PAP stands for postive airway pressure therapy. It refers to when air is delivered to a patient at a level above that of the atmospheric pressure. When we are discussing patients using PAP for sleep disorders, an interface (mask) held on with straps is usually used. PAP therapy may take a number of forms and new modes of this therapy are devised regularly. The main forms of PAP used for treating obstructive sleep apnea is CPAP and APAP.
Other forms of PAP include bilevel ventilation where the device acts like a respirator (artificial breathing machine) to increase the patients breathing. This type of therapy is usually indicated when the person has a disorder of shallow breathing in sleep know as nocturnal hypoventilation. Other modes of PAP include adaptive servo ventilation. These devices use modern computing to treat central apnea in those cases where more simple modes are shown to be ineffective.

CPAP stands for continuous positive airways pressure. It refers to when air is delivered to a patient at a level above that of the atmospheric pressure. The term CPAP is generally used when we are referring to a single level of pressure which is applied across the entire night. Other modes of pressure delivery exist which apply the pressure in different ways including APAP and bilevel ventilation.

The manufactures of CPAP have sought to improve the comfort of CPAP by adding various features including a ramping (i.e. gradual increase) of pressure as desired by the patient and a dropping of the pressure as the patient breaths out (C-flex and EPR).

When we talk about using CPAP during sleep we are in the majority of cases delivering the pressure via an interface which is held in place with straps. The interfaces are of many different types and include nasal masks, full face masks, mouthpieces and nasal prongs.

APAP stands for automatic positive airways pressure. APAP is known under a number of names including aPAP, autoset and autoPAP. This mode of PAP therapy is also found in a number of different brands of products.
The choice of whether to use APAP versus CPAP will depend on many different factors. These include:

• the effectiveness of either modality
• the instructions of the treating physician
• the desires of the client
• the potential benefits of one mode over another
• the budget of the client

In most cases the choice of the type of device will depend on the individual situation and many different factors will be weighed by the client and their healthcare advisors. A period of carefully monitored device usage on a rental basis is always recommended prior to making definitive choices about which device or mode will be used long-term.

Our recomendation is to purchase the machien that us shown to work objectively and is most comfortable to the user. In the vast majority of cases APAP is not required saving our clients a significant sum.

At the Sleep and Lifestyle Clinic we understand the convenience of buying your equipment online. We have some of our most popular products available online for those who prefer this method of purchasing and know what equipment they require.

We do not sell CPAP machines online as the set-up of your device, mask type and size will be different for everyone. At the Sleep and Lifestyle Clinic we use a personalised approach to your therapy through face-to-face consultation.

We do not sell Complete Mask Sets online as this way we can make sure you have a comfortable and correctly sized mask. It may not be as convenient as purchasing online, however, these masks can be pre-purchased online prior to pick-up if preferred. All spare parts are available for purchase and have mailing and pick-up options.

We do stress the importance of visiting one of our Clinic Locations if you are unsure about any of the equipment you may require and for our full range of products.