Stopping CPAP...?

Hey all,
I've been on CPAP for maybe 10-ish years now and during that that have lost weight and such, so decided I would ask about doing another study.

I did study, but it was a home sleep study, which I'm told aren't particularly accurate. On top of that, the night when I did the sleep study, we had severe weather come through, so on top of not sleeping well in general, we had five (5!) Tornado warnings with a weather radio going off while I was doing that.

Anyway, long story short, the report came back and apparently indicated that I don't meet whatever threshold they are looking for in order for insurance to pay for a new machine. I don't recall what number they were looking for, but the report says pAHI = 1.6. Now I do have OSCAR data available I can post (although I don't really know anything interpreting it), but I was wondering if there's much information about other people who have come off of CPAP. Because let me tell you, the nights before the sleep study when I did not use it, I felt awful. So I'm wondering if the study was not valid, or if you were to quit CPAP, it would take days to start sleeping good again. I'm very interested in feedback in this because my CPAP machine is trying to die on me, and insurance won't pay for another one, so I'm thinking through my options. Thanks for the help!

Here's OSCAR data that I pulled back in November for a single day. Let me know if I need to provide something different:

Did your home sleep study measure if you were asleep or not?
Probably didn't and with what happened you didn't sleep much and if that's the case the home study probably isn't all that accurate.

All your Nov report tells us is that while on the cpap machine your therapy was doing a great job.
It doesn't tell us what it prevented.

You need a repeat sleep study and you need to get good solid sleep for it to be accurate.

This is what came in on the study report. It says t hours and 25 minutes of sleep. There's no way that is accurate based on what happened that night, which makes me suspect of everything on there:

If you didn't have EEG leads stuck to your face and head then the device just guesstimated the sleep status.

I wouldn't trust these results without valid sleep status determination.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 18, 2025 3:16 pm

If you didn't have EEG leads stuck to your face and head then the device just guesstimated the sleep status.

I wouldn't trust these results without valid sleep status determination.

I just had the watch thing with the connected finger sensor. That was it.

So now, my insurance won't replace my machine because this study (apparently) seems to think I don't need one, but 1) I feel awful when I sleep without the machine and 2) My machine is dying.

I'm guessing this should lead to a discussion with insurance? Would it be worth it for me to try to pick up a replacement machine on my own if I can get one cheap? I have a friend that has an extra that is unused and nearly new.

I take it that you did without cpap for X number of nights prior to the home sleep study....Is this correct?

The fact that you felt horrible without cpap makes me really question the results since you know you didn't sleep well that night because of all the storms and stuff.

It's a drawback to home studies like the WatchPat when the results are essentially negative...was it negative because not much happened or not much sleep???? Kinda important to know the answer to that question.

You know if you said you felt great even without cpap then I might tend to believe the sleep study but you didn't do well on the non cpap nights which probably tells us a great deal.

Unfortunately now your insurance thinks you don't have OSA anymore and not only will they deny a new machine now...they will also deny coverage for any masks.

Always good to have a spare machine (I have 2 spares) handy even if insurance still pays for stuff.
So if you can get one now on your own for cheap....do it now. You have no idea how long your ailing machine will last.

In the meantime you need to alert everyone (including insurance company) the problems you had making the home study results questionable.
You need another sleep study.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 18, 2025 5:03 pm

I take it that you did without cpap for X number of nights prior to the home sleep study....Is this correct?

Yes, I think it was 4 nights before or something like that.

You mentioned having a spare machine. I have an Airsense 10 right now. If I had access to an 11, would that be a decent replacement? I take it I would just copy the settings that are on the 10?

Also my 10 has a cellular modem, so I guess I may loose that capability if I'm doing it outside of insurance, but could still put an SD card in it for recording?

Clizby wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 18, 2025 9:39 pm

I have an Airsense 10 right now. If I had access to an 11, would that be a decent replacement? I take it I would just copy the settings that are on the 10?

Yes, one of my spare machines is the AirSense 11 AutoSet. I got this machine last month and I am using it right now.
My other machines are the AirCurve 10 VAuto and while the settings available aren't exactly identical they are close enough for me to make it work. Going from an AirSense 10 AutoSet to an AirSense 11 AutoSet is fairly simple.

Clizby wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 18, 2025 9:39 pm

Also my 10 has a cellular modem, so I guess I may loose that capability if I'm doing it outside of insurance, but could still put an SD card in it for recording?

Yes, You can use a SD card and OSCAR software to monitor your data beyond what is available on the LCD screen.
My insurance hasn't paid for anything for me since 2018 but that's because the DME pissed me off and wouldn't get me the mask I wanted so I just said "screw 'em".

Similar thing happened to me.

Sleep lab tests showed moderate sleep apnea; I get a machine.

7 years later, it's time for a new machine but in order to get insurance to pay for it, I need a new sleep study. I get a choice of an at home or the sleep lab.

Duh, at home, right?

Results of the at home, I do not have sleep apnea. WTH?

After a couple of consults with my sleep doc, and him having to make some calls, I get a new insurance sponsored study, in the lab this time. This study finds that I do indeed STILL have sleep apnea but most of the issues come when I'm sleeping on my back. The at home test was oblivious to this.

I get a new machine with insurance paying for most of it.

Then comes FoamGate...