smoking), your GF is all wet!
--and I ought to know.

[archangle]

BTW, "BiPAP and VPAP" are trademarks for bilevel machines, so I'll use the term bilevel.

If certain types of breathing support is done to newborn babies without proper procedures, many of them will end up never being able to breathe on their own. Many people have sort of generalized this to "breathing machines make you dependent." This doesn't usually happen to adults. It has to do with the way the baby's brain and body develop. Sometimes, even the medical professionals get the wrong idea. When they first figured this out, they had to drill it into the nurses that you had to limit the use of O2 and ventilation on newborns to prevent long term breathing problems.

If your breathing capabilities are gradually fading, you may reach a point where you need CPAP, then bilevel, then maybe a ventilator, then burial. Somewhere along the progression, you may need oxygen as well. To some people, it looks like the CPAP or bilevel made you need oxygen.

You might also have some sudden onset breathing problem and start out on a ventilator of some kind and then end up needing O2 after you get out of the hospital. Some people interpret this as "the breathing machine did this." Well, yes, without the breathing machine, you'd be dead and wouldn't be using oxygen.

I think if you have certain really bad breathing problems, for instance from something that causes brain damage, you may end on a ventilator that "breathes for you." It can be really hard to wean you off of the ventilator. Some of this may be due to your brain and body relearning to breathe, or it may just be that the origin injury was that bad.

I can't say for sure there's no connection between a bilevel and needing oxygen, but if anything, I suspect having a CPAP/bilevel machine delays or even prevents needing oxygen because it improves your health in general.

[TheDuke]

NO, using CPAP or BiPAP does not lead to using oxygen tanks. I am now almost 84 years old, and have used CPAP/BiPAP machines for maybe 26 or 27 years. I sleep comfortably, I like my present mask and machine and have never had nor needed any sort of supplemental oxygen. (I have had a few surgeries and maybe had oxygen while I was out . Naturally I don't remember)

I strongly urge anyone who needs XPAP machines to accept the treatment and religiously use the machine every night, all night!!

TheDuke