Brand new at this

Just got diagnosed with severe sleep apnea on Thursday (it's Saturday night).

I didn't sleep much at the lab study but when I got the results the Doctor said they were eye popping and it was enough to tell what was going on with me.

All the RDI's and AHi's were through the roof I guess and so here we go. Severe obstructive sleep apnea is the diagnosis.

I can't get the cpap titration done until February 19th.

I do know, i'm tired of having to sleep all the time and not feel any better, so I'm going into this with some concern for the process and finding the right details on equipment and such, but know nothing about it. I also go into this kind of optimistic hoping this will really help.

The Dr. prescribed some xanax for me to bring the night of the titration study. She said the mask causes anxiety and this will calm me down and then I can take them til I adjust?

I'm hoping I can get just a nose mask but I doubt that with my numbers so high (like I know). Anyway, I'm glad I found this forum, I'll likely start posting once I get the details back on the titration test and move on.

Thanks for the forum. Look forward to participating and I thank all of you for your expertise and willingness to help those of us that have no idea what the heck to expect.

Do any of you have the experience of this really being quick and life changing in terms of how you feel after getting a cpap?

.wrong area apparently. Happy almost Monday.

Where did this poster say anything about an ASV or high pressure? No titration yet.

Hi - your doctor is doing a great job of setting you up for failure! Only some people feel any anxiety at putting a mask on... and they're in the minority, so please don't go in expecting it to happen. And a better bet for sleeping on the night of your study would be Ambien, not Xanax. That's if you feel the need for anything - do you have trouble falling asleep?

Many of us were simply prescribed an Auto CPAP and we figured things out without a titration study. I think the time between diagnosis and actually doing something about it is difficult and unnecessary. With an Auto, you would predictably be issued a machine with open pressure between 4 and 20. After about 1/2 hour on the forum, you'd change that to 8.0/20 and start therapy. By the time you have your actual titration study, you'd be 2 weeks into effective therapy, and by the time you actually get a machine, you'd have had good sleep for over a month and a half. Just saying.

I wish you luck, but also encourage you to consider the cost of following this path if you have high deductibles and copays. You have a diagnosis...push for the auto prescription and you'll be on your way. Wait for the titration study and you will go down the path of potentially getting an inferior machine at much greater cost and delaying therapy.

I say go to your titration study. It should at least give you a starting point, and then you can adjust from there. On some boards people will predict universal destruction if you so much as dare THINK about changing a pressure on your own. Other boards think we should dispense with anything but an APAP and self titration. I think a modest middle course is best.

Don't worry about the Xanax. I am pretty sure he is talking about using just to help you get to sleep on the night of the study. That is what they did for me. I "failed" my first titration study because I couldn't fall asleep, so they scheduled a second one with some Xanax, worked like a charm. You will bring the pill with you and you don't even have to take it unless you think you need it. I did need it! But not after I got home and got to sleep in my own bed. I pretty much strapped on the mask and went to sleep.

ETA

When you get to the spot when someone is writing you a prescription DO INSIST on a fully data capable machine. That is a must. In my opinion non-data capable machines should removed from the market.

The requirements for using a nasal mask is being able to breath through your nose and not breath through your mouth. At my titration, I tried several masks, picked a nasal mask and was titrated with it. Now I use a P10 pillow. My doctor also Rx'd a sleeping pill to bring to the study but not take unless I needed. I didn't need the pill.
Use this time to learn about your Ins. and DME choices. Study on the different machine types and know which aren't data capable. You don't want to get a machine that won't give you helpful info. We call them bricks. https://sleep.tnet.com/ has a lot of useful info.

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The severity of the apnea (number per hour diagnosis) and the pressures needed don't dictate the mask used. No matter which machine ends up being used...ASV or apap or bipap or cpap. Some DMEs tell people who happen to need higher pressures in the double digits that "you can't use a nasal mask with those pressures" and that's simply not true. Nasal cushion masks (over the nose) and nasal pillow masks (those little things that barely go into the nostril) can successfully be used at pressures in the 20s...might be a wee bit of a challenge to keep sealed at those pressures but it can be done. Besides a full face mask has more surface area to deal with in terms of seal and that presents even more challenges anyway.

If you can normally breathe through your nose just fine then there's no reason why you can't at least try a nasal mask since that is what you want to try to use for whatever reason you have.
Now if you have chronic nasal congestion issues and can't get the nose opened up so that you don't have to breathe through your mouth then we have a discussion about full face masks because if you HAVE to breathe through your mouth then the mouth needs to be included in the pressure circuit.

Oh while we are on old wives tales...severity of apnea doesn't dictate pressure needs.
A person can have really severe OSA with AHI of 90 and only need maybe 8 cm pressure and someone with maybe really mild OSA with AHI of barely diagnostic of 10 and they might need a bilevel pressure machine set to 20 something.
Pressure needs are dictated by the airway tissues and how much pressure is needed to hold them open...so how floppy the airway tissues are...not how often they flop close.

Thanks for the all the response, learned a lot already!

To answer the first question, I generally don't have trouble falling asleep, but my sleep routine is one of
disarray. My appt is for 9 p.m. I'm more of a night owl. I'll go in at 9 p.m. At home, I'm often going to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. So we'll see.

I wish I could just do what the one person suggested in just moving forward now. I did ask if I could get in sooner if they have a cancellation. So I'm on that list. I'm with you, we know i have this, so let's go. Why make me wait almost 3 weeks to get equipment? But I didn't know to push for moving on.

I have good insurance, I haven't had to pay anything yet and I think the equipment is covered too (not sure though, i'll make sure to get one that gives readings now).

As for my nasal congestion situation. Occasionally allergies hay/fever. I don't take anything for them unless they flare up which is usually just for a couple of weeks a year in the spring when the pollen really hits for the first time and gets high. Other then that, I'm pretty good.

I wonder how I go about getting a machine now that I'm diagnosed without waiting for the titration test as the one poster suggested? Call the insurance company might be on way to press ahead.

Thanks again for chiming in.

I'd also say I was "hoping" for the nose only mask because it looks less "intimidating".

Other then that, I have never had one on so I have no idea what I really prefer.
I just don't know.