Starting Journey Before Sleep Study

Verification for forum membership can take a few days. Right now there is only one person manually doing the okaying and I don't know how often she does it.
Some people waited a couple of weeks. We can work around it though.
See this thread. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=156463&p=1192942&hi ... m#p1192942
I need to do a bump to bring it back to main page and will do it just shortly.

FWIW if you do have plain jane vanilla OSA...most people could self diagnose and self treat fairly easily with a bit of education...we can help with that part. It isn't rocket science.
If for some reason you have something that is complicated we can go over your options at that time.
The majority of sleep apnea patients out there have plain jane vanilla OSA.

You will also need a mask...I might have a freebie you can have to try. Donated because it simply didn't work for someone and still too good to toss in the trash.
I don't have any nasal pillow masks though...just a couple of nasal cushion masks.

vaironltemp wrote: I really don't understand how I can pay a significant amount of money on insurance and still have minor coverage.

Because most of your insurance premium pays for the medical care of the elderly. Our population is unhealthy and needs a lot of medical care. Medical technology is highly advanced and can treat many things that are very difficult and expensive to treat.

Medical costs are about 18% of our GDP. This is more than housing (about 15%).

ChicagoGranny wrote:

vaironltemp wrote: I really don't understand how I can pay a significant amount of money on insurance and still have minor coverage.

Because most of your insurance premium pays for the medical care of the elderly. Our population is unhealthy and needs a lot of medical care. Medical technology is highly advanced and can treat many things that are very difficult and expensive to treat.

Medical costs are about 18% of our GDP. This is more than housing (about 15%).

Thanls for explaining why verification takes a bit of time.

My GP said I need a sleep study before the prescription, as you suggested, so no luck there. Oh well, I'll just keep trying stuff.

Also, totally forgot about the fact that we are paying for other people and the elderly. This has never bothered me at all, it's mostly other obstacles in the system. I've lived outside the US and have seen several systems with more advantage and orhers with more disadvantages.

FYI, granny's language is totally correct-- I support her language choice.
Damn is the most accurate descriptor for some of these STUPID regulations.
Old is the real dirty word here--we don't much care for it, but here it comes anyway.

vaironltemp wrote:I can easily see myself going the self diagnosing way for a bit. At least until I know wether CPAP is helping me or not...

Just a few thoughts on going this route. If you get an auto machine and it is set to a wide pressure range starting off, like maybe 5-20, if you see that the pressure increases during the night, that's a pretty solid indicator you have a need for this treatment. Kinda like an unofficial loose diagnosis. (There could be a small number of people who that find the lowest number in that range effectively treats their OSA, so lack of movement wouldn't absolutely mean there is no issue with OSA.) The process is generally to see where your pressure wants to go and increase the lower end of the range to closer to what your needs are shown to be so the machine doesn't have so far/long to go to reach an effective pressure. In those early weeks you will be on the lookout for signs of significant centrals, or the need for a very high pressure. In the absence of either of those, you will likely fall into a very mudane treatment experience. I used my data a lot in the early times, but for several years check it only periodically except for a glance at the machine screen some mornings.

As to how you feel, keep in mind to not set too high of expectations in a short window of time. After an adjustment period for the new sensations to become your new normal, after settling in to a mask that is not problematic, and after getting fairly consistent decent sleep in both quantity and quality, then you can more reasonably expect improvements. I'd just hate to see you decide it wasn't helping you without giving it a fair chance.

kteague wrote:

vaironltemp wrote:I can easily see myself going the self diagnosing way for a bit. At least until I know wether CPAP is helping me or not...

