Death Sentence? Mixed Sleep Apnea

Please give me some insight...my mind is going in circles. I convince myself that everything will be ok and then I focus on the Centrals in my study and have to start the whole thought process over again.
I have been told that I have Mixed Apnea after seeing the results of my sleep study. The odd thing is that I had more Centrals than Obstructives. The Dr. says that it is not clear as to whether or not the Centrals are manifiestations of Obstructives. My index on my back was 49 and 13 on my side(only two oxy dips to 90 for a very short time while on my side.). He stated that there was some obvious positional dominance.

Questions...

Does the fact that I have three times as many events on my back than my side give any help in deciding if the Centrals are really Obstructives.

My Sleep doctor is a PA to the Sleep Specialist...should I demand that I get to see the actual sleep doctor?

How often are the Centrals in Mixed Apnea the cause of an underlying brain problem and what added symptoms would there be?



What does Mixed Apnea do to a persons life exectancy?



thanks.

I wanted to add that I am 45 years old and have lost 12 pound since this started. Down to 193lbs. I was only about that much overweight to begin with. I work out regularly - mainly jumping rope and brining my heart up to around 140. I just took my blood pressure and it was 124/72. So I feel great all day...but with this looming thought process in the back of my head about Mixed Sleep Apnea.

Hi Iwondered,

Probably you're worrying unnecessarily about the "centrals" that showed up in your study. Easy for me to say, of course. But sounds like you're actually in good shape and will do fine when you get on cpap treatment.

Here's some reading material that can keep your mind occupied while you wait to talk to the doctor.

Some clickable links to posts about central apnea. Note especially the posts by "christinequilts", who has firsthand experience with central apnea and provides very good information:

Mar 26, 2005 subject: 1 mo. CPAPer/mild apneac with doubts & detailed PSG resu Click "Page 2" of this topic and read christinequilts' 2nd post on Page 2 -- for reassurance regarding central apnea.

Jan 26, 2005 subject: Apneas, Central Apneas and Hypopneas

Apr 26, 2005 subject: Newbie to the CPAP World, Also a few questions...

May 28 2005 subject: Central Sleep Apnea

May 26 2004 subject: Apnea worse with CPAP!?

Feb 04 2004 subject: Resmed VPAP II ST vs Respironics Synchrony ST

Jan 31 2004 subject: Seeing new Doc for Central !

Aug 07 2004 subject: CPAP vs AUTOPAP vs BIPAP?

Jan 21 2005 subject: AutoPAP failed, Bi-Level is worse, Help!!! (a post by christinequilts is next to last one on page 2)

Jan 05 2005 subject: APAP VS. BPAP Question (a post by christinequilts is the last one on page 2)

Sat May 14, 2005 subject: having to noticably catch my breath