How was your OSA/CSA discovered?

jdr999 · Post by **jdr999** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:03 pm

Did you find that OSA/CSA was the primary reason for your initial visit with no other illness present?
-or-
Was OSA/CSA suspected in association with another illness that was actually the primary reason for your visit?

For me I was being diagnosed with GERD & esophageal spasms and at the very end the doctor said "By the way, do you sleep well?"..

I also had a customer tell me that his OSA was first suspected while he was in the ER for A-fib.

So I'm wondering if OSA is being diagnosed as a primary condition, or as an underlying condition for another primary illness?

Or in other words, do many find out about OSA before having moderate to serious side effects or only after?

- Joe

Stormynights · Post by **Stormynights** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:50 pm

Everytime I sat still for more than 5 minutes I nodded off. I also had Gerd. I just thought it was because I was getting older. My husband told me I stopped breathing during the night. I asked to be tested. I got the test and lost my insurance.

cosmo · Post by **cosmo** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:59 pm

simplyme · Post by **simplyme** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:38 pm

Was/am always tired but thought it was my fibromyalgia or depression or bipolar… finally my psychiatrist recomended I get a sleep study. They found I had apnea. Went to second sleep study 5 years later because I could not use my cpap and sleep!…

This time I was at my introductory visit with my new primary care physician and he recommended a new study at a different center. Surprise! I still had apnea but they did get things figured out so I can now actually sleep with my vpap.

So both times I went for sleep studies it was due to fatigue/tiredness but I had not been initially at the doctors to talk about that.

Before all of that when I was at the doctors to talk about how tired I always was I did not get any suggestions of having apnea or going for a sleep study. Instead I got trazadone to help me sleep at night, and that ended up giving me nightmares and then hallucinations! That was no help.

NotLazyJustTired · Post by **NotLazyJustTired** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:41 pm

Like others have said, my primary reason for seeing the doc was to complain about acid reflux. The OTC stuff just wasn't working anymore and the wife pressed me to go and get a prescription that would be covered by insurance. Made good sense, so I went. While I was there I also noted that I was tired all the time (assuming my sleep problem was related to the reflux issue). That's when he first suspected OSA and started ordering the sleep study. We also discussed my high blood pressure, muscle and joint pains and after the blood work came back, hypothyroidism. All which he believed may be eliminated or minimized after treating the SBD. I am cautiously optimistic...we'll see...

lovemycpap · Post by **lovemycpap** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:52 pm

My sister told me I stopped breathing in my sleep. Went in, told dr. They said...no, don't think so but..fine. Went to specialist...said, no, doesn't seem like it....but ok, do this sleep study. Did the sleep study...definately need CPAP. I don't actually have sleep apnea. I have shallow breathing. I never stop breathing, but my breaths get more and more shallow until I pop awake and take a big breath. Got a CPAP, never looked back. Love the thing. At every checkup, Dr. is amazed at the stats. My CPAP has been used every night except for 3 in the last 3 years (I never sleep on Thanksgiving night and apparently going to bed at 1 in the afternoon doesn't count towards the previous nights sleep). Love it.

Cavmdc · Post by **Cavmdc** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:22 pm

Seems I had many of the complicating factors sleep apnea can contribute to, daytime sleepiness, awakening with shortness f breath, hypertension, diabeties, depression, etc etc etc

I had to ask for it in the end. Looking back, I've likely had sleep apnea for 20 + years.

Greg

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:24 pm

For years, my dear husband snored and stopped breathing at night.
Often it would wake me up, but when I complained about it, he said I was the one who snored!
Finally, I talked him into a sleep study. Months passed, and he had not gotten a titration study.
No machine-"Don't lay on your back" (that stuff) Of course he usually rolled over onto his back, waking me up.
Since he has always accused me of being the loud snorer, I asked him if I had ever stopped breathing--he never heard anything.
Wrong question--his hearing is terrible; he wouldn't know if I WAS breathing! (But he could hear me snore)
Then I asked if my snoring was smooth or "broken up"--he said "broken" ! (the plot thickens, I'm still working on HIM.)
This also is a clue as to why I was always so "wiped out" in the afternoon, why I awoke several times a night with racing
heartbeat and the memory of strenuous, and even bizarre dreams, that prevented me from ever getting enough sleep.
Nineteen years previous, the HMO docs had told me I did NOT have apnea. Could they have been wrong?
Now I believe they were LYING, which is why I will NEVER use or recommend an HMO. Just bad medicine!
I was diagnosed as mild with 13 events an hour, but insurance covered it due to co-morbidities. (yay)
I got my machine, and he finally got his about 7 months later.

