My husband has sleep apnea, but won't get help. HELP!

My husband does not sleep well at night. Sleep deprivation is starting to affect all aspects of his life. He knows he stops breathing at times, but will not persue getting a CPAP because of the cost of the sleep study that is required before the Dr. will give him a diagnosis and prescription for his sleep apnea. We only have catastropic health insurance, so treating his sleep apnea has been pushed out of our budget--he feels. Is there any way we could just purchase a CPAP without a prescription? If so, what would be a suggested machine and usage?

Thanks
Desparate wife

Seriously, I think you need to weigh the cost of a proper sleep study aginst your husband's risk of heart attack or stroke as a result of the apnea. Many of us express disatisfaction at times with our doctors and DME's but sleep apnea is a serious condition and to just start treating it yourself without any guidance from a doctor would be dangerous in my opinion.

Looks like NightHawkeye was in the same predicament and was able to work it out. Read this thread and maybe you could send him a PM:

viewtopic.php?p=145543#145543

The point is that sleep apnea is a life-threatening condition. Certainly long-term sleep deprivation and nightime oxygen deprivation to the body for many years has been causing all kinds of damage. It's not just about sleep--

Hi cfrank. Of course, a full sleep study is always best (because it can diagnose other sleep issues as well), but in cases where they would be unaffordable no matter how you cut it, I would suggest this product that's made by our host cpap.com:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/slp-sl ... study.html

It's a home diagnosis kit. It's something your husband wears for a night, and you send back to CPAP.com. Once you do that, if he does indeed have apnea (and it sounds like he does), a doctor on staff there will write him an RX, and he will be able to purchase a CPAP (though I'd recommend an APAP since he will be self-titrating) from CPAP.com. This home test kit is $200 - a far cry from the cost of a sleep study.

Hope that helps.

--CG

I was somewhat similar to your husband so my daughter took it upon herself to find an Apap machine online....I had no prescription because I was not going to go through a sleep lab and pay them 2 grand.. She did some research and posted on here for information. She found a like new resmed apap machine with a mirage full face mask for 400 dollars. My wife purchased it and it came before christmas. I have been using it ever since. My AHI was in the 10 range with my initial pressure of 4-10 when I started and now is below five and the AI are below one regularly as I have dialed in the ideal pressure based on the info the machine has provided. I no longer snore and no longer bother my wife at night with the snoring. THere have been issues like the bloating but I am slowly learning to cope with that. THEre is also the issue of getting the right size mask. You can purchase face mask from cpap without a prescritpion. If you want more info on where we found the machine email me. THis place is like a cpap encyclopedia so take advantage of it.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): resmed, mirage, CPAP, AHI, Prescription, APAP

I would go to a auction and get a new Remstar APAP, and get the software and reader, a FF mask and be off and running for under $550. Jim

That's cheap to try to get your life back, but unless he wants help, it probably won't end in success. You have to want your life to be better.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): APAP

It's [Sleep Strip] a home diagnosis kit. It's something your husband wears for a night, and you send back to CPAP.com. Once you do that, if he does indeed have apnea (and it sounds like he does), a doctor on staff there will write him an RX, and he will be able to purchase a CPAP (though I'd recommend an APAP since he will be self-titrating) from CPAP.com. This home test kit is $200 - a far cry from the cost of a sleep study.

That is not the way I read the description of how the Sleep Strip from cpap.com worked. I understood it to be:

1. Patient wears strip one night
2. Patient mails strip back to Dr. Runels
3. Dr. Runels will interpret results of test and contact the patient
4. If test shows sleep apnea, patient travels to Mobile, AL
5. Dr Runels gives patient an exam and prescribes an APAP.

Goofproof wrote:I would go to a auction and get a new Remstar APAP, and get the software and reader, a FF mask and be off and running for under $550. Jim

That's cheap to try to get your life back, but unless he wants help, it probably won't end in success. You have to want your life to be better.

Thats a good way to self titrate, but you won't get a prescription for a machine that way, and if you want to buy a different one, ever, you need a prescription.

Having said that, it is better than doing nothing and having untreated OSA.

