Can you be weaned off a CPAP?

I got this idea from my mother-in-law who has been on a ventilator for a few months. The docs are trying to wean her off so she would breathe on her own. Can a CPAPer be weaned off a CPAP machine? Maybe by slowly reducing the pressures over a period of time. Just like a ventilator weaning develops the lung muscles, might not a CPAP weaning develop the throat muscles needed to stay open? I'm thinking most CPAPers would prefer to not have a need for CPAP therapy. Is there a light at the end of the CPAP tunnel?

SnoreNoMore2005

Ventilator devices and CPAP are quite different. Ventilators breath for you (pull and push air in the lungs). After a while athrophy develops. CPAP operates under a different set of circumstances. CPAP splints open the airway and the lungs operate under the higher pressure requirement.

Most people will be in CPAP for the long term. In some cases, large weight loss has allowed some to go off of CPAP entirely, but I would say that is an exception. Results vary from persopn to person.

Many people are affected by OSA because of excess wright and others have a restrictive airway that no amount of weight loss would affect.

I would think that reducing pressure over time, would lead to an increase in OSA that could affect the health of the individual in a way that that may lead to further OSA.

I am not sure if this helps answer your question, but I hope it gives a little bit more information in helping you answer the question yourself based on conditions that might be present.

Under normal circumstances, no. CPAP doesn't cure OSA.

And muscle training to breathe deeper/stronger/etc won't help, either. In fact, it MIGHT make things worse. I don't think any "weaning" is possible with CPAP.

That being said, sometimes there ARE contributing factors which, if resolved, may lessen OSA symptoms. Sometimes even to the point of eliminating CPAP. The most notable is weight loss. That's the only light I'm aware of in this tunnel.

The stats are 50% of XPAP users are weaned off treatment, then they suffer more self inflected health damage, and in time, die sooner than need be. It's a personal choice, but not one I'd choose. "Give Me Air, or Give Me Death", seems like a No-Brainer to me! Jim

A lot of times they put my mother-in-law's ventilator on "CPAP Mode". They are just blowing air into her as they train her to breathe on her own. If you can't get off CPAP entirely, I wonder if reducing pressure over time might help better develop the muscles to keep your airways open or at least stop them from weakening or atrophying over time. It stands to reason that prolonged use of the CPAP would eventually cause the muscles in the throat to weaken since they no longer need to work to try and keep your throat open. The CPAP air pressure is doing it for them.

This is all conjecture on my part but makes sense to me from what I've learned about the need to exercise your muscles to help you breath better from the pulmonary docs at the hospital.

By the way, I've been using CPAP nightly for almost 5 years.

SnoreNoMore2005

If the muscles that keep your airway open were unable to do so at the beginning, and increased pressure (CPAP) has been doing that job since; how would any sort of "weaning" off the pressure magically make those muscles suddenly start doing their job?

If they were capable of doing it before CPAP, you'd have never started.

Your airway muscles are working fine in the daytime to keep your airway open. They are working then.

It's when people with sleep apnea go to sleep that they need the assistance to keep the airway stented open. In a relaxed (sleep) state, they don't work right so we need cpap.

The vast majority of those of us with sleep apnea will need this sleeping assistance for the rest of our lives.

SnoreNoMore2005 wrote:A lot of times they put my mother-in-law's ventilator on "CPAP Mode". They are just blowing air into her as they train her to breathe on her own. If you can't get off CPAP entirely, I wonder if reducing pressure over time might help better develop the muscles to keep your airways open or at least stop them from weakening or atrophying over time. It stands to reason that prolonged use of the CPAP would eventually cause the muscles in the throat to weaken since they no longer need to work to try and keep your throat open. The CPAP air pressure is doing it for them.

This is all conjecture on my part but makes sense to me from what I've learned about the need to exercise your muscles to help you breath better from the pulmonary docs at the hospital.

By the way, I've been using CPAP nightly for almost 5 years.

SnoreNoMore2005

First of all, the reason for being on a ventilator and being on CPAP are very different.

Your mother-in-law is more likely having issues with moving her diaphragm muscles to breathe.

Reason for using CPAP is to stent or keep the throat opening open. Two very different problems.

As Link said, only hope is weight loss and even then it is rare that people can be "cured" and stop using CPAP.

Over the last few weeks I've set the minimum pressure lower on my APAP than it's been in 5 years. I feel like it is more comfortable, and I'm sleeping better. I don't know if this has anything to do with weaning or requiring less pressure, but it seems to be working for me. I'm thinking the lower the pressure you can sleep comfortably and restfully with, the better.

SnoreNoMore2005

Without seeing the results with software, you are just guessing as to the real outcome. Sounds like DeNile is getting deep. Jim

If the years you have lived breathing and needed XPAP treatment to get by, weening yourself off treatment wouldn't be a option.

SnoreNoMore2005 wrote:Over the last few weeks I've set the minimum pressure lower on my APAP than it's been in 5 years. I feel like it is more comfortable, and I'm sleeping better. I don't know if this has anything to do with weaning or requiring less pressure, but it seems to be working for me. I'm thinking the lower the pressure you can sleep comfortably and restfully with, the better.

SnoreNoMore2005

Now we are getting to the point of shooting in the dark. Will you fill out your equipment profile (text not images) and tell us about your diagnosis and what your present and past pressure settings were? Also, anything else changed with you such as weight change or physical condition change? Do you have monitoring software?

SnoreNoMore2005 wrote:... I don't know if this has anything to do with weaning or requiring less pressure, but it seems to be working for me. I'm thinking the lower the pressure you can sleep comfortably and restfully with, the better. ...

What works for me is data. Honest data. Data that tells me clearly if my perception and the machine see the same thing. Sometimes they differ. But rather than try to be "weaned" off of xPAP therapy, I would rather breathe.

I know from the data that my current ASV unit allows me to keep right on breathing while I sleep. My Responironcs BiPAP M Series unit also honestly told me that it did not help solve all my problems (obstructive or central). It just did not touch most of my sleep problems. The data makes this clear.

So, you go ahead and "wean" yourself off the machine. But if you head back to a sleep specialist they should also insist on clear, concise data. It allows them know seperate out your feelings from reality. If they match, great. But most of us know (from the school of hard knocks) how very important that data can be help manage your therapy.

Weaning from a hospital ventilator is not the same discussion as the sleep apnea cpap device.
Cpap vent settings help the patients lungs remain inflated longer to allow for blood gases to exchange more efficiently
The patient Initiates all of their own breathing.
Cpap for sleep apnea is a totally different animal.

I understand undertakers are pretty good at weaning people off CPAP.
My preference is to continue to use it for as long as possible.

Grow gills! Keep head in a pond.