Can a Primary Care Doctor

[portiemom]

I am wondering if a Primary Care doctor, can order oxygen to an existing cpap patients care. On paper my numbers are and have been great for all of my cpap life (7) years. Would I need a new sleep study? UGH, really don't want one. All I do know is that when I've been hospitalized I ask for 02 get it and sleep like a baby, even w/o cpap. I will never give up my cpap, but how would I get a trial of 02 without a new sleep study? Any and all advice is appreciated.

[Pugsy]

Ask your DME for an overnight pulse oximetery test. They can contact your Primary Care physician for the order. He can also do the ordering of O2 but there is specific criteria that must be met to establish a need. Just because you want it....doesn't mean there is a need and it is quite expensive and you would want your insurance to pay.
People with sleep apnea aren't alone with the need for O2. So a sleep study is not the only way to monitor O2 levels.
If you have a recording pulse ox now.....and it doesn't show significant desats, it is unlikely that criteria will be met.

[portiemom]

Thanks Pugsey, I did do and overnight pulse ox a few years ago, never heard back from the dme, or primary care dr. even after repeated atempts, so I gave up. Found out a few months ago, quite by accident the pulse ox machine never got any data reading at all. UGH, so over it, I want so bad to feel good more than a handful of days in 7 years. I really can't continue to keep a full time job feeling so awful, and I understand disability is pretty hard to get with OSA even with a spine that is crumbling.

[Pugsy]

Well...even if you had some results on the pulse ox a couple of years ago..things could have changed.
I would still go the DME route and try to get another overnight study done and this time make sure appropriate data is obtained.

Did you know I finally bought a pulse ox? Got it right before my mom got sick so hadn't messed with it till last night.
I bought it because of the morning headaches that have become more frequent. While I didn't think they were related to desats because I would have reports where there just weren't enough events to really cause any desats.. I wanted to make sure. So I bought the finger tip CMS-50Dplus. Then the headaches quit. Last night I got it all up and running and figured out how to import to SleepyHead...was going to use it last night but I just didn't...and of course woke up with a headache this morning.
I do think it is my neck acting up...that and the rain we are having and will have for several days.

But I was laying in bed this morning...with the headache and kicking myself in the butt for not wearing the pulse ox last night. I looked at my reports..just not enough there to remote cause any desats..at least on paper. I think my neck is the culprit but I will try to use the pulse ox to rule out desats.

[jdarren1219]

By all means your PCP can prescribe O2 for you but I would suggest getting your DME company to do an overnight pulseox with your CPAP to see where your sats are. You may also be better served by doing another overnight in the lab to see if your pressure needs to be adjusted since it sounds like it's been some time since you have been in the lab.

[portiemom]

Thanks folks, yes it has been a long time since I've been in the lab, but that said my numbers have been good right out the gate. Just got so discussed with the sleep docs telling me there was no reason I shouldn't be feeling better. Maybe I need to do a night in the lab.
Pugsey I am very interested to hear about your pulse ox results once you get going with it. My headaches are better since I got the new pillow with the gel core that keeps my neck straighter, if you neck is the culprit, you may want to try it out since Kohls lets you return pillows and some stores don't. I know you like the buckwheat, and I use to also, the neck support is great, but not so much the head unless you manage to get a good ratio of hulls to even out the head with the neck. Although the gel core pillow felt firm at first after the initial 48 hours it takes to adjust to the room temp. I found it easy to create a divot for the mask. Hope your neck issues can be cleared up and your headaches take a hike! Hope your mom is better too!

[GumbyCT]

You do know that just wearing a cpap to bed each nite doesn't mean everything should be good, right?

Monitoring your data so that you keep you leaks down so that your cpap can keep events at bay is what worked for me.

I don't feel like a million dollars, not yet, but that drawing is tonite

lmao

[portiemom]

Yes, I do monitor my Sleepyhead data, with the help of Pugsey I've learned a lot, I have good sleep hygeine, and am aware of my pain issues do to some spine conditions. My on paper numbers are great, almost always under 2 AHI's, but with CA's not in clusters but for the most part my fragmented sleep patterns keep me in a foggy state way to often. When my AHI stays under 1 and no centrals are shown I can tell I've gotten some relief and feel better rested, wake with some energy, at least enough to go to work. I've been 100 percent cpap compliant for almost 7 years. My mask leak is well under the acceptable leak. I gave up on Sleep Docs along time ago.