Second Sleep Study Kinda in Denial

[bluetowelboy]

I just had my second sleep study where they try the cpap machine and different masks. My first study had an AHI of 105 and a minimum oxygen level of 75%. I just keep having this feeling that it has to be a mistake. I am tired in the afternoon but I've always been tired in the afternoon. I'm grumpy when I'm tired but I've always been on the grumpy side. I didn't really feel any different after a night on the mask and I figured I would. Should I get a second opinion? Should I see an ENT? Does everyone go through this denial or is it just me?

I'm sure this has been asked before but I just finished the test an hour ago and my wife is sleeping soundly upstairs. She has already told me that she will not be able to sleep in the room with me if I have a loud machine pumping all night. I never pictured sleeping in a different room than my wife during our marriage. Are there quieter machines? Just freaking out a little here I went for a sleep study on a whim and figured they would tell me I am normal just lazy, now all of this is happening in like 2 weeks.

Thanks
Bluetowelboy

[caffeinatedcfo]

Welcome!

First, know that the modern CPAP machines are very quiet. A small bedroom fan makes more noise. My wife was much happier not having to listen to me snore through the night.

The second study you had (with the mask) is called a titration study. This is where they determine the optimal pressure to treat your apnea. Results are normally determined within 10 business days. After that, the doctor will prescribe whatever device (s)he feels will best suit your needs, as well as the pressure setting. You can, of course, refuse treatment, but based on your AHI and O2 desaturation, you're a heart attack or stroke time bomb without treating the apnea.

You should explore all of your treatment options with your doctor, although statistically speaking, only about 50% of sleep apnea patients respond to surgical treatment and I hear it is a grueling process. Also, apnea can worsen with age meaning that you could go through the surgery only to end up needing CPAP some years later. But you should research your options; I did before accepting CPAP.

All of us have gone through some phase of denial - I was absolutely not going to sleep with a mask the rest of my life! Then I did some research and found this forum and realized hey, CPAP isn't so bad with all the modern machines and nasal masks. Heck, even Shaq acepted it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkiWvWn2aU.

The fact that you have always been grouchy and tired may just mean you have been living with untreated sleep apnea for years.

So bottom line: get your results, discuss them and your options with a qualified sleep doctor, get a second opinion if you are still uncomfortable, and educate your wife so she can also understand. But just know ... it isn't that bad. In fact, CPAP helps relax me and I fall asleep much easier now.

Good luck!

[Ron439]

Speaking as a wife of a CPAP user, she will love it! There are obvious health issues with NOT seeking treatment ... but aside from that, the machine is not bothersome at all. Compared to the sound of your snoring and breathing struggles, it's blissfully quiet when all is in balance. My husband's machine is 5 years old, and the new ones are quieter yet. Reassure her that this is the right thing to do. With your numbers, you definitely NEED treatment, no question about it.

Depending on how confident you are with your sleep study people, do push for the "auto" CPAP machine if possible. Over the course of treatment, this type of machine is a great "set it and forget it" deal which adapts to your changing needs. And most importantly, find a mask that fits well -- this is worth the patience of repeated fittings. Above all, begin treatment and give it time. It does take a few months to get settled in, and you will find that you will gradually see improvement. It doesn't happen all at once. I once helped a young friend get treated and he bounced up like Superman ... but then again, I think very few people get treatment at 22 years old, and being active and fit, his body responded immediately. Not typical, I believe!

When my husband first got his machine, he was given limited help by the sleep center and his ENT. This forum was VERY valuable, and the people here helped me become his advocate -- I don't hang out here often, but do pop in occasionally when I have questions, and always get great advice. I'm glad you found your way here. Take some time to explore the resources here. You'll be glad you did.

Beginning CPAP is a big lifestyle change, but what is really scary is what could happen if you DON'T do it! The benefits outweigh ... well, everything else! Sending hugs for your wife!

