Diagnosed with Severe OSA for the 2nd time...

My entire life I have been told that I stop breathing while I sleep, and it was a common occurence to have jokes made in the morning about my snoring. My band stayed at a friend's house on a road trip, and the home owner was laughing while telling me she recorded me and urged me to watch the video. I didn't; I already had enough shame about it and I didn't want to know exactly how bad it actually was.

Sometime in 2006 I had a sleep study and was diagnosed with Severe OSA, had my bipap machine set up, and a few days later it became a "decoration". I was 20, and didn't take anything anything seriously at all. To further prove the point, I had my entire cost of tuition and books paid for at a university if I had just taken care of business; instead I ended up getting my degree from a local community college. And in the last 8 years I've moved 6 times and have no idea where the bipap is.

Fast forward to Wednesday, July 27th, 2016...the sleep study technician I was joking and having good coversation with hours earlier is a little more stern and stoic while taking off the wires glued to my skin. "You responded well to the cpap part of the test, but I'm honestly surprised you haven't had any major problems related to your apnea. You know when people have to have stents to help bloodflow? Please think of cpap as that level of importance to you from now on." She had my attention.

The doctor called with the results this morning - 117 occurences an hour and my setting will be 13. Hopefully I can get it in the next week, because I'm tired of being tired and waking up so many times during the night. Things were alot easier to ignore when I was 20; at 30 it's taking more of a toll and I'm looking forward to getting better and visiting with some good people here

Welcome to the forum. You are fortunate to find it before getting your machine.

Make sure you get a machine with auto options and full data, such as leaks and ahi breakdown. That way, if you have any issues getting started, you can review your data and make changes without waiting for a doctor.

I ignored my sleep apnea for at least 10 years. Finally got officially diagnosed at age 38. I truly regret not doing it sooner. I dreaded it, but after having a great night at the sleep study, I was excited to get going. It has made a huge change in my life.

As soon as you get your equipment, post the machine, mask, and settings. Then post any issues you have so that we can help you through them. Thankfully, almost every problem has several people here who have been there,done that.

Will do, thanks. I remember waking up from the original sleep study and thinking "so this is what normal people feel like after sleeping?!" It was amazing. Looking forward to having that consistantly.

Welcome to the forum.

Read this if you haven't already. It's not quite up to date in terms of latest models of machines but the main part to understand is the DME and insurance stuff.
https://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/what- ... me-part-i/

Welcome, Tyler. You are going to love cpap. My sleeptest AHI was 80 so I know what you've been going though. You haven't been getting any restorative rest at all. 13 is my minimum pressure as well and you will get used to it quickly

As pugsy linked to, make sure you get a good auto cpap machine that is supported by the wonderful free sleepyhead software. That way, you will be able to monitor how your therapy is going and make any necessary adjustments.

TylerJH wrote:My entire life I have been told that I stop breathing while I sleep, and it was a common occurence to have jokes made in the morning about my snoring. My band stayed at a friend's house on a road trip, and the home owner was laughing while telling me she recorded me and urged me to watch the video. I didn't; I already had enough shame about it and I didn't want to know exactly how bad it actually was.

Sometime in 2006 I had a sleep study and was diagnosed with Severe OSA, had my bipap machine set up, and a few days later it became a "decoration". I was 20, and didn't take anything anything seriously at all. To further prove the point, I had my entire cost of tuition and books paid for at a university if I had just taken care of business; instead I ended up getting my degree from a local community college. And in the last 8 years I've moved 6 times and have no idea where the bipap is.

Fast forward to Wednesday, July 27th, 2016...the sleep study technician I was joking and having good coversation with hours earlier is a little more stern and stoic while taking off the wires glued to my skin. "You responded well to the cpap part of the test, but I'm honestly surprised you haven't had any major problems related to your apnea. You know when people have to have stents to help bloodflow? Please think of cpap as that level of importance to you from now on." She had my attention.

The doctor called with the results this morning - 117 occurences an hour and my setting will be 13. Hopefully I can get it in the next week, because I'm tired of being tired and waking up so many times during the night. Things were alot easier to ignore when I was 20; at 30 it's taking more of a toll and I'm looking forward to getting better and visiting with some good people here

Just like you, I ignored my first lab results way back in 2010. It was only this year that I admitted to myself that I really need to take OSA head on.

I'm happy I did. Good luck with your therapy.

Sent from heaven

TylerJH wrote:Things were alot easier to ignore when I was 20; at 30 it's taking more of a toll and I'm looking forward to getting better and visiting with some good people here

Older and wiser.

egzbuen wrote:Just like you, I ignored my first lab results way back in 2010. It was only this year that I admitted to myself that I really need to take OSA head on.

I'm happy I did. Good luck with your therapy.

Sent from heaven

My dad had a heartattack in December, and had 0 energy and would fall asleep if he sat still more than 5 minutes. It was hard to see him like that. He started using his cpap again and you could see such a huge difference. And that made me realize "oh yea, you went through all that a decade ago" and I scheduled the study the next morning.