Hubby off for his first sleep study

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
surf_rower
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Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:31 pm

We're nervous but hopeful. I've been doing well on CPAP for about 2 years. Tonight, the 62-yr-old hubby is having a sleep study for the first time. It was inspired by comments on this forum that a-fib and other palpitations might be linked to sleep apnea, and a comment that his awakening at 4 AM unable to get back to sleep could be from sleep apnea. He also has anxiety, abdominal weakness/pain, and the heart arrythmias, most fairly recent. He hasn't been able to work (as a home inspector) for almost 5 months. Gosh we sure hope it is sleep apnea and CPAP could help with all that stuff! Weird to be hoping for a serious disorder like this, but scads of tests and specialists aren't finding anything else to speak of. If nothing else, it would be nice if his anxiety calmed down. Keeping fingers crossed for improvements...
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by yaconsult » Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:55 pm

He is doing the right thing by having the test. It will give you a definitive answer as to whether or not he has apnea and how severe it is. I have also had serious heart problems that I'm sure were directly related to my severe apnea.

And it's better to be diagnosed with something that has a cheap, effective treatment available than to have many other things. I wish you both luck! I lost a dear friend to a stroke due to him not using his cpap to treat his severe apnea.

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Last edited by yaconsult on Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by Darth Lady » Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:02 pm

surf_rower wrote:Weird to be hoping for a serious disorder like this, but scads of tests and specialists aren't finding anything else to speak of. If nothing else, it would be nice if his anxiety calmed down. Keeping fingers crossed for improvements...
I sure hear you. But having a name for it at least allows you to swear at it properly . Hope all goes well and relief is on the horizon!

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surf_rower
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:04 pm

Thanks guys. I'll let you know if anything interesting is determined.
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by chunkyfrog » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:21 pm

The more I think about it, the more I regard OSA like my imperfect eyesight, for which I wear glasses;
or my hearing, for which I wear a hearing aid. I have several step stools around the house, because I am 4'10",
and would rather not wait for my shining knight to come fetch stuff for me. None of these things are a problem;
and my Autoset makes my OSA no big deal either.
{{{serious disorder, my little green cloaca!}}}.

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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by Sir NoddinOff » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:48 am

Your husband is so lucky to have your support and more importantly your experience with CPAP. Try to get him on the forum directly, there's no better input that from the person directly involved with the issues. I'd be willing to bet that CPAP will help calm down his heart issues... it helped me.

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surf_rower
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:03 am

Yes SirNoddinoff, you are right; I sent him to this forum. He read the new study on a-fib and CPAP/OSA. I'll encourage him to ask his own questions. His sleep study went really well, much better than mine, which was a nightmare so to speak. He went to a different study center and got a few hours of sleep, tossing and turning, but not lying there awake for 5 hours like I did.

What is everyone's experience with receiving the report? He has his followup appointment in a month. A month is unacceptable to wait to know what's happening! I advised him (strongly) to order the report now. They should just send it to him directly now, right?
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by yaconsult » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:24 am

I am glad it went well for him! Like you, my sleep study was torture for the first half of the night since my AHI is over 80. I guess they need to "confirm" the apnea!

The report is sent from the lab to the doctor's office and it's up to the doctor to review it and then release it to the patient. In my case, it took less than a week to be available to me through the online system I use to communicate with my medical provider. The sleep lab will not send the information to you directly. They won't even tell you at the end of the night much about how it went.

So, it sounds like the meeting with the doctor is where he will tell your husband whether or not he has apnea and, if so, how severe it is. You might be able to get him to release the results in advance of the appointment. If your husband is suffering from lack of sleep, I would contact the doctor's office and ask for an earlier appointment. Ask to be put on a waiting list if they have any appointment cancellations that he could show up for on short notice.

I hope you are able to get the answer soon! I would hope that if the results indicate a need for cpap that as soon as the doctor sees that he would rearrange his schedule to see your husband sooner than a month from now.