[writergirl2002]

I am absolutely in denial and having a very hard time. I woke up at 8:30 this morning with a panic attack. I missed church...i really needed to go so I'm sitting in my living room bawling with my poor six year old son trying to comfort me. I want to escape and go to my parents today but I don't want to get tired on the way home. I've always been fine before but mentally I'm all freaked out about it now. I just want my life back. I don't want to deal with all this .. I am losing weight already and wanted that to mean I wouldn't need this. I am not dealing with it well at all. Everyone says I should and cpap is my friend and blah, blah, blah and all I want to do is tell them to shut the hell up. It's awful because I know they want to help, but I am so angry and I don't even know who at. The weight gain was not all my fault...it was a doctor who told me 11 years ago my thyroid was fine. It wasn't and still isn't. But I've lost 30 lbs and have 30 more to go and I'll be happy. Anyhow, I have to make some decisions today about getting out of the house to take my mind off things or sitting here and crying all day. I don't even know when the sleep lab will call about getting me fitted at this point and I can't get my mind to calm down. Everyone says that because I'm not getting rest and guess what....that is NOT comforting at all!

I just had my second sleep study where they try the cpap machine and different masks. My first study had an AHI of 105 and a minimum oxygen level of 75%. I just keep having this feeling that it has to be a mistake. I am tired in the afternoon but I've always been tired in the afternoon. I'm grumpy when I'm tired but I've always been on the grumpy side. I didn't really feel any different after a night on the mask and I figured I would. Should I get a second opinion? Should I see an ENT? Does everyone go through this denial or is it just me?

I'm sure this has been asked before but I just finished the test an hour ago and my wife is sleeping soundly upstairs. She has already told me that she will not be able to sleep in the room with me if I have a loud machine pumping all night. I never pictured sleeping in a different room than my wife during our marriage. Are there quieter machines? Just freaking out a little here I went for a sleep study on a whim and figured they would tell me I am normal just lazy, now all of this is happening in like 2 weeks.

Thanks
Bluetowelboy

[BlackSpinner]

The machine makes less noise then a fan, an air purifier, humidifier or airconditioner - much, much less noise then an airconditioner in fact.
Your body at night is running on only 75% of the oxygen it needs to function which means it it like you are living higher then 9000 ft.

[BlackSpinner]

I am absolutely in denial and having a very hard time. I woke up at 8:30 this morning with a panic attack. I missed church...i really needed to go so I'm sitting in my living room bawling with my poor six year old son trying to comfort me. I want to escape and go to my parents today but I don't want to get tired on the way home. I've always been fine before but mentally I'm all freaked out about it now. I just want my life back. I don't want to deal with all this .. I am losing weight already and wanted that to mean I wouldn't need this. I am not dealing with it well at all. Everyone says I should and cpap is my friend and blah, blah, blah and all I want to do is tell them to shut the hell up. It's awful because I know they want to help, but I am so angry and I don't even know who at. The weight gain was not all my fault...it was a doctor who told me 11 years ago my thyroid was fine. It wasn't and still isn't. But I've lost 30 lbs and have 30 more to go and I'll be happy. Anyhow, I have to make some decisions today about getting out of the house to take my mind off things or sitting here and crying all day. I don't even know when the sleep lab will call about getting me fitted at this point and I can't get my mind to calm down. Everyone says that because I'm not getting rest and guess what....that is NOT comforting at all!

I was know as the bitch from Hell with the tongue that could blister paint until I got my cpap machine. My fuse could be measured in millimetres. The first thing people commented on during the first month was how nice I was in comparison, some thought I was smoking up.

[bluetowelboy]

I am absolutely in denial and having a very hard time. I woke up at 8:30 this morning with a panic attack. I missed church...i really needed to go so I'm sitting in my living room bawling with my poor six year old son trying to comfort me. I want to escape and go to my parents today but I don't want to get tired on the way home. I've always been fine before but mentally I'm all freaked out about it now. I just want my life back. I don't want to deal with all this .. I am losing weight already and wanted that to mean I wouldn't need this. I am not dealing with it well at all. Everyone says I should and cpap is my friend and blah, blah, blah and all I want to do is tell them to shut the hell up. It's awful because I know they want to help, but I am so angry and I don't even know who at. The weight gain was not all my fault...it was a doctor who told me 11 years ago my thyroid was fine. It wasn't and still isn't. But I've lost 30 lbs and have 30 more to go and I'll be happy. Anyhow, I have to make some decisions today about getting out of the house to take my mind off things or sitting here and crying all day. I don't even know when the sleep lab will call about getting me fitted at this point and I can't get my mind to calm down. Everyone says that because I'm not getting rest and guess what....that is NOT comforting at all!