Just a few thoughts on going this route. If you get an auto machine and it is set to a wide pressure range starting off, like maybe 5-20, if you see that the pressure increases during the night, that's a pretty solid indicator you have a need for this treatment. Kinda like an unofficial loose diagnosis. (There could be a small number of people who that find the lowest number in that range effectively treats their OSA, so lack of movement wouldn't absolutely mean there is no issue with OSA.) The process is generally to see where your pressure wants to go and increase the lower end of the range to closer to what your needs are shown to be so the machine doesn't have so far/long to go to reach an effective pressure. In those early weeks you will be on the lookout for signs of significant centrals, or the need for a very high pressure. In the absence of either of those, you will likely fall into a very mudane treatment experience. I used my data a lot in the early times, but for several years check it only periodically except for a glance at the machine screen some mornings.

As to how you feel, keep in mind to not set too high of expectations in a short window of time. After an adjustment period for the new sensations to become your new normal, after settling in to a mask that is not problematic, and after getting fairly consistent decent sleep in both quantity and quality, then you can more reasonably expect improvements. I'd just hate to see you decide it wasn't helping you without giving it a fair chance.

This is all stuff I did not consider or even thought about! Thank you and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. I will try to update in a week or two regarding my situation.

Hello all,

It has been quite a while, since I last visited cpaptalk! I had totally forgotten I was on this forum until about 2-3 weeks ago when my dentist told me he saw signs of sleep apnea through some sort of ridges forming on my tongue, which were evidence of possibly sleep apnea. I was suggested to go and see a specialists and as mentioned in my past posts, I will do so, but in present day affording the study is still fairly difficult for me. Though knowing the price I would pay if I delay this, scares me more than the monetary value which almost never happens.

Anyways, I came back for advice as I recently purchased a Resmed airsense 10 autoset and it is set to arrive in 2 days.
I would like to set it up as fast as possible and wanted to ask for advice on what mask to try, taking special consideration to the following: 1. I have never had measurements done for a mask, 2. Price is a fairly big concern, but again I understand comfort here will make the process easier and that might cost a bit more.

I understand that doing the research myself is beneficial and it is a rule to always do the research prior to asking the question, but I am breaking the rule to speed up the process and also as a university student, time is a bit limited for me. I will attempt to find the best options along with any recommendations you can all provide.

Thank you!

I just started myself and got the Dreamwear nasal Mask which is really comfortable. I planned at first to try Amara view mask which is full face mask because I sleep with mouth open. After researching and asking here and starting a poll I decided to give the Dreamwear a shot. Well worth it.
You'll also want to download sleepyhead software to view data from machine after using it. I'm no expert but would say to start your machine settings for minimum of 6 and Max of 20 and see how it looks after day or two to fine tune settings.

I'm sure you'll get better responses then mine here shortly.

vaironl wrote:Hello all,

It has been quite a while, since I last visited cpaptalk! I had totally forgotten I was on this forum until about 2-3 weeks ago when my dentist told me he saw signs of sleep apnea through some sort of ridges forming on my tongue, which were evidence of possibly sleep apnea. I was suggested to go and see a specialists and as mentioned in my past posts, I will do so, but in present day affording the study is still fairly difficult for me. Though knowing the price I would pay if I delay this, scares me more than the monetary value which almost never happens.

Anyways, I came back for advice as I recently purchased a Resmed airsense 10 autoset and it is set to arrive in 2 days.
I would like to set it up as fast as possible and wanted to ask for advice on what mask to try, taking special consideration to the following: 1. I have never had measurements done for a mask, 2. Price is a fairly big concern, but again I understand comfort here will make the process easier and that might cost a bit more.

I understand that doing the research myself is beneficial and it is a rule to always do the research prior to asking the question, but I am breaking the rule to speed up the process and also as a university student, time is a bit limited for me. I will attempt to find the best options along with any recommendations you can all provide.

Thank you!

Welcome to the forum.
I might have a couple of masks you can try for free. Send me a private message and we can discuss the particulars.
At least maybe get you pointed in the right direction so you only have to actually pay the big bucks for a mask when you know what you like or don't like.
Tell me in that private message if you normally can breathe through your nose just fine during the day or do you have a lot of chronic nasal congestion issues.