CollegeGirl wrote: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/slp-sl ... study.html

The Sleep strip seems like it should be a useful device but you might want to read this before buying one http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... s=16890080

Goofproof wrote:I would go to a auction and get a new Remstar APAP, and get the software and reader, a FF mask and be off and running for under $550. Jim

That's cheap to try to get your life back, but unless he wants help, it probably won't end in success. You have to want your life to be better.

Just a little extra information may be needed here as you consider your options. Neither I nor anyone else on this forum really can tell anyone what they should do, but informed health consumers almost always experience better health.

I believe this article will give a bit of information on WHY Goofproof/Jim thinks the APAP is a worthwhile option:

Click Here for Article on Self-Titrating with an APAP

Whatever your choice, please get some kind of diagnosis followed by appropriate treatment. You may wish to get your husband to watch the following videos:

Click Here for Today Show Segment on Sleep Apnea

Click Here for ResMed Video Explanation of Sleep Apnea

It is my hope that this posting and the links are helpful to you and your husband. Take excellent care of yourselves.

Best wishes,

Karen

Desparate wife,

IF.....your husband only has the generic Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), and you are able to get a machine and mask and get him feeling better, he wouldn't fall into the insurance category that seems to severely hinder people from getting/keeping health/life insurance at reasonable costs (if at all).

On the other hand, a regular sleep study would/should detect things like Central Apneas, Restless Leg Syndrome, Periodic Leg Movement Disorder, oxygen desaturations, etc.

If (and when) you DO get a machine, get one with recording capabilities and then get the software and card reader. I would recommend a REMstar Auto.

Best wishes,

Den

jskinner - I agree that the sleep strip is not the ideal method of diagnosis, but for those who have no other option financially, it's better than nothing (though, after what bearded man wrote, I had to go check it out - and it's looking like not much of an option at all. I started a new thread asking cpap.com to address this). Anyway, if indeed it IS possible to get the diagnosis without making that trip they seem to require (leaving the cost of the diagnosis at $200) I would think that $200 would be worth it.

My reasoning is this: If one purchases a machine at auction, there is NO telling what that machine's history is. There is no knowing whether you're going to get one that will work flawlessly for years, or one that will conk out on you in a week (if that). If you receive one that doesn't work, you have virtually no recourse (other than, depending on what the seller claimed in the ad for the machine, possibly small claims court).

However, if one goes the way of the sleep strip and purchases a machine from cpap.com, one receives, with the machine, the peace of mind that comes from knowing the machine will have all its warranties, and that cpap.com will stand behind that product. To me, that kind of peace of mind (along with knowing I have a legal and valid Rx that I can use anywhere) would be well worth the $200 cost.

(Again, given that one does not actually have to make a trip to Alabama for the Rx. We'll see what cpap.com has to say about this).

CollegeGirl wrote:jskinner - I agree that the sleep strip is not the ideal method of diagnosis, but for those who have no other option financially, it's better than nothing

Agreed.

CollegeGirl wrote:(leaving the cost of the diagnosis at $200) I would think that $200 would be worth it.

In Canada the sleepstrip only costs about $50 CDN. (http://www.sleepstripcanada.ca/) Not sure why its so expensive in the US although I have seen it for about $70 US. I guess the $200 is for the extra service and consultation.

these are the symptoms I have experienced in the at least ten years I suspect till it was diagnosed and the last 15 years on cpap (that I just found out is too low and was just diagnosed with periodic limb movement disorder), so I am essentially suffering the effects of sleep deprivation.

Weigh this against the cost.

1.25 years of severe clinical depression with 15 years of treatment with antidepressant drugs which caused suicidal ideation for nearly every day of the 15 years.

