Titration Study

[tvmangum]

Thanks to everyone here for all of their good advice and info. I saw my cardiologist at Duke yesterday and had him look at my sleep study report. He was the first doctor that I have seen since I got my report and he explained it to me very well. He suggested that I get the titration study done ASAP since I was not getting into REM sleep until 244 minutes into sleep study (out of 356 minutes total sleep) and I had 187 arousals during my study. He said that once I got on CPAP I would feel so much better, get over my fatigue and possibly get rid of some of my meds.

Called the sleep center this morning and instead of going November 2 for titration study I will be going October 2. I explained that card wanted me to get it done ASAP and they moved me right up on the schedule with no problem.

Now, if I can remember everything that I had seen here about machines, masks, etc. and don't blow my top at the insurance company.

[nancynurse]

cpap means new life for you awake , AWAKE you will be in the day time after CPAP I look forward to my nights of dreams and good rest now . I will put up with all masks and tubes for the way I feel in the morning my hubby calls me Darth Vader but loves the quite and now does't worry about me croaking from not breathing says I snorted and snored so LOUD of course I didn't believe him untill reading my sleep study I find I can pack everything om the motorcycle and stay at hotels without the people in the next room pounding on the walls thats how loud I was . My hubby's only complaint at first was the room was to quite.

[packitin]

Well, I couldn't tell from your post what all the parameters are in your treatment. But it sounds as if you have everything under control. What meds are you taking? Reading between the lines, its probably related to heart issues. Duke Univ. has one of the best hospitals in the country. So you are in good hands.

Cpap will help with all of this. And you will sleep better, more deeply and will not wake or snore so much because of apneas. All in all, your life will go much better. Also you can find much info here about heart improvement with cpap.

Incidentally, I get down to Greensboro all the time. My daughter is on the staff at UNCG. Its a great place to live.

Your next trip to the sleep center will not be as gruelling as the first. There you will find what pressure to set your machine to and then the next step will be to take your prescripion to the DME. That's when all the fun starts. I've been trying for over a month to test and finally decide what machine is best for me. I'm using a m-series auto with c-flex now, and I wanted to try a Resmed, but they called yesterday and said someone sent the wrong one. Now he wants me to try the m-series pro, which is a little smaller, and that's o.k with me. If you can decide what machine you want first, then get the doctor to prescribe the EXACT machine. That will save you a lot of hassle and headache.

On this forum there are plenty of people here who can help you decide on the correct machine.
Good luck
Jay

[Georgio]

Packitin, too bad they didn't get exactly what you wanted (yet). I noticed you are now using an auto machine, and as best as I could tell, the "Pro" is a fixed CPAP? You probably also want the humidifyer and smartcard module. I am very happy with my M-Series A-Flex after having a Resmed Escape. Good luck, hope it works out.

Georgio

[danw61]

packitin,
Maybe I don't understand your whole situation, but if you're currently using an m-series auto I would sure try to prevent them from downgrading you to the m-series Pro. The Pro is not an auto machine although it does collect data. All m-series machines are the same size. Maybe the machine you're currently using is a loaner to titrate you? The auto machine can be set to a single pressure like the pro would be if you think that might help.
-Dan

[tvmangum]

Jay,

I am on the following meds:

• Loratadine 10 mg daily;
  Fluoxetine 20 mg daily;
  Enalapril 5 mg daily;
  Metoprolol 25 mg twice daily;
  Pravastatin 20 mg daily; and
  Baby aspirin daily.

I have a congenital heart defect. I have a bicuspid aortic valve, regurgation, left bundle branch block, and a heart murmur. I also had a cardiac MRI yesterday that lasted for 2 HOURS in the "tunnel." That was fun!

Results from sleep study:Sleep onset was recorded at 22 minutes. Onset to REM sleep was 244 minutes. Total Sleep Time was 356 minutes. 28 minutes in stage one sleep, 239 minutes in stage two, 37 minutes in stage three/stage four and 52 minutes in stage REM during the Sleep Period time.
Sleep efficiency of the time spent in bed was 88.78%. The REM latency was 244 minutes. There was a total of 187 arousals with an index of 31.5 per hour for the total sleep time. During the sleep period the patient has 1 central apneas, 1 mixed apneas, 6 obstructive apnease and 136 hypopneas. The AHI was 21.40 per hour and during REM sleep at 16.15 per hour. The average oxygen saturation range during REM and REAM was 90.0%. The lowest oxygen saturation during Non-REM and REM sleep was 83.0% and 86.0%, repectively.

This might be more than you want to know but everything is out in the open.

[packitin]

I wish I had the medical knowledge to analyze your regimen. It sounds as if you need to be on cpap as soon as you can.

Its difficult for me to suggest anything, since I'm still working on finding a machine myself. However, there are many here on this forum who can give you some sound advice, from their experience, especially on the machine.

I've decided that I want either a Respironics m-series auto with A-flex (the product code is DS510) or the Resmed S8 auto Vantage. I believe that most people here will say that those are good choices, although there are some others. There are a lot of good sites that will describe these machines and give you technical details. Also, they have 800 toll free numbers, so you can call and talk to the proprietors about the equipment. I talked to a man and lady (I assume they're married) at the site below, and not only did they take time to talk at great length to me and explain the products, but the lady uses a cpap herself and so she gave me a lot of good advice. She uses the Resmed Vantage and likes it very much.

http://www.cpapstation.com/catalog/r_ds400s_0.shtm

She also told me that the one I'm using is a good machine (it was used when I got it for a trial), and so it wouldn't cause me any anxiety to keep it. However, all things being equal, I'll settle for one of those just mentioned.

Good luck to you, and keep us informed about things down there in G-boro.
Jay