Grateful

[prion]

I self diagnosed and treated. Quite successfully. Am I bragging? Yes. I suffered pretty bad symptoms for many years and
finally connected all the dots. I see many people here that have full on insurance and getting a real sleep study, being
angry and resentful getting a diagnosis, then being very treatment resistant despite the fact they are getting everything
on insurance. Some even seem to stop trying after a week. I had to figure every step out on my own (well, with lotsa help here),
AND pay for it all out of pocket AND spend hours learning about the condition. I went from 48 AHI down to under 1.0. Even
had a 0.0 one night, but have never duplicated so maybe it was a glitch.
So anyway what I'm saying is that I never sleep without my gear. I'm REALLY glad I get to sleep with my gear. Is it a PITA sometimes?
Yes it is, however I no longer have that overwhelming need to rip it off in the middle of the night, ;>). It is in my head like putting
all my gear on before a motorcycle trip.
Anyway I'm HAPPY to put my hose on now. Grateful I get to. Seeing night after night of 0.4 , 0.7, even a bad 1.7 is fine with me.
I had no idea how damaging it was living without it. Other than falling asleep at the wheel I didn't get it for a long time.
Don't be angry you have to be a hose head, be grateful you are able to swing it.

[Bill44133]

Its good to read that you got yourself taken care of. I hope you are feeling better rested.. and have speedy recovery from the years of not being treated. Playing catchup is tough, but hopefully yours is restful.

I wish you well!

[Joe_0206]

It's wonderful you are able to diagnose yourself. Sometimes not having a script from an MD can limit where you can buy, but it's great that found something that works.

For your self diagnosis, were you waking gasping for air? Did you have a partner say your were snoring? What got you thinking it was OSA?

Joe

[Goofproof]

I see you have discoverer a truth here, by doing it all on your own, you are moreinvested in making it work for you, instead of throwing a rant or pity party. I like your attitude, may you continue to be successful. No doubt you will be, attitude is 95% of success in most things. JIM

[Sheriff Buford]

Welcome to the 'world of the pappers'! You'll also find great comfort that Obama will take care of you.....

[deerslayer]

I self diagnosed and treated. Quite successfully. Am I bragging? Yes. I suffered pretty bad symptoms for many years and
finally connected all the dots. I see many people here that have full on insurance and getting a real sleep study, being
angry and resentful getting a diagnosis, then being very treatment resistant despite the fact they are getting everything
on insurance. Some even seem to stop trying after a week. I had to figure every step out on my own (well, with lotsa help here),
AND pay for it all out of pocket AND spend hours learning about the condition. I went from 48 AHI down to under 1.0. Even
had a 0.0 one night, but have never duplicated so maybe it was a glitch.
So anyway what I'm saying is that I never sleep without my gear. I'm REALLY glad I get to sleep with my gear. Is it a PITA sometimes?
Yes it is, however I no longer have that overwhelming need to rip it off in the middle of the night, ;>). It is in my head like putting
all my gear on before a motorcycle trip.
Anyway I'm HAPPY to put my hose on now. Grateful I get to. Seeing night after night of 0.4 , 0.7, even a bad 1.7 is fine with me.
I had no idea how damaging it was living without it. Other than falling asleep at the wheel I didn't get it for a long time.
Don't be angry you have to be a hose head, be grateful you are able to swing it.

Couldn't have said it any better
ROCK ON BROTHER !
tim

[prion]

It's wonderful you are able to diagnose yourself. Sometimes not having a script from an MD can limit where you can buy, but it's great that found something that works.

For your self diagnosis, were you waking gasping for air? Did you have a partner say your were snoring? What got you thinking it was OSA?

Joe

Joe, My wife told me many years ago that I snored pretty bad with the occasional gasping for air. She was able to "adjust" me subtly into positions
to minimize or stop the snoring. At the time the only other symptom I had was my pull toward daytime napping. As time went by that progressed
into falling asleep at the wheel being tired a lot of the time. I had high blood pressure all along, was a bit overweight etc. I attributed all my vague
not ever feeling great to aging. It crossed my mind on occasion that something might be wrong with me but got blood work a general check up and nothing
was wrong. Exercise more and eat better was the prescription. More time passed. I read a couple articles about sleep apnea. More time passed.
I was an IT/Sysadmin/equipment repair guy for a group of 15-17 doctors for 25 years. One day I was setting up a pulse oximeter program on one of the
doctors office computers. We were talking and my snoring came up. We talked more and he said it was likely that I had sleep apnea and that I could take
the pulseox home to wear for the night. I brought it back. He was alarmed and told me to do again the next night. After seeing that one and how I was
desaturating all night long he told me I definitely had a problem. At that point I still had insurance so he made me an appliance for snoring. That improved
things and it did lessen my snoring but still didn't give me much help on the O2. In the mean time after 40 years the docs decided to dissolve the business
and go their own ways. After 20 years having insurance and not really using it, I need an expensive sleep study and no way to pay for it. So after studying
on line for a time, I purchased my CPAP device and my own pulseox. I learned here how to get into the clinician settings and started slowly adjusting the
pressure until I got the obstructives to stop. I still had quite a few centrals. Then I backed off the pressure a little at a time until the obstructives returned
then bumped up until they stopped again. The centrals remained until I read here that lessening the exhale relief a bit helped that. It worked. I went from
48AHI with lots of obstructives and centrals to under 1.0 most nights consisting of only a few centrals. Once in a while if I get a mask leak I'll get a couple
short obstructives. If I take opiate painkillers too close to bedtime I'll get a flurry of centrals. Other than that I'm always below 1.0 AHI. I've lost 48 lbs
have totally normal blood pressure. My resting heart rate went from 98bpm to 45-50bpm. I NEVER fall asleep driving anymore and cannot take a daytime
nap even if I want to. So I'd say I have my apnea managed well now.
I went through more than several masks, that was the most frustrating part of the experiment. I kept coming back to the Mirage Quattro. Now I don't know
if masks actually get "broken in", but that mask improved over time and now it's quite tolerable and mostly leak free if I sleep in the proper positions.
CPAP wasn't a panacea for all that ailed me but it improved my life quite a bit. I think the whole experiment cost me under 1200.00 well worth it.

[Joe_0206]

Amazing story. Thanks for sharing. It can be an inspiration for a lot of us. And keep us updated on your progress.

[chunkyfrog]

I believe that every time someone self-diagnoses and then self-treats their own apnea,
a DME gets aerophagia--for no apparent reason.