How many???

[rested gal]

I didn't ask anyone. Googled "snoring" and went on my own from there, digging into the only sleep apnea message board (a heavily censored one called sleepnet.com) I could find back then. cpaptalk.com didn't exist.

-SWS helped me immensely in getting my early autopap therapy going well.

How I got started on cpap:
Jan 25, 2005 subject: not diagnosed yet, many ? brand new here
viewtopic.php?p=5977#5977
note: Poisson's reply had good reasons why a PSG sleep study is important.

My eventual sleep study:
Nov 19, 2005 subject: First Sleep Study...finally! - rested gal
sleepydave on that board goes by the nicknames StillAnotherGuest, Muffy, and NotMuffy here on cpaptalk. Many thanks to him for helping me get a real sleep study two years after I'd been using autopap for two years.

[Suetois]

I snored loudly for years--to the point that my husband was sleeping with both earplugs and ear muffs like you would wear in a shop (at the same time) to try to drown out the noise. I finally asked him if I was stopping breathing, and he said, "Sometimes." I suspected I had apnea, but didn't think it was a big deal. A couple of years went by like that. By this past summer I was dog tired, napping every day and falling asleep, on blood pressure medication, couldn't remember anything, etc. etc. etc. So I finally went to my PCP and told her my symptoms. She looked in my mouth, said I have "fringing" whatever the heck that is, and ordered a sleep study. I have severe apnea. I've been using a APAP for about 2 1/2 months now. I'm on my fourth mask, but I'm *finally* starting to sleep properly and feel a little better. The best part is that my memory is getting better.

[wolewyck]

I owe it to my mom. She has apnea and twisted my arm to ask the doctor about the possibility that I did, too, at my next physical... I didn't believe I had it. Although I snored, I wasn't tired (so I thought - hah!)... I didn't feel sleep lots of hours, or feel the need for naps, so there's no way I'd have it, right? Right?!?

Well. Then one day my husband commented that I stopped breathing sometimes at night, and I started to wonder... so I did as I'd promised, and asked the doctor - actually, a physician's assistant. Who sent me right off for a sleep study, and the rest, as they say, is history. In the sleep lab, I looked at a brochure that listed all the related symptoms, and a little light started to go off in my brain. Ok, so I wasn't consciously tired or sleepy, but I had nearly every other symptom on the list, it seemed, and a lot of things I'd been attributing to work stress maybe, just maybe, weren't actually the result of work stress or at least were not solely caused by that...!! (Irritability? Problems focusing? Anxiety? Memory? Hellooooo?) Also interestingly, I was chatting with the sleep tech before the test, and he said that he'd seen lots of high-powered professional types who insisted they don't have apnea, no way, they're all go-go-go all the time, certainly they are not tired/suffering... ahem. Now of course I know that I'd been so tired for so long, I'd forgotten what tired actually felt like.

Live and learn.

[xenablue]

I've been complaining mildly to my doctors that I'm always tired, however in working with my endo to try to find out why my nighttime/fasting glucose numbers are always higher than at any other time of the day, he suggested a sleep study to rule out OSA.

The rest is history..........

After 3 months on therapy, I'm still not waking up FEELING rested, but I do sleep the full night without waking, my glucose numbers have slowly dropped, no bathroom visits during the night and no snoring (according to hubby).

So... I guess my endo suggested the sleep study, but I was kinda pushing for it to also rule out OSA.

Cheers,
xena

[DocWeezy]

I self-referred to a sleep doc. Hubby had been telling me since we married (4 years ago) that I snored, and for the past couple years he was telling me that I stopped breathing some. It finally got to the point where I stopped breathing for so long that he would wake up to shake me. During this time I also dreamed about suffocating or not being able to breathe, and would wake up in a panic and panting with my heart racing.

It finally got so bad this fall that I was becoming afraid to go to sleep. So one day I just looked up some sleep centers/docs on the insurance company's website, and discovered that the medical complex/hospital that I already go to had a sleep center and that one of their docs was on the insurance co. approved specialist list. So I called, got an appointment in two days and went.

I lucked out because I knew nothing, hadn't done much research yet and hadn't found this board yet. But the doc and hospital are great. I had a sleep study done that night, with a followup doc appointment the next day. Diagnosis was AHI of 56. Needed a titration study and it was done the next night. Bad night! but enough to get a starting point. They supply machines right there--ONLY the high end data capable machines--and the RT spent over an hour with me fitting masks, getting used to the air pressure, dealing with my panic, etc. I had several more appointments with her trying to deal with mask and panic/claustrophobia issues. She's been great too and I've been through just about every mask they have.

Right now I see my sleep doc (who is wonderful!) about once a month because we're working on some chronic insomnia issues that have plagued me for years...although I'm beginning to think that many of them were apnea induced because they are disappearing one by one as I'm able to sleep better with the machine.

At my two-week follow up appointment, I had found this board, gotten the software, and started tweaking. My doc was very impressed and happy and told me to have at it, experiment to see what worked best, and contact him if I had questions. At my 1 month followup, he was pleased and we went over all of the charts and graphs. This pattern continues, and each time I see him we tweak something else about my sleeping (I dialed in my apap settings quickly and those continue to be good and stable). I think my next appointment next week will probably be my last for about a year since I'm doing well and continue to progress and improve my sleeping habits.

I wish I'd had a doc suggest OSA years ago--I've suffered from extreme fatigue for decades now, but no one ever suggested I see a sleep doc or have a PSG. For some bizarre reason, I never really connected extreme fatigue and feeling like crap with not sleeping well--I just though I woke up a lot and had bad dreams! If I hadn't married hubby, who knows how long it would have taken me to figure it out?

Weezy

[bap40]

Some of us are very lucky to have partners who clue us in, even if we don't want to hear it.

[montana user]

I just had a sleep study in Dec and still have not heard from my Dr or the sleep study Dr. On my first sleep study, my PCP which dealt with my diabetes. Needless to say I didn't get much info.

I am sorry to hear this!! I have test results for out patients in 3-4 days! The first sleep lab I worked in took about a month and that is too long to wait for an answer. Hope you hear back soon! Don't be afraid to call them and get a fire lit.

[rested gal]

Good to see you posting again, Montana! You "good'un", you.

viewtopic.php?p=442957#p442957

[jbn3boys]

It seems that most, but not all, of you had a relatively easy time getting your sleep study once you asked for it. Not so for me.

I knew for years that I snored, but did not really think much about it. I knew about OAS since my dad and my brother-in-law both use cpap machines. I had always heard that with OSA that you will stop breathing, and I never experienced that (to my knowledge), nor did my husband ever notice it. But this last summer, as my sisters and I were living at my parent's house during my mom's final days on hospice, both my sister and my dad told me that I most definitely have sleep apnea. When I finally had an appointment with my pcp, I basically had to demand a sleep study. I told him I wanted one, he said most people do not have sleep apnea. I told him I snore terribly, he told me that snoring doesn't mean you have sleep apnea. Seems like we went round and round, him countering everything I said. Until I said: Look, my sister's husband HAS sleep apnea, so she KNOWS what it sounds like, and she said I HAVE it--also, my dad has it. I WANT a sleep study. He finally, reluctantly, agreed. Then I also did a lot of calling (pestering) to get my results and get set up with a machine. When things were not going well after a few months of treatment, I told him, and he suggested I go back to my DME. I had to ask repeatedly to just get a referral to SEE a sleep doctor. Now, I'm on bipap (for a little over a week), and HOPE that I'm finally on the right road.