Apnea + COPD - Newbie Breathing Question

terryann1111 · Post by **terryann1111** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:43 pm

This is another question I'm asking for my friend who doesn't have internet access.

She just started using a VPAP III machine about a month ago. She suffers from severe COPD in addition to just being diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. The VPAP is helping tremendously.

She says when she awakens she is breathing so well, but when she takes off the mask she notices that she has a hard time trying to catch her breath...almost like she can't hardly breathe without it. She is afraid she is becoming "dependent" upon the VPAP machine.

I currently use a CPAP and and also have COPD (although not as severe as hers); yet, I have never experienced such a sensation. Can anyone relate to this?

THANKS!
Terry Ann

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:55 pm

Does you friend have access to oxygen? Is your friend on oxygen during the day? Does you friend have inhalers and/or nebulizer and is your friend using them? When did your friend last have a pulmonary function test or spirometry? When did your friend last have an arterial blood gases draw?

terryann1111 · Post by **terryann1111** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:39 pm

Yes, I know she said she is having to use a nebulizer immediately after arising each morning. She has to use rescue inhalers throughout the day. They do NOT have her on oxygen right now. I know she has just gotten out of a month-long stay in the hospital as her blood oxygen sat was way down in the low 80s...and they wanted to put her back in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. I'm thinking her problems are related to just her very poor respiratory health and that the VPAP is just helping her breathing so much during the night...and she is just noticing the contrast when she pulls it off...good respiration versus very poor respiration. How sad

I hope she gets her day before the SS judge soon and they get her on Medicare so she can get some medical attention. The only reason she got hospital care was because it was a life or death emergency. Unless she is in an emergency situation, she does not qualify for any medical care...they are very poor. It's very sad, indeed.

Thank you so much...
Terry Ann

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:34 pm

I will add your friend to my prayers. It may well be that she needs 02 during the day and THAT can be EXPENSIVE! Maybe instead of an overnight oximetry her doctor should order a daytime oximetry. Certainly if her results are poor it would help to bolster her doctor's contention that she is disabled and qualifies for SSDI.