Newbie

[SimLin]

Hi There,

I am newly diagnosed with sleep apnea, I have 90 apneas per hour which they say is severe. I have applied to get a CPAP machine.
But before that the doctor said it was mild and did not give me the option to get a CPAP, he referred me to a dentist to get a mandibular device, to move my Jaw forward, this was very costly and when I asked the dentist when I would notice results he said only when I stop using it will I notice any difference. Its now been 5 weeks with no improvement, I havent used it for 2 nights now and theres is also no difference. If they had offered me the CPAP it would of been covered by medical aid straight away.

I have now gone for a second opinion where they say the mandibular device only works for mild sleep apnea and should of never been considered for me, yet I have now spent a large sum of money on it already and honestly I feel quite ripped off. Why did they give me something for mild sleep apnea, when I have severe sleep apnea. I really wish I had known more and asked for the CPAP but I trusted my doctor.

Has anyone else had the same experience?

[Julie]

Your MD is either ignorant or has a stake in the dentist's practice. Those things may work for some people some of the time, but have been known to cause or exacerbate TMJ and not necessarily help OSA, especially a severe case. You need to find a new MD fast (or go to your old one and dictate to him exactly what machine and model (plus same for mask) you want on the script, or at least that it should read "machine of patient's choice", so you can get a proper one asap. We can help you with which to get and what to do once you have it. Also important to get the full (not 'summary') report of your sleep study - your right by law - so you can see what they said and what pressure settings for machine were recommended. Good luck with it all!

[SimLin]

To add to my explanation,

I am a 27 year old female and not overweight, so I am very far from the stereotypicalsleep apnea patient. I think i have been misdiagnosed with this since the age of 14, when I had the onset of depression, ever since I have been on anti-depressant and sleeping pills which have never been effective, until one psychiatrist suggested recently that I go to a sleep clinic and this is where they advised me to get the mandibular device.

[SimLin]

Hi Julie,

Thank you Very much for your help,
I have ordered a ResScan, I think it is, I cant wait to get it,

I will ask for the full test results.

[Julie]

Great - and remember a lot of us are not and never have been much overweight (tho' some were as a result of OSA!). That's definitely an old myth. Has it occurred to you that your 'depression' is also a result of it and that if you'd been on Cpap all along you might not have been 'depressed'?

[Pugsy]

I have ordered a ResScan, I think it is, I cant wait to get it,

Welcome to the forum.

ResScan is the software for the ResMed machines...so I assume you meant you ordered a ResMed machine...which model did you order?

[djhall]

I am a 27 year old female and not overweight, so I am very far from the stereotypical sleep apnea patient. I think i have been misdiagnosed with this since the age of 14, when I had the onset of depression, ever since I have been on anti-depressant and sleeping pills which have never been effective, until one psychiatrist suggested recently that I go to a sleep clinic and this is where they advised me to get the mandibular device.

You may well be right. My mom is less than 100lbs and still had to have her nasal turbinates and uvula surgically reduced because they were obstructing her airway. I was also diagnosed around the age of 20 as having chronic mild-depression and placed on anti-depressants. I have been off and on anti-depressants for 20 years, but after discovering I had severe OSA like you and beginning effective BiPAP treatment I now see as much improvement in those symptoms as I ever did with the anti-depressants. I seriously wonder now if I ever had chronic depression or if it was just chronic sleep deprivation from a genetic disposition for severe OSA.

[SimLin]

I have ordered a ResScan, I think it is, I cant wait to get it,

Welcome to the forum.

ResScan is the software for the ResMed machines...so I assume you meant you ordered a ResMed machine...which model did you order?

Unfortunately I dont know the model, I saw it, the lady said its one of the best on the market, it has a humidifier attached to it.

Thank you for the welcome

[SimLin]

Great - and remember a lot of us are not and never have been much overweight (tho' some were as a result of OSA!). That's definitely an old myth. Has it occurred to you that your 'depression' is also a result of it and that if you'd been on Cpap all along you might not have been 'depressed'?

I am considering, and actually praying the sleep apnea is a cause of the depression, its been something I have been searching for a cure for all my life, apparently the sleep apnea also causes the meds to be ineffective, which makes sense, I have tried many different ones and they all didnt yield good results.

