Need Advice, second opinion.......

[DSM1]

Ok, I been learning to fly, my BP is a little high, so as part of my pre Student pilot medicial paperwork my doctor wanted to adjust my meds and add one to get some lower numbers, I mean I have always been in the 140's/85 area, but he wanted lower, so he was dragging on the paperwork for my AME FAA doc. So in the process he said, well you know sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and un warranted weight gain. I told him I am never tired, I wake up like a rooster before sun (meaning my alarm clock), I have always been and early riser, I am never tired throughout the day unless I stayed up way late, I am ready to go to bed at 10ish, if I push myself later I am passing out like a zombie. I sleep solid, snor yes, but gone out for the night.

So in my push to get my BP down he said the whole deal about Sleep apnea, so I figured what the heck take home PulseOx. So I did it, in the middle of the night mycat was messing with my arm he seen the cord and it woke me up, I had been sleeping on my arm so it was cutting blood circulation off and was tingly cold feeling, normal if your crushing your arm off I guess.

So i turned in the OX, went to my doc, and told him about the arm issue and not sure how it went, and he said, I had like a number of events, and at one point below 60, as was like well with this I think we should do the in facility test. Thing is I think this CPAP thing is a cash cow right now I know a ton of people who done it and some are on machines others got them and don't use them, some swear by them. I haven't done the in facility study yet, but I really don't think its warranted.

So doctor fills out my paperwork for my FAA doc, and puts on there as part of my treatment for BP he recommends CPAP, I mean I have not been diagnosed yet with Sleep Apnea, that throws up a red flag for the FAA my flight doc said, even though there are pilots that have it and fly, he said its a process to get through to get my medical approved where they want some additional Wake Test done. So here I am now I have to back and talk to my doc about this.......I don't think I need it, I am never tired, should I get a second opinion....I even considered buying my own machine to monitor myself I am regretting even doing the take home.

[roster]

... my BP is a little high .... I wake up like a rooster before sun (meaning my alarm clock)
.... I have always been and early riser... I am ready to go to bed at 10ish, if I push myself later I am passing out like a zombie. ... snor yes, ...

I had like a number of events, and at one point below 60 (%O2 saturation) ...

All of those are symptoms. Waking up before the alarm clock is often caused by high adrenalin levels caused by apneas.

Go to the mirror and count your teeth. If you have 32 it is unlikely you have sleep apnea. If you have 28 or fewer it is highly likely you do have sleep apnea.

Are you in denial? Many, many people are.

[Otter]

Ask if you can borrow the pulse oximeter for another night, or get one of your own. The cheapest ones with a log function go for about $100, and if you don't find anything you could then sell it to someone here. You can't rule out SDB based only on oximetry data, but if you eliminate the cat and crush problems, and you still see serious desats, you'll know your doctor is barking up the right tree.

[mayondair]

2cents worth from a pilot: go to the sleep lab and get the test, you have some classic symptoms, and the high BP will give you trouble on FAA Medicals. No way to know for sure if you have sleep apnea or not without the test. If you do you will need to show effective treatment, and have a Maintenance of Wakefulness test, no big deal. AOPA and other pilot orgs will be able to help you submit the right papers. You will not need your medical( 3rd class I assume) until you are ready to solo. Better to find out, untreated sleep apnea wll ruin your health, it's easily treated . Good luck on learning to fly, It's a wonderful thing to do and I wish you the best kathy

[Janknitz]

Yes, sleep apnea is a "cash cow" in the medical community right now, but that does not mean that the diagnosis isn't legitimate or that treatment is not warranted. It just means that there are some people making a lot of money off the testing--lucky them. They get paid, BTW, whether you are ultimately diagnosed with Sleep Apnea or not, but they get paid little or nothing on the follow-up, so unless a particular sleep doctor has a financial stake in the DME that supplies the equipment as well (this is illegal in many states), there's no incentive to diagnose SA if you don't actually have it.

Sounds like your doctor is not going to clear you for flying unless and until you get a proper in-lab sleep test, so you might as well buckle down and do it. You may be correct that you don't have SA, or you may be surprised to find out you do.

Many symptoms and daytime problems aren't apparent in Sleep Apnea until the problem has progressed to an alarming degree, so if it does turn out that you have SA, getting early treatment will be a blessing in disguise because it may prevent you from progressing to more severe symptoms that WILL take away your pilot's license for good.

[kteague]

Go to the mirror and count your teeth. If you have 32 it is unlikely you have sleep apnea. If you have 28 or fewer it is highly likely you do have sleep apnea.

Has there ever been a poll on here for this?

[TalonNYC]

A couple of things to think on.

You mention buying a machine on your own to monitor yourself. Unfortunately (for so many reasons) you can't just buy a machine - at least not legally. You need a prescription to do that. In this case, that's good news. A machine costs anywhere from 400-1000 bucks if you buy it on your own, since you'd need one that can record detail data. Without a prescription, you can't get insurance to reimburse any of it.

The sleep study is covered by just about every insurance plan out there, so even if you have to pay a percentage, it'll be less than the cost of the machine. If you don't have Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB), then you can walk away clean. If you do, then the insurance will cover at least part of the cost of the machine too. You'll get the study and the machine for less than you'd pay to get just the machine out-of-pocket. You better believe the industry will try to squeeze every dollar out of you they can, but we can help to make sure you don't get fleeced by providing lots of advice on that.

Your blood O2 saturation really shouldn't dip below 85-90 unless something is very wrong. Repeated dips, especially those below 80%, indicate *something* is happening at night. Who knows what it is, your cat could be sleeping over your nose and mouth, but who knows? The sleep study, in a lab with no cat and no other causes, will clear up the "why?" question.

Yes, it's a pain in the ass. Nearly everyone here will agree that a sleep study is not the best way to kill a night. The results of the study, however, will either:

1 - shut up your doctor once and for all or,
2 - clarify what is going on at night so you can get it taken care of

The good news is that the second outcome will also shut your doctor up, so win-win there =)

[roster]

Go to the mirror and count your teeth. If you have 32 it is unlikely you have sleep apnea. If you have 28 or fewer it is highly likely you do have sleep apnea.

Has there ever been a poll on here for this?

Thanks for the idea. See viewtopic/t63541/How-many-teeth-do-you-have.html