Long Term Pain Management - Change Machine To Compensate?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Paralel
Posts: 216
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:49 pm

Long Term Pain Management - Change Machine To Compensate?

Post by Paralel » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:54 am

There is a 50/50 chance I will need to be on long term pain management, and being on the pain medication has drastically increased my CA score, both in SleepyHead and Encore Basic, from 1-2 to 20-25 on my worst nights, 12-15 on my best nights(OA has also gone up). Should I discuss changing machines with my doctor to compensate for the change in CA score?

It's also possible that some of this CA score change is not from the pain medication, I suffered a stroke due to what amounts to gross malpractice, and the damage it caused has impacted several of my autonomic nervous system functions, so it's possible that at least some of this new CA increase is due to damage to my brain. I can't really parse the two out since being off the pain medication would leave me writhing in agony. Should I discuss changing machines with him despite not knowing the exact root cause of the CA change? If I end up staying with the long term pain management then it really doesn't matter the origin of the CA since they will still be there regardless of the cause.

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Pugsy
Posts: 63942
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 9:31 am
Location: Missouri, USA

Re: Long Term Pain Management - Change Machine To Compensate?

Post by Pugsy » Fri Sep 19, 2014 10:33 am

I always say it's better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it.
Talk to your doctor and see if he thinks the centrals (no matter what the cause) are a problem or a potential problem you want to avoid. If using insurance to buy one of those high dollar ASV machine then your doctor is going to have to be in your corner anyway to document the need so that insurance will pay.

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