[SimLin]

I am a 27 year old female and not overweight, so I am very far from the stereotypical sleep apnea patient. I think i have been misdiagnosed with this since the age of 14, when I had the onset of depression, ever since I have been on anti-depressant and sleeping pills which have never been effective, until one psychiatrist suggested recently that I go to a sleep clinic and this is where they advised me to get the mandibular device.

You may well be right. My mom is less than 100lbs and still had to have her nasal turbinates and uvula surgically reduced because they were obstructing her airway. I was also diagnosed around the age of 20 as having chronic mild-depression and placed on anti-depressants. I have been off and on anti-depressants for 20 years, but after discovering I had severe OSA like you and beginning effective BiPAP treatment I now see as much improvement in those symptoms as I ever did with the anti-depressants. I seriously wonder now if I ever had chronic depression or if it was just chronic sleep deprivation from a genetic disposition for severe OSA.

I did read about it being genetic. I feel after this experience some of my faith in doctors has waned, I have really tried alot of psychiatrists since 14, and they all just switched me round on antidepressants, every day I came home from school, I just went straight to bed, later on I suffered insomnia, went on sleeping pills, never had any energy, thats always been the main complaint. So the signs of the sleep patterns were always my concern and I dont know why the doctors never looked into it more, seeing it can cause depression, shouldn't they check for sleep apnea in depressed people. The other thing I wonder is when you have been on anti-depressants for so many years do you get a dependancy on it/addicted, did going on them for a mis-diagnose of depression instead of sleep apnea actually cause more damage than good in the end?

[SimLin]

The other thing I wanted to ask, I heard that sleep tablets makes your apnea count worse per hour, is this true? When I did my polysomnogram the doctor said I should take my sleeping pills as usual but doesn't this give it an inaccurate reading? What is the average apneas per hour? the second opinion I got kept saying I must be confused and that I must have 19 insteas of 90, is 90 really high?

[space45]

I to have sever apnea and I also was offered antidepressant pills to deal with the problems I was having, I am glad I said no to the pills but did not get the PAP machine till about a decade or so later. the docs are pill pushers now days, the idea of finding the root problem and starting with the simple things first are things of the past. the first and only thing a doc thinks of is a pill, if a pill will not fix it, a doc now days is lost, but will still offer you the pill, just in case you may take it. I call the antidepressant pills bug pills as the ones that take them seem to go buggy. not say you did go buggy but some have.

the only reason I did get a PAP was I asked my doc about snoring and my wife complaining, so he sent me to a sleep shop to get tested. so I guess my wifes complaining was what got me out of my mess I was in, wow I sure hope my wife does not read this or I will never hear the end of it....lol

hope things work out well for you

[SimLin]

I have ordered a ResScan, I think it is, I cant wait to get it,

Welcome to the forum.

ResScan is the software for the ResMed machines...so I assume you meant you ordered a ResMed machine...which model did you order?

Unfortunately I dont know the model, I saw it, the lady said its one of the best on the market, it has a humidifier attached to it.

Thank you for the welcome

Just googled the ResMed and recognised the S9, thats what I ordered, is it a good choice?

[SimLin]

I to have sever apnea and I also was offered antidepressant pills to deal with the problems I was having, I am glad I said no to the pills but did not get the PAP machine till about a decade or so later. the docs are pill pushers now days, the idea of finding the root problem and starting with the simple things first are things of the past. the first and only thing a doc thinks of is a pill, if a pill will not fix it, a doc now days is lost, but will still offer you the pill, just in case you may take it. I call the antidepressant pills bug pills as the ones that take them seem to go buggy. not say you did go buggy but some have.

the only reason I did get a PAP was I asked my doc about snoring and my wife complaining, so he sent me to a sleep shop to get tested. so I guess my wifes complaining was what got me out of my mess I was in, wow I sure hope my wife does not read this or I will never hear the end of it....lol

hope things work out well for you

I completely agree with you, doctors these days do just use pills for any thing. Most doctors only consult for 10minutes these days, I think I got into the wrong business.
Although science has evolved so much I think the human body is still quite a mystery and thats why they give pills for everything. Thank goodness for CPAPs tho, I cant wait to get mine
Thank you

[space45]

the S9 come in several models, the most common one around here seems to be the APAP auto, I got the VPAP auto. here is a link to their wed site

http://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/pr ... vices.html

as you can see they all look alike