Early Stages (Walking Dead)

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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jwood0087
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Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by jwood0087 » Wed Feb 15, 2017 5:05 pm

Hey guys, new member here. First time poster.

I just wanted to kind of get everything out. I've been going crazy for the last about 15 years. I'm 29 years old, and after reviewing the Walking Dead section of the different stages of OSA, I am definitely in the midst of this. I haven't found a better way to describe the agony that I've been living in.

I've been diagnosed with all kinds of things and have had all kinds of issues (depression, addiction, other health issues) due to my un-diagnosed sleep apnea. I recently finally developed the courage to go see an ENT doc about it, and just got qualified for a Home Sleep Study.

Has anyone here had one of these before? How did it go? Did it pick up all of your issues? My insurance did not qualify me for an attended sleep study . I am afraid that a home test will not pick up how many times I stop breathing or have interrupted sleep. I know it has to be a lot, I've been told before that I snore heavily and wake up gasping for air (I rarely remember waking up or gasping for air). Then I have to wait 2 weeks for the results before I can go over it with my doctor.

I feel like this is necessary and not a step I should skip, but my condition is only getting worse and I'm so sick of feeling this way. The lack of motivation/energy/happiness is really getting to me and I don't know how much longer I can put up with these zombie like conditions.

If anyone has any suggestions or feedback please feel free to talk to me, I could use some support.

Thank you

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Pugsy
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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by Pugsy » Wed Feb 15, 2017 5:34 pm

There are various levels of comprehensiveness when it comes to home sleep studies so what all your sleep study might show is going to depend on how thorough it is....i.e what kind of home sleep study....the bare bones basic study or a more comprehensive study.

Some are nothing more than a finger tip overnight pulse oximeter but there are others that involve using electrodes for sleep evaluation along with other parameters.
The really comprehensive home studies are pretty much as good as a study in a sleep lab in terms of data gathered.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by bwexler » Wed Feb 15, 2017 5:42 pm

I have been known to be an avid user of the telephone. 2 or 3 calls a day often helps the doctors office discover a cancelation where they can fit you in sooner. I have also considered showing up with a pillow and quietly suggesting that I am anxious to see the doctor and will wait patiently until he can fit me in.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by sleepychar » Wed Feb 15, 2017 6:00 pm

I had a home sleep study with a company (my doctor selected & ordered test from them) called Novasom. I didn't sleep enough hours the first night of the study and so it had to be repeated the second night. So there are actually results for the two separate nights. Apparently Medicare requires a certain number of hours of sleep to validate the results and so the company was required to repeat the test for a second night. Anyway, for this test, there was a monitor on my finger to measure oxygen level, nose prongs - like you see for people receiving oxygen - to measure air flow, I guess, and a tape that went around my chest to measure if my chest was moving. Everything is attached to you and to a battery pack you wear on your wrist so if you get up to use the bathroom or anything, you don't have to detach everything. The results for one night were a little worse than the other but, in the end, I was diagnosed with mild obstructive sleep apnea. I was actually grateful I didn't have to report in to a sleep clinic. It was much more comfortable for me at home. Of course, then there was no titration study to figure out the best pressure levels and no one to try different masks with me. I have been told, but I have no way to verify this, that if the results showed a more severe diagnosis, then a second test is ordered to be done in a sleep lab. I'm not sure since that wasn't my experience but that is what I have heard around the "ether". The results showed oxygen saturation drops, the range of the drops and how long they lasted, number and duration and max duration of obstructive apneas, unclassified apneas, hypopneas, minimum and maximum heart rate, overall AHI score. Snoring sound levels showed on the graph. I'm guessing the in-lab sleep studies are more comprehensive but this one showed enough information for my doctor to go ahead and order CPAP.
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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by Julie » Wed Feb 15, 2017 7:15 pm

Until you get diagnosed, try sleeping (ideally) on your sides rather than back (which provokes many more apneas and snoring in most people), even using a towel stuffed backpk if necesssary to keep from flipping. If nothing else you should feel somewhat better if lucky until you're tested tho' be aware they might ask you to back sleep so they can get a worst-case scenario when testing.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by Cardsfan » Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:37 am

I was diagnosed with an at home sleep study, required by my primary care Dr. I have Obstructive SA. So the at home test worked great for me. Actually, it was easier knowing I can sleep in my own bed for the test. I did the test for 3 nights in a row. Then turned the kit back in to the Dr. office.
My treatment has been a huge improvement in my health.
If you want to look into it, the test I had was Snap Diagnostics. http://www.snapdiagnostics.com
The cpap machine was ordered for me after seeing the test results.
Keep calling the Dr. to get things moved along.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by linuxman » Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:45 am

I was also home tested by Novasom (nasal canula, chest strap, finger oximeter). For what it's worth, the AHI was very close to what I got from my cpap machine prior to dialing in the pressure. So to the extent that the cpap machine is able to accurately detect events, the Novsom does as as well. I think it certainly is going to be in the same ballpark as an attended study, and that's probably good enough.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by jwood0087 » Fri Feb 17, 2017 1:34 pm

Thank you all for your replies. Especially the ones about calling the doctor. I originally was offered Monday the 20th for my study, but now it's scheduled for the 22nd. I did call to try to move the appointment up but they had no availability.

