BiPAP machines (also called Bi-level machines) are devices designed to help sleep apnea sufferers.

If you have sleep apnea, you experience breathing interruptions as you sleep. What happens is the muscles that support your tongue and palate relax during sleep, collapsing over and obstructing your airway, making it narrower. This causes you to have difficulty breathing and, usually, to snore.

How Do BiPAP machines Work?

What a Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure or BiPAP machine does is to blow air into your airway at a higher pressure as you inhale, and then at a lower pressure when you exhale. This is done through a tube, fixed by a mask or headgear.

BiPAP machines are regarded as gentler alternatives to CPAP. In Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, the machine blows a steady amount of air CONSTANTLY into your airway. This would keep your airway always open and your breathing will be uninterrupted throughout the night.

Although many medical experts regard CPAP as the most effective kind of sleep apnea therapy today, some patients are not able to withstand air being constantly blown into their airway. The most common problem with CPAP is difficulty exhaling against the constant air pressure. So for these patients, BiPAP machines are recommended.

Do I Need a BiPAP Machine?

Both CPAP and BiPAP machines need a doctor's prescription. Before such devices are used for apnea therapy, a doctor has to first conduct a sleep study.

Sleep apnea involves breath stoppage for 10 seconds at least. It may occur from 20 times to as often as 60 times inside an hour. When your sleep is compromised, it can lead to other health complications, severely affecting the quality of your life. At its worst, sleep apnea is a life threatening disease.

So your doctor needs to make an exact diagnosis to determine the severity of your apnea and the treatment most suited to your condition.

You may not necessarily need a BiPAP machine as there are not only lots of other treatments but also more than one type of sleep apnea.

Do BiPAP Machines Have Side Effects?

Yes. That is why you must not self-administer BiPAP therapy. Your doctor needs to conduct a sleep study to see how high air pressure should be set for your condition and what kind of mask or headgear is most appropriate.

The major complications from BiPAP machine use are:

• air leaks;
• bloating of the stomach;
• claustrophobia;
• conjunctivitis;
• dry eyes;
• red marks on the face; and
• soreness from the headgear.

BiPAP machines are also used as pre-surgical therapy for patients, in which case higher levels of air pressure are required.

Whatever you apnea condition is - but especially if it is not caused by an anatomical anomaly (e.g., an enlarged tongue) - your doctor will likely begin with more simple treatments that do not involve having to wear a machine at night.

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