So much suffering and here but for God's grace as came very close to suicide three times. Later found out the SSRI antidepressant drugs were causing the suicidal feelings, ideation, and impulses and exacerbating my depression. Also found out these drugs cause permanent brain damage. If I was in treatment or my treatment worked, I suspect much of this could have been prevented (see book "toxic Psychiatry for more info on dangers of psychiatric drugs)

2. rages and irritability hurting self and others

3. sleep apnea mimics ADD (which I thought I had..just a week ago found this out both from reading and doctor that untreated sleep apnea mimics ADD

4. worry/ panic attacks/ extremely emotional causing much distress and buying me much criticism from others which hurts

5. blood pressure problems

6. metabolic syndrome / blood sugar problems/ earliest stages of diabetes--all linked with untreated/ undertreated sleep apnea. My mom is on dialysis and going rapidly downhill suffering grealy..most of her fellow pattients are there because of diabetes..if he get that he could lose his eyesight, a limb, and mess up his kidneys, etc. Untreated sleep apnea is correlated.

7. obesity and all the problems that causes in social and physical and emotional ways. Sleep technicians told me last week his brother finally got his pressure right and lost 70 lbs doing nothing but sleeping better with its energy/

8. total exhaustion at all times/ never feel refreshed upon awakening...always and I mean always fatigued..

9. severe tooth-grinding (and the dental problems that causes--can loosen teeth etc)

10. Decline in intelligence. Every day without treatment, you are killing brain cells. I had a Mensa IQ and graduated with A 3.9 GPA after 5 1/2 years of college. I seem to have difficulty learning now and my kids tell me I am getting dumber and can't seem to comprehend things anymore. I see a serious decline in my IQ.

11. Severe memory loss...sometimes I go to the movies and 5 minutes later, can't remember anything about the movie or the name of it. 15 years ago, I memorized for one class 100 pages of notes word for word, so this is a big decline

12..I think there is other stuff this has caused. Who knows if these things will reverse even if I could get thing (sleep problems) fixed which in 15 years I have not despite compliance with doctors.

This is priceless....preventing this kind of suffering and problems. To retain one's IQ, memory, emotional stability, to not become diabetic or have a heart attack..is worth the money.

If we cannot spend it on our health or the health of our families, what is more important. Ask him how he will feel if his kids have to deal with his death and the resultant reduction of income and their lifestyle.

Ask him what it would mean to his family to have him happy, not irritable, and how this will help their development and their future kids someday if they have this legacy rather than a grouchy dad always tired. This is a gift to himself and his family that have more benefits than almost anything money could buy.

If he is retaining his intelligence, he can keep providing or maybe have the energy to work a 2nd job for a while. If he loves you, himself, and his kids..hopefully, he will see the real benefits to his life and reaching out to all your lives.

You can help by finding ways to cut costs and sacrifice so you can better afford it. Although it ofgten seems you can't there are always ways to spend less if one is motivated enough or sacrifices. If he sees you are willing to put your money where your mouth is by doing everything possible to get this to happen, he may give up some of his great worry about making ends meet and see the light that this is a good investment more so than some of the things we buy.

I hope he can see this. If he had lived through the suffering I have in the last 25 years..he would see the it is worth it to [prevent this...if I could have prevented this with the cost of a sleep study (and treatment that worked for me), it would have been more than worth it..what if I had killed myself due to the depression and its treatment resulting from sleep deprivation nightly. I was getting almost no rem or stage three or four sleep..maybe he is too. If not for the sleep study, I would have never known I also had periodic limb movement disorder that is also causing sleep deprivation. I hope you can convince him. Good luck!

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cfrank, if your husband himself really wants to get a cpap machine and the ONLY thing holding him back is the cost of a full PSG sleep study, you can find a machine. Preferably a Respironics REMstar Auto with C-flex if he's going to be going the self-diagnosis/self-treatment route:

yahoo auctions (new or used machine)
cpap.com (new)

You might also start asking everyone you know in your city, "Do you know anyone who has been using a CPAP machine for sleep apnea?" I wouldn't be surprised if you find someone who had a friend or relative that stopped using it and has a perfectly good machine just sitting in a closet.

Of course it would be better to get a sleep study. As Goofproof said about going the self-treatment route, "unless he wants help, it probably won't end in success. You have to want your life to be better."

Your husband will need to be determined that he is really going to use CPAP. The info he'd see from a full PSG sleep study might drive home the seriousness of what's happening to his body during sleep and make him realize the importance of sticking with it -- not just casually try a machine you find for him. Snoring is only the tip of the iceberg.