Need some advice

[woodg]

I've enjoyed my time and all the great advice that I've found on this site, but I've got one that has me at a loss.

I believe my son also has OSA and I'm trying to get him some help. Here are the specifics.

He is 22 years old. Was discharged from the Army on a medical discharge a little less than 2 years ago. He is currently using his VA medical, which I believe is good for 5 years. After I had noticed his breathing patterns ( or lack of) while he was sleeping, I'm reasonably sure that he has OSA as well. He brought it up on a visit and the Dr. flippantly told him to lose some weight. He might benefit from losing a few pounds but is by no means seriously overweight. He is about 5'10" and weighs about 190.

How can this be approached, or is he just out of luck on this and I'll have to resort to providing what help I can? I'm thinking that I can get a pulse Oximeter to see if his O2 sat drops overnight and if so, I can set him up with my Autoset for a self titration, at least to see if it helps enough.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[BlackSpinner]

I've enjoyed my time and all the great advice that I've found on this site, but I've got one that has me at a loss.

I believe my son also has OSA and I'm trying to get him some help. Here are the specifics.

He is 22 years old. Was discharged from the Army on a medical discharge a little less than 2 years ago. He is currently using his VA medical, which I believe is good for 5 years. After I had noticed his breathing patterns ( or lack of) while he was sleeping, I'm reasonably sure that he has OSA as well. He brought it up on a visit and the Dr. flippantly told him to lose some weight. He might benefit from losing a few pounds but is by no means seriously overweight. He is about 5'10" and weighs about 190.

How can this be approached, or is he just out of luck on this and I'll have to resort to providing what help I can? I'm thinking that I can get a pulse Oximeter to see if his O2 sat drops overnight and if so, I can set him up with my Autoset for a self titration, at least to see if it helps enough.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Yes the oximeter and also download and print the latest studies and tell him to go back to the doctor. 190 at 5'10" is not very overweight. Get him back to the doctor and remind him the doctor works for him and if he has relatives who say he stops breathing than the doctor should be required to test for it, otherwise he should be reported.

[robysue]

He brought it up on a visit and the Dr. flippantly told him to lose some weight. He might benefit from losing a few pounds but is by no means seriously overweight. He is about 5'10" and weighs about 190.

What language did he use with the Dr. who simply told him to loose weight?

He should request another visit (preferably with a different doc?) and explictly and unambiguously say: Others have observed that I stop breathing while I am asleep. I need an NPSG in a sleep lab to determine if I have OSA.

Does he snore as welll? If so, he should explicitly say that as well.

The pulse oximeter idea may or may not help: Not all of us with OSA have O2 desaturations with our apnea.