MyIdaho · Post by **MyIdaho** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:55 pm

Went to the doctor complaining about snoring (Mrs says FIXIT!), daytime tiredness, and drowsiness while driving....

oregongal · Post by **oregongal** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:16 pm

Roomed at a convention with a friend who is an RN, I had mentioned to her I snored a bit. She told me I not only snored but stopped breathing all the time and insisted I get tested. My score was 74. I am so grateful to her for speaking up! I have been very successful after a rough start. Was somewhat familiar with CPAP because of my son using it, he was only 35, tall and skinny when diagnosed, also my sis was diagnosed about the same time as me, 2 1/2 years ago. I'm certain my Dad had it also, he snored terribly.

caffeinatedcfo · Post by **caffeinatedcfo** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:27 pm

A couple of years ago my wife woke me and told me I stopped breathing in my sleep. This happened occasionally over the last two years. Last March I started having some discomfort in my neck that would not resolve. I started noticing I was waking multiple times each night due to neck discomfort. Shortly after I started developing some peripheral neurapathies: tingling in hands/feet, capiallary constriction in hands, etc. All tests came back negative, all vitamins were within normal ranges, blood pressure normal, full cardiac workup normal. MRI of neck and brain - normal! Finally my primary care physician recommends a sleep study. I agree thinking it will tell me why my neck is waking me up ... WRONG! It's OSA that's waking me up. So I'm hopeful that CPAP treatment will finally resolve my neck and neurapathy symptoms. Interestingly, I've been diagnosed with GERD for 5 years now. Stay tuned...

big_dave · Post by **big_dave** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:33 pm

I went to my PCP for a referral for a sleep study when my sleep debt became so great that I couldn't function. Getting the referral was a huge pain in the neck since my PCP is unfamiliar with sleep apnea and he does not normally order sleep studies. My boss at work told me repeatedly to go get a sleep study. (I was having trouble falling asleep on the job.) I also had friends tell me to go to the doctor because I felt tired all the time over a 20 year period. Also I snored like a chainsaw my whole life.

salton · Post by **salton** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:01 pm

Wife told me years ago I stopped breathing when I slept. New wife, same story... She would always wake me up when she noticed I had stopped. Now wife works nights, so no one is home to wake me up. I had a few episodes where I had the feeling of passing out while asleep. You know, tingling fingers and tongue, lips, face. Next thing I know I started waking up gasping for air like I had run a mile sprint.
I called my PCP who I have been with for 25 or so years, and they got me in the same day. A couple days later I had the referral, and had the sleep test within about ten days of my first phone call to the Doc.
I am hopeful that I will be able to stop with the Blood pressure meds some day. My pressure seems to be going down a bit.
I have been able to stay awake all day on the job. I have mixed feelings about this, as the day actually lasts 8 hours now.

Hivoltfl · Post by **Hivoltfl** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:06 pm

I was sent to the Pulmonary clinic by a Cardiologist who was treating me for congestive heart failure, took the sleep test and scored an 87, that was 2005, just retired my S7 with 21000 hours. That was the only machine I have ever owned, now it makes a pretty good hose dryer.

Guy

eeckel · Post by **eeckel** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:36 pm

I was hospitalized for shortness of breath and poor endurance. It was at the level of sitting upright in a chair all night and strategizing how to get the breath to go pee. After many tests and ruling out this and that it came down to asthma and sleep apnea. I understood the asthma diagnosis from family history and the details of the experience but was surprised by the apnea. The sleep study was hellish and the DNE was manipulative. thank goodness I found this colorful community!

How was your OSA/CSA discovered?

How was your OSA/CSA discovered?

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