Going to the Sleep Doctor With my Mom Tomorrow

I've long suspected my mom has sleep apnea. She's always tired, sleeps better in a recliner than in bed, snores, and wakes up constantly throughout the night, never feeling well rested come morning. My mom has tons of anxiety disorders, and was very difficult to convince to get a sleep study or see a doctor regarding this. When I bought my bipap, I gave her my Autoset for Her, and tried to get her to use it for a bit. She never could use it for more than an hour or two, mainly because I didn't have a mask that fit her properly (her face is much smaller than mine). What I did see during the times she used it was a lot of events (the full range- centrals, obstructives, hypopneas), and the pressure maxing out quickly. I went to her primary doctor with her, and we discussed these things. The primary care NP clearly didn't know what she was talking about, but ordered a home sleep study. The clinic we got the home sleep study through recommended an appointment with one of the sleep doctors there to follow up. Tomorrow we go. I have no idea on any of the results yet. She's pretty dead set against a lab sleep study. This should be interesting.

How old is your mother?
How stubborn?
"You can lead a horse to water . . .
---With a mule, you may not even get that far.

chunkyfrog wrote:How old is your mother?
How stubborn?
"You can lead a horse to water . . .
---With a mule, you may not even get that far.

Mid 50's. Stubborn isn't really the issue- just anxious.

I basically forced my husband to go to the sleep doctor because his snoring and tossing and turning were affecting my sleep; I have a policy of only really pressing him to do the things that are causing problems for me. The rest is his to suffer through if he wants to. He was convinced that the sleep doctor was a sham who was just going to sell him equipment he didn't need, and his mind wasn't exactly put at ease when the doctor said that if the home sleep test showed only mild apnea that he wasn't going to believe it and was going to send him for the full lab study - that was taken as proof that the main point here was selling services. As we walked up to the door for his followup appointment he was going on about how no matter what they said he was going to take the prescription and think about it, do his own research and then maybe buy a machine online where it would be less expensive.

Somehow, seeing the data off of the home test recorder changed his mind. I don't know how it happened - he is as stubborn as they come, and once he stakes out a position it's nearly impossible to get him to change his mind. But somehow, he went right along with the whole process of getting the machine without a word of complaint. I'm telling you, it's a friggin' miracle.

We can hope that the data will be similarly compelling for your mother.

Consider telling your mother that sleep apnea and snoring can have harmful effects on the brain when allowed to continue.
Lots of us as we get older start to worry about memory loss now or in the future.

Mid fifties; definitely worth the effort.
You want to make sure the doctor and the lab are on board with respectfully
addressing her anxiety disorders.
If she has trouble with sleeping in a lab, this might be a good use of an in home study.

She had the home sleep study already. I'm sure the doctor will be receptive to her titrating at home with an auto device if it's just OSA. Based on the (limited) data I saw, though, I'm afraid it may be something more like complex apnea.

Everyone's different, so my story may not shed much light.
I knew for years that I had apnea. My wife told me all about my snorting and gasping. But I resisted seeing a doctor for 2 or 3 reasons, foremost among which was that I didn't know how deadly untreated OSA is. In my life, then, untreated OSA seemed no big deal (for me!) I slept like a baby at the drop of a hat day or night, so what's the problem? My snoring didn't bother ME....

Another reason was that there was no way in hell I could picture myself strapping in to a hose and face mask to go to bed. If I refuse the treatment out of hand, why bother getting the diagnosis?

I ended up seeing a sleep specialist by accident in the large medical practice I visited for other reasons: the staff screwed up the passing out of the patients' charts to the docs on duty! Nice guy had no choice but to speak to me for 10 or 15 minutes while the admins ran around trying to put things right for all the docs and patients. He talked me into a 2-night sleep study by pointing out that my insurance would cover it, and I didn't HAVE to accept treatment no matter what the results.

Because I can sleep through anything, I was one of those (rare?) patients who had NO trouble sleeping in a strange bed & room while hooked up to all those wires and electrodes!

The real point of the story is that the second night - the titration - made everything else ancient history. I woke up the next morning feeling better than I'd felt in a decade or more. I floated out of the lab in a near-ecstatic state and then gave the Doc and the DME hell for making me wait days - DAYS! - for a CPAP machine. It was like putting eyeglasses on someone who'd not known how blind they were without.

Good luck to your mom!

Thatgirl wrote:She had the home sleep study already. I'm sure the doctor will be receptive to her titrating at home with an auto device if it's just OSA. Based on the (limited) data I saw, though, I'm afraid it may be something more like complex apnea.

Hope all goes well. Good thoughts sent your way...

dvejr wrote:It was like putting eyeglasses on someone who'd not known how blind they were without.

A good example. You learn to live with so many things and they become your normal until you can see otherwise. I wore glasses for a short time as a child and then didn't for many years. Probably a financial thing. But in my early 20's I got glasses and remember driving down the road and I could see individual leaves in the trees. I was amazed I never knew I was missing so much definition of things. That's how it is with CPAP sometimes you never know you are missing something until you find it again.

Great story, Dave! Too funny how you basically stumbled upon a diagnosis and treatment.

Thatgirl wrote:She had the home sleep study already. I'm sure the doctor will be receptive to her titrating at home with an auto device if it's just OSA. Based on the (limited) data I saw, though, I'm afraid it may be something more like complex apnea.

Honey, it's hard to lead us older, set in our ways folks in a new direction. Even if it may save our lives, or at the very least improve the quality of our lives in an awesome way. I'm 52 and I've been at this now for four months. It has gone in fits and starts. But with some excellent advice here, I am finally getting my events down to a level that makes me feel great through the day. Hopefully your mom will get a couple of great nights and feel so much better that she gets excited about the treatment and energized and curious about her therapy. Hopefully she wont have a bad experience or two and give up. That is what we deal with here. If the patient is committed to getting better, there are great resources here. If they aren't, there is not much that can be done. I hope your Mom fits into the former group.

I got my first glasses at 10--I was in awe for days!
(Trees have LEAVES---I saw a windmill on the hill a mile away---I could see stars in the night sky.)
The same way with cpap! I was 62. And I could finally sleep for hours without nightmares or a headache!
Some of us had been so bad off, the improvement was like a light turning on in a closet--and it's the grand ballroom!
Compliance is no problem with us. Others are not as fortunate. They need to work at it.

Home sleep study showed mild sleep apnea- AHI of 7. Doctor said it was likely underestimated based on desat to 77% and near constant snoring, along with her symptoms. Sent a script for an APAP over to the DME I use and like, with instructions to adjust the pressure after two weeks. We follow up in 3 months.

Thatgirl wrote:Home sleep study showed mild sleep apnea- AHI of 7. Doctor said it was likely underestimated based on desat to 77% and near constant snoring, along with her symptoms. Sent a script for an APAP over to the DME I use and like, with instructions to adjust the pressure after two weeks. We follow up in 3 months.

Good deal. I hope you and your Mom feel good about getting this part done. Hopefully all will be well and rested soon.