How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.

When were you diagnosed

1-6 months
3
8%
6-12 months
1
3%
1-5 years
6
16%
5-10 years
8
21%
10-20 years
11
29%
longer than poll options
9
24%
 
Total votes: 38

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valsedai
Posts: 18
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by valsedai » Thu May 07, 2015 10:37 am

I have had an old roommate diagnosed with sleep apnea, then my ex husband as well. I knew of the symptoms, but my snoring isn't bad, just the daytime drowsiness and falling asleep at a meeting at work made me go to the doctor to see what was going on. A home sleep study or 2 later, and I have a mild case of sleep apnea with 6 episodes an hour.

After that, the clinician took me to the DME and I got set up with a machine that day. That was July 2014. I figure I had it since 2005 at least.

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kteague
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by kteague » Thu May 07, 2015 1:37 pm

Been symptomatic most of my adult life. Was 20, fit and trim, when I first got complaints about my snoring. Didn't believe them. Kept hearing that through the years. Although I maintained a very active lifestyle, could always fall asleep anywhere at the blink of an eye. Slept through a Jefferson Airplane concert in an arena in the late 1960s. In my late 40's started waking up feeling like I was choking or suffocating (and dreaming the same) with my heart racing. Two doctors suggested sleep apnea, but I was uninsured and decided to wait for testing. Glad I did, because one of those doctors was pushing surgery as an option. Anyhow, got tested not much later in 1998. Was diagnosed with PLMD. No evidence during testing of OSA, much to everyone's surprise. Unfortunately little was said then about OSA and PLMD potentially masking each other, and I continued a downhill spiral of weight gain and compounding health problems and continued nighttime symptoms. Even though I had more sleep studies in between, it was 2005 before my legs were quiet enough to allow me to sleep enough for the OSA to be captured in a sleep study. That is why my posts often question a negative sleep study result. Just because a sleep disorder does not show up in a study does not mean you don't have it. Knowing what I know now, if I was symptomatic I would accept a negative test result only if testing was ideal - no other sleep disorders interfering, and adequate time in the different sleep stages and positions (particularly in REM while supine for OSA). The time between the OSA diagnosis and treatment - a couple weeks. Optimized treatment - 6 or 7 months (after finding this site).

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Julie
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by Julie » Tue Nov 17, 2015 7:18 pm

Why are you bumping a May thread?

tiredandscared
Posts: 333
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by tiredandscared » Tue Nov 17, 2015 7:37 pm

Julie wrote:Why are you bumping a May thread?
I'm interested if the poll changes. Besides who told you to intrude with annoying questions?

iscoffy
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Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:44 pm

Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by iscoffy » Tue Nov 17, 2015 8:01 pm

I was diagnosed in late 2014, but looking back, probably had sleep apnea from the late 1990s (falling asleep in class, while driving, or watching TV; snoring, etc.). A wacky thyroid (also undiagnosed for far too long) confounded the issue with some overlapping symptoms like tiredness/sluggishness, but it wasn't until I got a new GP who, during my first visit, asked some questions after noticing the shape of my jaw/palate, that anyone ever mentioned sleep apnea as a possibility to me. From there it was a pretty quick process, with a sleep study showing confirming the GP's suspicion.

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PEF
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by PEF » Tue Nov 17, 2015 9:56 pm

I may as well add my 2 cents to this also. I am sure I had SDB most of my life - even as a child, back when the Medical Profession did not even know about it. I had chronic insomnia all my life as well as chronic pain (that was diagnosed as fibromylgia later). I also had terrible allergies which did not respond to anything because it was later discovered that this was mostly gastric reflux. The gastric reflux did not respond to any of the usual medications. So I suffered a lot. I resorted to alternative medicine a lot because doctors were always treating me like a hypochondriac. My husband even thought I was a hypochondriac and was skeptical of my health complaints. So I went back to the Psychiatrists who gave me anti-anxiety meds and antidepressants, often which did not help so I would not take them. However, one morning after waking up, I told my husband that I had tachycardia. He felt my pulse and told me I was right - it was like 150. I would often have these episodes which would last 10 or 15 minutes. Believing me this time, my husband took me to see a Cardiologist who said my heart was fine. Then we went to see an Endocrinologist who discovered I had a parathyroid problem, for which I had surgery in 2012. Gastric reflux and joint, back, muscle pain are all symptoms of hyperparathyroidism. My fibromyalgia symptoms went away within 2 years. My respiratory issues were better, but I still had some nighttime reflux into my throat. Acid suppressing drugs had no effect. My eating habits made no difference and my Gastroenterology doctor did not think I had any digestive problems. The ENT guys I saw were all useless. Then I found Dr. Steven Park's book, Sleep, Interrupted and found out about UARS. Since I only ever got stomach contents in my throat during my deep REM sleep, it seemed that this Sleep Apnea might be the correct diagnosis. IT was slow going because my husband thought at first there was no way I had sleep apnea. After reading Dr. Park's book and observing my symptoms, he agrees now. He is retired and gave up his medical license, so I saw another doctor that had been a surgical student of my husband's. He looked it up, asked me about my symptoms and agreed that I probably had UARS and gave me a prescription for the CPAP and supplies.

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Willllburrrr
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Location: Virginia

Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by Willllburrrr » Wed Nov 18, 2015 8:38 am

I put 5-10 years but I have a feeling it was longer...typical hard headed guy who didn't have time for the sleep study. Now that I have my machine the other battle has started,getting use to the machine,finding a comfortable mask or just finding a mask that fits and doesn't leak...I don't need to put down the list...everyone here knows and understands.

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bpathakis
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by bpathakis » Wed Nov 18, 2015 8:55 am

Well, I was recently diagnosed. I went in to my primary care doctor on Oct 20th, who thought I might have sleep apnea. She referred me to a sleep specialist, who also suspected sleep apnea, and ordered a sleep study. I was lucky and got a sleep study scheduled quickly, and got my results back on Nov 15th. So a little less than a month. Although I was lucky, probably not typical.

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Heart Jumping
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Re: How long did it take before you first got diagnosed.

Post by Heart Jumping » Wed Nov 18, 2015 4:24 pm

I'm positive I've had mine for at least 10 years, and that's just when I first remember experiencing severe symptoms. However they were infrequent enough that it took me another 10 years to realize what it was, and even then it was only as part of a larger investigation into what might have caused some other scary things I was experiencing. I think it's reasonable to assume it existed in a more moderate form for many years before I experienced severe symptoms, so who knows how far back it goes? For all I know it could be 20 or 30 years or more, I have no idea.

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