Newbie

[bprater2011]

Hi I am a newbie to cpap. My dr. just told me today that I need to be on a cpap machine. I had a sleep study test done and was considered mild to moderate. What is hard to understand is that I am not tired during the day, I dont take naps and dont have the desire to sleep. My dr. told me however that since I am "considered" to have sleep apnea that a lot of my current unexplainable symptoms could be helped by using a cpap machine. Some of my symptoms are anxiety, stress, and unexplainable spikes in my blood pressure (it doesnt happen every day but when it does happen there is nothing going on to spike my BP); my CRP (inflammation marker) is up. I have had my carotid arteries checked; an untrasound of my heart; and a ton of blood work done and they cant figure out any other reason except that using a cpap machine might help. What is your opinion does anyone out there have any advice? I dont know if what my dr is saying makes since or not!!! Any advice to let me know if my dr is full of it or not would be appreciated!!!

I had a sleep study done about 4 years ago and I didnt go on the machine then because I wasnt feeling any ill affects from not sleeping. I sleep just fine and am not tired during the day. The only reason I even went and had the overnight sleep study done years ago to start with was because my husband said that I snored loud and that it took me SOOOO long to start breathing again he would get scared and get ready to wake me up but then I would finally start breathing.

[greatunclebill]

you didn't say what kind of doctor this is. you didn't say what kind of sleep study you had. you need a second opinion from a specialist or a better specialist. you sound to me like you're looking for somebody to tell you that you don't need it. the second opinion from another doctor will answer that question. ask for it, your doctor won't be offended.

[baprater]

I had this study done several years ago so I have forgotten the name of the study over time. The dr. that did this study was at a sleep study clinic. I am not asking anyone to talk me into or out of this machine. I am merely asking because if these symptoms that I am having are common to people with sleep apnea then there is a good chance it will help me too. If these symptoms are caused by something else then my money AND time will be wasted and I will have to endure yet another test. I have 1 day each week during the month of Feb. at either my regular drs office or my cardiologist office either having special tests done or discussing my symptoms. I am tired of slowely weeding out possible causes!

[n0hardmask]

I had this study done several years ago so I have forgotten the name of the study over time. The dr. that did this study was at a sleep study clinic. I am not asking anyone to talk me into or out of this machine. I am merely asking because if these symptoms that I am having are common to people with sleep apnea then there is a good chance it will help me too. If these symptoms are caused by something else then my money AND time will be wasted and I will have to endure yet another test. I have 1 day each week during the month of Feb. at either my regular drs office or my cardiologist office either having special tests done or discussing my symptoms. I am tired of slowely weeding out possible causes!

Whatever you do, do NOT get stuck with a brick, or you will probably waste your money. It may be that they are grasping for a positive, but considering the snoring and stopped breathing, your life expectancy might be lots better with a fully data recording machine.
Read up in the topic for New Users and be ready for the next step. Just don't go into it blindly. Best Wishes,

[kteague]

Your symptoms sound pretty classic to me. Anxiety and stress are understandable because with sleep apnea, at night the body can be repeatedly flooded with stress hormones. And if sleep is not of the right stages to be restorative, makes sense that "frazzled" nerves could be a result. I've never been an anxious or stressed out type person, actually the opposite, maybe to a point of fault. But near the end of my years of untreated sleep disorders I had become more nervous, overreactive, and emotionally fragile. Inefficient sleep (not all sleep is good quality sleep) puts a tremendous burden on the body to perform without the renewal processes that happen during sleep, so it seems reasonable that all the stressors could affect blood pressure. I've read sleep problems can affect inflammation markers. My CRP has been elevated. Coincidence? The human body has an amazing ability to compensate for less than optimal circumstances. For a lot of years I remained highly functional, but it did catch up with me over time, and in a big way. My crash ended my career and life as I knew it. Hopefully your treatment now will prevent that from becoming your story. Best wishes.

[chunkyfrog]

I had no idea what all my symptoms were until I was on the machine for a while.
Much of what I attributed to old age turned out to be LOTS better with CPAP.
Once you are 'hosing', you will not believe what a difference it makes.

[baprater]

As I mentioned earlier, my study was done about 3 years ago and about the only thing I remember was them saying that I spent most of the night in the lighter stages of sleep and that I spent only about 10 minutes or so in level 4 (the deepest restful sleep) and only did that 2-3 times during the night. I am a type A personality and have dealt with obsessive complusive disorder, a wide range of anxiety and stress problems that is now affecting my blood pressure. The good news is that my cardiologist recently did a ultrasound on my heart and my carotid arteries and said the heart is fine and strong, the arteries has a minimal amount of blockage and kidney function is fine. So the only things that he can contribute to my unexpected spikes in B/P which happens at various times of the day and not every day is either the fact that my potassium level is low (which we are treating) and that a CPAP machine might help with the b/p and the stress levels. I hope so I SICK of sitting in drs. offices and waiting for test results - so while I dont look forward to being hooked up to a machine every night if it helps my b/p and stress it will be my new best friend!!!!

[kteague]

Forgot to mention in my other post... while some of the symptoms you mention seem to be mentioned on here repeatedly and it's easy to assume they are OSA related, there's other conditions that can cause the same symptoms. Using cpap would likely resolve some or (maybe even all) of your symptoms. But in my mind, any possible relationship of your symptoms to your OSA is irrelevant in the decision whether or not to treat the twice diagnosed OSA. Facts trump feelings.