I know for a guy it was embarrassing but I was crying on the way home from the sleep study titration. I already have issues with anxiety and depression so this is not really helping those situations. I understand what you are going through though so you are not alone. I have started working out and trying to lose weight even before my titration but even with weight loss my doctor says I have a very narrow airway. I have to stick with it though because even if it doesn't make me feel better the alternative is a stroke or worse. I hope your day gets better if he panic continues please talk to someone cause I know that can get better.

To everyone else thanks for the support I appreciate it. I will get my machine in a couple of weeks so I will see how it goes then. Thanks, knowing that people are here to help makes me feel a lot better.

[RandyJ]

bluetowelboy,

If your doctor has not yet done so, I would ask him to check your vitamin D levels, thyroid, testosterone, and inflammation (CRP score). These all affect how you feel and can manifest themselves as fatigue, lethargy, mood etc and can be checked with blood tests.

In a few weeks you'll likely begin cpap, but if any of the above are issues for you, you would want to know. Cpap will fix the breathing/oxygenation problem, but if your vitamin D and any of the others are out of whack, you might not feel that much better.

As others have said, your wife's fears about a loud machine are unwarranted. She is likely not to hear it at all, and in any case it is MUCH less disturbing than someone next to you in bed who is snoring, gasping and choking continually through the night. If she can tolerate the noise from a fan or a/c, cpap is even softer. (A human whisper from 5 meters away is rated at 30 decibels and the average cpap machine is rated at 24 dB).

Good luck!

[writergirl2002]

LOL! Some have suggested I start smoking or drinking something to take care of my mood swings!

I am absolutely in denial and having a very hard time. I woke up at 8:30 this morning with a panic attack. I missed church...i really needed to go so I'm sitting in my living room bawling with my poor six year old son trying to comfort me. I want to escape and go to my parents today but I don't want to get tired on the way home. I've always been fine before but mentally I'm all freaked out about it now. I just want my life back. I don't want to deal with all this .. I am losing weight already and wanted that to mean I wouldn't need this. I am not dealing with it well at all. Everyone says I should and cpap is my friend and blah, blah, blah and all I want to do is tell them to shut the hell up. It's awful because I know they want to help, but I am so angry and I don't even know who at. The weight gain was not all my fault...it was a doctor who told me 11 years ago my thyroid was fine. It wasn't and still isn't. But I've lost 30 lbs and have 30 more to go and I'll be happy. Anyhow, I have to make some decisions today about getting out of the house to take my mind off things or sitting here and crying all day. I don't even know when the sleep lab will call about getting me fitted at this point and I can't get my mind to calm down. Everyone says that because I'm not getting rest and guess what....that is NOT comforting at all!

I was know as the bitch from Hell with the tongue that could blister paint until I got my cpap machine. My fuse could be measured in millimetres. The first thing people commented on during the first month was how nice I was in comparison, some thought I was smoking up.

[writergirl2002]

Women cry all the time so it's normal for us.

Panic and anxiety suck. One doctor wanted me on meds, but my main doctor (primary are) wanted me to wait until I found out for sure I had sleep apnea and also to see a counselor in the meantime. She gave me some quick acting ones, but not the longterm meds just yet. I really think she feels the apnea is causing a lot of my issues. I also have some other health issues with my thyroid and hormones so that can also mess up my brain with the anxiety.

The anxiety came back again later in the day when I felt I was rambling and not making sense with a friend. I haaate feeling like I don't know what is going on around me from the brain fog. It got better tonight, thank God!

I am absolutely in denial and having a very hard time. I woke up at 8:30 this morning with a panic attack. I missed church...i really needed to go so I'm sitting in my living room bawling with my poor six year old son trying to comfort me. I want to escape and go to my parents today but I don't want to get tired on the way home. I've always been fine before but mentally I'm all freaked out about it now. I just want my life back. I don't want to deal with all this .. I am losing weight already and wanted that to mean I wouldn't need this. I am not dealing with it well at all. Everyone says I should and cpap is my friend and blah, blah, blah and all I want to do is tell them to shut the hell up. It's awful because I know they want to help, but I am so angry and I don't even know who at. The weight gain was not all my fault...it was a doctor who told me 11 years ago my thyroid was fine. It wasn't and still isn't. But I've lost 30 lbs and have 30 more to go and I'll be happy. Anyhow, I have to make some decisions today about getting out of the house to take my mind off things or sitting here and crying all day. I don't even know when the sleep lab will call about getting me fitted at this point and I can't get my mind to calm down. Everyone says that because I'm not getting rest and guess what....that is NOT comforting at all!

