Sleep Apnea in the Hospital

[cpaptex]

I was a outpatient yesterday in the Hospital and in the operating room they gave me O2 and what I thought was a CPAP machine. It was not a General Anesthesia situation. All that went normal. When they wheeled me into the recovery area. I was going into Apneas over and over. The O2 Sat monitor was going off constantly and waking me up. The nurse came in and said that "I needed to breath normally" and "Please take deeper breaths"

It seemed to be an unusal request given my health history which they clearly knew. Why they didn't us a CPAP in recovery is beyond me. I would stop breathing every few minutes. Then the alarm would sound and I would wake up and fall back asleep. It went on for 4 hours.

Is this par for the course? I think that I annoyed the nursing staff because they had to keep checking on the alarm.

[LSAT]

I think you need to take some of the responsibility. You should have discussed your OSA with your surgeon and the anesthesiologist. Ask whether you should bring your CPAP with you when you go to the hospital. When in doubt...bring it.

[DannyPh]

During my stay in the Hospital this Past October I demanded a cpap and they furnished me one until I got mine from Home,=. No Problems with my Hospital stay and cpap.

[cpaptex]

I think you need to take some of the responsibility. You should have discussed your OSA with your surgeon and the anesthesiologist. Ask whether you should bring your CPAP with you when you go to the hospital. When in doubt...bring it.

I did discuss it with my Cardiologist who said that they had the equipment to handle the situation. And they did in the OR. Just not in the recovery room. I also discussed it with them as they prepared me for surgery. I was not in doubt. They told me that I didn't need to bring it because I could not bring it into the OR. They didn't tell me to bring it for use in the recovery room.

The Anesthesiologist is out of the equation. I never met him or had the opportunity to discuss anything with whoever it was.

They should have brought one into the recovery area, I was there for 4 hours.

[chunkyfrog]

I wonder if anyone has a medical info tattoo for CPAP.

[LSAT]

How,about this...
http://www.amazon.com/Engraved-Sleep-Ap ... B003JKH2IQ

[dragon672]

I use to wear one of those for asthma; but it's not that serious so I stopped wearing it. Perhaps I should consider finding it or purchasing a new one and have Sleep Apnea on it.

[Elle]

I've always been told to bring my own machine when in hospital. I was in for 4 days last year unexpectedly and did not have my machine or anyone who could get it for me and woke up with blue lips every morning.

The nurses don't have time to read your entire history in the recovery room. They are monitoring patients and are told what they need to know by the anesthetist or surgeon.

[Guest]

I've always been told to bring my own machine when in hospital. I was in for 4 days last year unexpectedly and did not have my machine or anyone who could get it for me and woke up with blue lips every morning.

The nurses don't have time to read your entire history in the recovery room. They are monitoring patients and are told what they need to know by the anesthetist or surgeon.

The Hospital called to Pre-Interview my needs. They told me to bring my Meds, but not take take them that morning and no food or drink after 9PM. They discussed with me"my special needs, I said that I had just developed Addison's, I have Diabetes, Interstitial Lung Disease and Sleep Apnea that they are all active and that I use a CPAP machine. They did not instruct me to bring my machine. When you get to the Hospital they do it again at check in. When they take you to the Preparation Room the Nurses go over again. When you go into the Pre-Op Room the Dr. is present and he goes over it. I had done the same thing with the Drs. staff the day prior. So I respectfully disagree with you. I mean how many times did I mention it. ALOT.

Moving on......

I do admit that I was primarily concerned about Addison's. My Blood Pressure has dropped to 50/30 and 70/50 on the last two ER visits. I reviewed that with them too. Should I also bring a Saline IV with me? My point is that they knew that I used a CPAP, they saw the Desaturations ocurring and they did nothing other than to complain to me about it. Not because I was having Desaturations, but because the Alarm was annoying them. That is not quality health care.

You guys are a tough bunch! I appreciate your comments, I hope that you can appreciate mine.

Regardless of whether or not I brought a CPAP machine, they should have brought one in. In the future, if I have another scheduled Hospital Visit >> I WILL BRING MY CPAP MACHINE WITH ME! I GET IT.

When I was admited to the ER in an Emergency situation with Low Blood Pressure and subsequently admitted to the Hospital they had a CPAP machine brought into my room and a Respirtory Therapist each night that I was there, Friday, I had no idea that I would be "sleeping" in recovery because of the complications. You are normally required to be in the Recovery Room lying down in bed without moving your legs for 6 hours when you get an Angioplasty. The Dr. used a special bandage that cut the recovery time to 2 hours. I was still there for another 2 hours because of the complications of my Blood Pressure and Sleep Apnea. My head was spinning from the Low Blood Pressure and the Desaturations. I did not take the Stress Dosing of Prednisone that I should have taken, because the Drs instructioned me not to take any meds. It takes several hours for Prednisone to start to work as compared to Hydrocortisone to take effect. They could have let me take my meds, but they didn't. Nor did they want to allow me to take any meds until after I departed the Hospital.

I feel that the Nurse should have attended to the Desaturations with O2 and/or a CPAP machine. This was not something that was out of the ordinary that they haven't been trained to deal with. And I was in no condition to argue with the Nurse because of the issues that I have that are caused by Addison's. The Nurse asked my wife to leave the room for reasons that I don't understand.

I probably had around 80 events over the four hours that caused the alarm to sound. DING DING DING DING DING DING, hey it annoyed me too!

[Slinky]

You got poor care. Starting w/the anesthesiologist him or herself should have talked to you. I would write a tactfull and diplomatic letter to the hospital administrator detailing your care and pointing out your concerns.

[DocWeezy]

Ditto what Slinky said. It sounds like the hospital knew what your issues were and dropped the ball in recovery and that is unacceptable. The worst part is that you did what you needed to do and were prepared, but once we're in the OR and then into recovery, we have no control.

I just had a hospital experience and they put my cpap on me in the recovery room and left it on me in my hospital room....and even though I had my machine there and was using it, an RT still visited me once I was awake with a machine "just in case" I needed it...she said she just wanted to make sure I was breathing OK with mine, checked my O2 levels, left the hospital machine "just in case" and then left.

[retrodave15]

For my wife's last surgery she had to have clearance from her cardiologist and pulmonologist prior to her back surgery. As part of her pre-op clearance an order was written for CPAP to be applied in the recovery room. Durring the pre-op call and when she met the anesthesiologist we were asked if we brought her CPAP machine. The Nurse from the recovery unit came down, tagged her machine and took it with her.

Now when the CPAP was not working as well as it should due to the large amount of pain meds thy placed her on a hospital BiPAP with a full face mask. After a day she went back to her normal set up for the remainder of her stay. If you want to make sure they use your CPAP machine, have the doc write an order for it during the medical clearance appointment, and by all means bring your machine and talk with the anesthesiologist before the surgery starts about it.