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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:41 am

yaconsult wrote: So, it sounds like the meeting with the doctor is where he will tell your husband whether or not he has apnea and, if so, how severe it is. You might be able to get him to release the results in advance of the appointment. If your husband is suffering from lack of sleep, I would contact the doctor's office and ask for an earlier appointment. Ask to be put on a waiting list if they have any appointment cancellations that he could show up for on short notice.
Yes, he did get put on a waiting list, and short notice is no problem as he isn't working and the office is just a few blocks away. I thought maybe if the doc knows that I know how to read a sleep study report (at least the AHI), she would release it sooner. But, it is likely that there will be a cancellation he can nab.
He seems less anxious already just having had the test, but this happened with other tests (ultrasound, CT scan, endoscopy), as there is a period of hope, and also relief that the procedure is over.
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by Krelvin » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:51 am

Depends on the lab, the Dr most likely reviews the results within days and you can get the report from the lab after that is done.. my last study was like that. Got the report 4 days after the tests from the lab. Didn't see the Dr until almost a month later.
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by yaconsult » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:52 am

In my experience, some people with sleep apnea are very sensitive to the symptoms in other people. Have you noticed the cessation of breathing and/or snoring, the gasps for air at the end of an apnea? It's very distinctive if you know what to listen for. I diagnosed myself many years ago with a pocket tape recorder. Here is a youtube video that illustrates what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFTcmREtqQ If you are hearing his breathing stop like this, then that is an excellent reason to be pressing for an appointment very soon.

Do you have the ability to send messages directly to the doctor? I really appreciate having that and she will often reply to me in the evening or on the weekend.

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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by bwexler » Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:31 am

If you pester the sleep lab like I did, I got my second report about 28 hours after I left the lab.

1. When I checked in I informed them I wanted a copy of the full study as soon as it was available.

2. When I checked out, I reminded them I wanted a copy of the full study as soon as it was available.

3. The following morning I called and asked when I could get a copy of the study. They asked if I had email. I had the report before we hung up the phone.

The first one took a bit longer since they would not use email, I had to drive to the lab to pick it up the day after I completed the study.

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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:02 am

yaconsult wrote:In my experience, some people with sleep apnea are very sensitive to the symptoms in other people. Have you noticed the cessation of breathing and/or snoring, the gasps for air at the end of an apnea? It's very distinctive if you know what to listen for. I diagnosed myself many years ago with a pocket tape recorder. Here is a youtube video that illustrates what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFTcmREtqQ If you are hearing his breathing stop like this, then that is an excellent reason to be pressing for an appointment very soon.

Do you have the ability to send messages directly to the doctor? I really appreciate having that and she will often reply to me in the evening or on the weekend.
Thanks for the support everybody. Yes, he messaged the doc and called the office to ask to see his report ASAP. Nothing yet, maybe Monday.
About listening to him, we actually sleep in separate rooms most of the time, because of horrible sleeping, and when we do sleep together we are running one or two white noise machines, so I might not notice if he stopped breathing. (Hmm. Kind of a problem???) Before we did that, I would hear him snore but fairly lightly, and I don't think he stopped breathing. That was then, though, and his a-fib only started about 16 months ago.
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:59 am

We still don't have the sleep study results (tomorrow if the day to start hollering), but hubby agreed to try my CPAP. I have a new unopened Swift nasal pillows (since I switched to Tap Pap) and we hooked him up on that for a morning nap. He didn't fall asleep, but he liked it! The alien on his face wasn't bothering him! At first he couldn't breathe out properly, but it turned out he was trying to take in too much air on inhale. When he lay down and just breathed normally, it worked fine. Yay.
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Re: Hubby off for his first sleep study

Post by surf_rower » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:54 pm

OK, we got the study, and he has moderate sleep apnea, AHI 15.5, oddly it is exactly half what mine was. No OA, 75hypopneas, and 3 Centrals. The sleep doc has woken up and moved Hubby's appointment up three weeks, to Wednesday. I think this i all good news, at least if it helps him sleep past 4am, and calms down his A-fib.
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