I know for a guy it was embarrassing but I was crying on the way home from the sleep study titration. I already have issues with anxiety and depression so this is not really helping those situations. I understand what you are going through though so you are not alone. I have started working out and trying to lose weight even before my titration but even with weight loss my doctor says I have a very narrow airway. I have to stick with it though because even if it doesn't make me feel better the alternative is a stroke or worse. I hope your day gets better if he panic continues please talk to someone cause I know that can get better.

To everyone else thanks for the support I appreciate it. I will get my machine in a couple of weeks so I will see how it goes then. Thanks, knowing that people are here to help makes me feel a lot better.

[chunkyfrog]

Getting enough sleep helped me a lot. Everyone noticed the difference.
(edit) It had even been suggested that I should register my tongue with the police as a weapon.

[SeekSleep]

I kind of got talked into having my sleep apnea looked into by an anesthesiologist and my wife who said my snoring was unbearable, the long periods of not breathing kept her up even more wondering if I would start again, plus I struggled to breath evidently, and suffered severe night sweats.

I talked to my GP and he first had me do an oxygen meter overnight, where they said it appeared I had severe sleep apnea and scheduled me for a sleep study right away. My AHI ended up being 102, with again 02 sat levels dropping down into the seventies. The second half of the night they tried me on a CPAP, but couldn't get my AHI below 30 plus. After a second sleep study I went on a BIpap machine, and it's looking like I'll be going in for another sleep study as my AHI is still pretty high.

Bad numbers aside, my wife wouldn't dream of letting me get rid of the machine. She says she doesn't really hear it, and is sleeping better than she ever has since our marriage because she doesn't hear me snore. Having had sleep apnea for at least 35 years, I had adapted to being tired, the night sweats, and headaches to the point I didn't really realize how bad they were till I went on the machine. I feel so much better now, the sweats are gone, my blood pressure is falling, no more headaches, and all the little things I did without realizing it to keep myself awake are now a thing of the past. I kind of miss the little seated dance routine I would do while driving that kept me moving and more awake.

Hang in there. If you end up being like me you won't be able to imagine yourself going without the machine despite what a pain in the rear it is.

[archangle]

I just had my second sleep study where they try the cpap machine and different masks. My first study had an AHI of 105 and a minimum oxygen level of 75%. I just keep having this feeling that it has to be a mistake.

With 105 and 75%, you must do this or you're going to die. Unless they switched your results with someone else or deliberately falsified the test, there's no mistake. If they really screwed up, you might have AHI of 50 and O2 of 80, and you're going to die a little slower.

Check the vitamin D, lose weight, sleep on your side, or whatever, but it won't improve you enough to keep you alive. You need CPAP.

Read the links in my signature line to get some advice on which CPAP machine to get. There's a real good chance your DME (CPAP salesman) will try to screw you and give you a less capable CPAP machine that won't monitor your apnea. Read the links and find out which machines are good, how to make the DME give you the right one, and how to check your own therapy once you start it.

A good machine that will monitor your apnea is the biggest key to success.

Warning: Many DMEs will lie to you and say the machine is fully data capable, but it will only record when the machine is turned on, not your AHI.

Once you get started, post any problems you have here. CPAP is not really that hard, and someone here has probably been through whatever problem you have and have some solutions to try.

[purple]

One: http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/what-y ... me-part-i/

for the person who said they have anxiety attacks.. might be a true cardiac problem, not a mental problem. If you have good insurance, see a Cardiologist would seem like a good idea.

[issyrog]

I use a Philips respironics cplex+. my mask is a fisher & paykel zest Q nasel mask. Q is for quiet. This mask was the answer, it replaced my noisey nasal pillows.