Accepting diagnosis

[Blaifarm]

I have been recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea and am having a hard time adjusting to the use of a machine to help me breath. I want to be sure I need to use a machine before I start to use one regularly. So I have questions that I would like to have answered. I had a home study done and the doctor admits that the sleep lab test would give him much more information to make a diagnosis and begin a treatment for a patient (me).

Talked to a pulmonary doctor today and he told me that most people accept a diagnosis of sleep apnea without question. That most people are happy when told there is a "fix" to sleep problems they may have. Do most of you feel this way or did you question any part of your sleep study?

Please give me some advice. In you opinion, am I just being stubborn in not wanting to believe I have sleep apnea and not want to start using equipment to help me breath or should I question more than the doctor wants me to?

[kaiasgram]

Hi Blaifarm,

Do you have a copy of your sleep study report? If so you're welcome to post it here for some feedback -- you can upload a copy (white out your personal i.d.) to a site like Photobucket and then paste the image code into a post here. There are very knowledgeable folks here on the forum who can help interpret the results.

I also had a home test -- they definitely fall short of a complete sleep study. I still have questions about my results but I did accept my diagnosis because of the frequent oxygen drops I saw on my sleep test report.

I don't blame you for not wanting the diagnosis or the machine. And not everyone is "happy" to be put on cpap !

It would be helpful to know more about your sleep study results. Want to share?

If you want to describe the specific difficulties you're having with your machine and mask, we may be able to offer suggestions there too.

[TonyE]

Blaifarm I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea to and to be honest when I was told I thought they was crazy I had a home test to and there was a large part of me that thought they was wrong... I was searching the web to find prof they was wrong an I came across cpaptalk and after reading a lot of post I thought maybe they where not wrong and I did have sleep apnea. Ok I accepted it but that did not stop me being 100% afraid and angry at the thought of wearing a mask to sleep for the rest of my life.... I read more and ask a few question here and found everyone VERY helpful and help ease my fears a little with guidance from the people here I managed to find a Cpap machine in the US (I live in Australia and the prices are crazy) I got my machine 2 days a go and have been able to sleep with it and strangely I find the air comforting it will take me some time to get use to wearing the mask but I am a lot happier about it now.

I am sure most people go through a bundle of emotions when diagnosed with sleep apnea but one thing I know now it is not as bad as I thought it would.

[Kryton]

I'm in the same boat, Res Sleep want me to buy their 'package' but I can buy the same thing heaps cheaper in US - why wouldn't I buy from an American supplier??

[Nozzelnut]

I was relieved with the diagnosis. At least there was a reason for most of the things I was feeling.

Using my APAP every night has made things better; but a bit more complicated. Instead of going to my buddy's hunting property with my hunting gear I have to remember to bring my machine, car battery, different power supply...

It really hit me when I was looking at the prescription and at the bottom it said lifetime. I thought "Could I really need this for the rest of my life?"

Maybe, probably; but I'm changing some things that I was doing that didn't help matters. Getting a bunch of things taken care of that I let go too long. I'm reading as much as I can about it.

It's just another turn in the road of life and not the end of it.

[Julie]

The one place you should not be asking questions from is denial. You apparently (unless further testing is definitively contrary to the study you had) do have a problem and it's good to want to learn more about it, but I hope you start with the premise that the study was accurate - you took it because something was wrong - but you want more evidence not so you can disprove what you've heard, but so you can address things with the best ammunition possible.

It's really no big deal for most of us, though getting started can be annoying at times, finding the right equipment for you, etc., but then the upside is that you can get your life back (or has it been so long that you forgot what that feels like? ). And with technology advancing as fast as it is these days, there could well be an even easier way to take care of apnea in a very few years.