Also neglected to mention that with better sleep my mood and overall sense of well being stabilized, two of my BP meds were discontinued and I'm now on a low dose of a less aggressive BP med that is keeping it controlled. Not sure about my current CRP - hasn't been tested lately. Just saying that my results are why I feel my symptoms were related to my sleep. Good luck moving forward.

EDIT: Just a little light reading that may or may not be applicable to you...

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy Improves Vascular Dysfunction and Decreases Oxidative Stress in Patients With the Metabolic Syndrome and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22278815
CONCLUSIONS: Continuous positive airway pressure therapy has beneficial effects on vascular function and inflammatory and oxidative stress in patients with the MetS and OSAS.

[archangle]

Do you want to use the CPAP now, or after you have the heart attack or stroke? Do you want the kids to grow up without mommy?

Yes, apnea is really that serious.

Doing CPAP for several months and seeing if it works is probably the most effective, cheapest, and safest way to figure out if apnea is causing your problems. If you don't do the CPAP, your doctors will probably not be as motivated to look for "the real cause" of your problems.

[Guest]

Sorry to be so chatty. Hope I dont get to be annoying. I have tons of reading and researching to do - I know-

One comment struck me as a little odd by something the resp. therapist said on the phone today. I called and told my situation and that I need to come in and make an appt. to be set up for a cpap machine - per my dr. She talked a few minutes and then said "Oh, would you like to have a pink one, I am getting ready to place an order for some so I thought I would ask" I guess I appreciated her offering but personally I want one that does its job and the best job it can for what I can afford. But the color should be the last thing on her mind or mine! Should I consider going somewhere else and how do I know if I am getting a machine I need or if they are just trying to make a huge profit?! Also where do you go on the internet to interpret the info if you get a macchine that spits out info on your nights sleep when you dont understand any of it anyways. Feeling kind of dumb or in over my head about now

[Pugsy]

Actually this "pink" one is a great machine. I think pink is only offered in the Autoset.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... fier+.html
Gets you the APAP (also will run in CPAP mode so 2 machines in one) and full data and is a great machine.

[baprater]

I guess I just thought that she thought I was just smart enough to pick a color. I figured they just offered pink ones for women/girls that are vain. I care mostly about what a machine can do and if I can figure out between dr visits how I am doing on my machine. Is this asking too much of a machine?

[RocketGirl]

It does all seem a bit overwhelming at first, but you've stumbled into an amazing cadre of people. I'm a newbie too (4 months in) and reading, reading, reading here helped so much. You're already way ahead of me, asking these questions before you get your machine - I got lucky, found a great doctor, and ended up with a good machine right from the start even without asking the questions first. Next was figuring out how to read the data, and figuring out what it meant. All that comes with time.

It might feel less overwhelming if you can think of it as like assembling a good tool kit. Very few people go out and buy a big tool box and buy all the tools to fill it all at once. They get the box, and they get a hammer and a screwdriver. Then they get a wrench when they need one, and another different screwdriver and a tape measure when they need that... they assemble the tool kit as they need it, piece by piece. This is the same, but your tools are information.

And yes, if you don't mind pink, that pink machine is supposed to be a very good one. As far as I know, it's pretty recent and the only machine that is manufactured in a non-stodgy color. I could be wrong but I think the company did that to help people who might feel put off by the "medical equipment" look of the thing. It must have seemed like a bizarre question to be asked, if you didn't happen to know any of that, though!

[Pugsy]

I care mostly about what a machine can do and if I can figure out between dr visits how I am doing on my machine. Is this asking too much of a machine?

Not to much to ask for at all. Will take a lot of reading and a bit of a learning curve but really quite easy.

The pink machine was introduced as part of breast cancer awareness thing. The S9 Autoset is a really quality machine and it offers all the data that is currently available. I haven't seen the pink being offered in the other models but that doesn't mean that it isn't. I would still want to confirm exact model name just to make sure that DME isn't supplying an Escape Auto or the plain Escape.

Lots of ResMed users here and almost everyone of them really love their machine.
I happen to have both brands (ResMed and Phillips Respironics) and if someone was willing to get me a S9 Autoset...I would jump on it in a heartbeat. It has some really nice features, we have easy to use software for it, lots of people to help you and very quiet.

If pink is only offered in the Autoset...it pretty much seals the deal on getting a full data machine without having to fight with the DME..plus you get the availability of APAP auto adjusting pressure capability.

[kteague]

Agree that function is priority, but if you could get function and fashion (?) and she was placing an order, no harm in her asking your preference. I don't know which ones are pink, someone else can speak to that. Most providers have a standard machine they dispense unless otherwise prescribed or requested, and I doubt that issue gets questioned often. She probably wasn't expecting it to matter to you.

I don't think she has given you cause as of yet to go elsewhere. Get the full story first. Be proactive and ask them what make and model they plan to give you - be very specific as there are some similar sounding names and a few letters can make all the difference in reporting capabilities. Bring that name back here and ask. If you have a machine that reports treatment data, the DME can usually read your data until you feel ready to do it yourself. No need to overwhelm yourself with feeling you have to know everything just to get started, but between your doctor, your DME, and folks here, you'll get the information you need. I would suggest getting it on an as-needed basis so you don't end up exhausting yourself with info that may end up not being applicable to your unfolding situation. Hang in there.