I am super excited to finally get some answers and see what the next steps are. I am reading up on all the information I need to know about working with the DME and the HCPC code, and getting a smart machine. I plan on calling the office after a week to see if my results have been processed yet and then basically every day after that. I am struggling a lot with sleeping and feel like I am only getting worse.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and it almost feels like I'm sick. I can't wait to get some relief and a machine and just move forward.

I get that it takes time for this to process results and everything like that, but I'm like dying here! Does anyone else think that it's criminal to have to wait this long while suffering every day?

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by jwood0087 » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:28 am

Also, a follow up question. My insurance covers in-network DME's at a 90% coinsurance. They use the HCPC codes as I was told to find out as well.

A friend of the family has a brand-new supposed top of the line cpap machine available that they could give me. This sounds great to me, but I've been doing some research on the different brands and have one or two in mind that I'd like to shoot for. They told me that it's a Phillips Sleep Mapper with an SD card in it.

Also, I only have a sleep study scheduled, then I'm told I have to wait two weeks for them to get the results, and I don't even have a titration scheduled yet. Is this normal? This is super frustrating, I'm trying to be patient but I feel like I'm just biding my time until I can feel better. It feels like I'm literally wasting my life and like noone (in the medical field) even cares.

Any advice?

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by Pugsy » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:36 am

jwood0087 wrote:They told me that it's a Phillips Sleep Mapper with an SD card in it.
SleepMapper isn't a machine model...it's just the name of the online software.

To know exactly which model it is you need to get the 3 digit model number off the blower...the 3 digits may have some letters in front or behind the 3 digits but the 3 digits is the key.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by jwood0087 » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:14 pm

Fair enough, but what about waiting 2 weeks for them to process the info from the home sleep study? 2 weeks to schedule a titration? My life feels like office space where he says "Every day you see me is on the worst day of my life." I just continually feel worse, more and more depressed and hopeless. I want to get better.

WHY DOES THIS TAKE SO LONG

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by Pugsy » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:20 pm

jwood0087 wrote:what about waiting 2 weeks for them to process the info from the home sleep study?
That's a question you have to ask them.

I can share with you what I was told when I was complaining about the time it took from diagnostic sleep study until the titration.
"In all honesty you have likely had this problem for a long time and it hasn't killed you yet so a few more days won't matter"
That's what I was told. They really didn't care and made no effort to speed things up despite my oxygen levels dropping to the low 70s.

While waiting I proceeded with initial plans of just getting my own machine and telling everyone else where to go.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by jwood0087 » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:29 pm

Well, yeah, it looks like I may be doing the very same thing. Don't I need to have them like tweak it so that it's at the right level of air pressure for me and make sure I have a mask that works for me and all that fun stuff? I feel like there's advantages to going through it with them as opposed to on my own.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by Pugsy » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:44 pm

jwood0087 wrote: Don't I need to have them like tweak it so that it's at the right level of air pressure for me and make sure I have a mask that works for me and all that fun stuff?
Yes and no.
I eventually had the titration sleep study but they got the pressure wrong (didn't sleep so great).
So the titration study isn't the end all perfect solution for everyone.

As long as you have plain jane vanilla OSA...you could probably get it figured out without their input. Lots of people totally bypass the whole system and go the self diagnose and self treat route and are quite successful.

In my situation I did have the advantage of knowing about the diagnostic results ahead of time so I knew which machine would be suitable.
While the odds are that you will only be dealing with plain jane vanilla OSA...it wouldn't be impossible for you to have a more complicated case.

Find out exactly what model machine your friend has...maybe you could do some playing around with it and get some data and have a head start on things...assuming you have plain jane vanilla OSA. If it is a good full data machine....it will let you know if you have any complicating factors which would mainly be centrals.
Finding the optimal pressure takes a little longer when you do it yourself but it can be done.

It takes some education on your part though and if you aren't comfortable doing something on your own then you have to wait.

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Re: Early Stages (Walking Dead)

Post by jwood0087 » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:58 pm

Thank you, that was actually very helpful. I'm pretty sure it's plain jane OSA but at this point, I have no idea. Luckily, my at-home test is Wednesday night so at least I'll be getting started on the process then.

When my mom comes home with the machine, I plan on hooking it up and screwing around with it, I'm willing to try almost anything at this point as what I have been doing has not been working for so long. It's so hard to be patient when I finally know what's been messing me up for 15 years.

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