Is OSA inherited and other questions?

My son had OSA most of his life..but we didnt' know what it was back then...had our ideas..but when we asked physicians they didn't know what to do about it. NO one told us or knew about CPap machines or masks.

When he was 21 it got so bad we sent him to the ER room many times at local hospital and they just sent him home with antibiotics.
His weight doubled in one yr and we awoke to find him dead . He was 22. I was just diagnosed with it almost a yr ago. Mine is mild..but am scared to death to fall asleep w/ out my machine now. Mine is only set on 6. I truly believe it is an inherited problem.

Papdaddy,

You were right. On a pressure of 10 my AHI rose to 40.8. Since I was awake a lot of that 7.9 hours, I can only guess what my real score would be. I took my card to my DME today and she could only print out a compliance report. When I told her that she could do more than that with her Encore Pro 1.8.49, and I wanted to see the daily charts, she said that the card was now erased and there was no data available except compliance. I had a new RemStar M Auto delivered today, so that should show me what pressure I need, right? I've been on CPAP a month now and never gotten below 20 AHI.

shylakay
that is such a hearbreaking story
i am so sorry for your loss

sharon

The Remstar Auto is a great machine. It should be a great help to zero in on the pressure you actually need. With a few tweaks with the pressure range you should receive much better therapy. You will just have to experiment with different masks or ways of strapping them. I wish you good luck with your new machine. I believe it will help a great deal.


Rich

OutaSync,

Yes, if you got 40.8 AHI over 7.9 therapy hours but you slept only 6 hours (let's say), then your actual AHI was closer to 40.8 X 7.9 / 6 (that's 40.8 times 7.9 divided by 6) = 53.7.

I have also just started therapy on the same machine and similar mask. The best I've done for AHI is about 10 on a given night. I always adjust for actual sleep hours as above. Trouble is, without Encore software, you can get only average data over the past 7 days. So, if you've used your machine only two days, then the AHI is the average over two days. But if you've used your machine for 7 days or more then the AHI is averaged over the previous 7 days. It's mathematically possible to retrieve the daily info (approximately) from the average numbers. You have to keep a daily record of each days averages in order to do this. I could explain how to do this if you're interested.

dand

Shylakay,

That is so sad. My grandsson is now 9. I'm going to keep a close eye on him. My grandmother died of a stroke and my mother, who is 84, snores like a freight train, but is too old and stubborn to change her way of life. Except for the nights that I have been able to take Ambien, I have NEVER had a good night's sleep and it took until I was 52 to get a doctor to send me to a sleep lab. I wonder how much damage has already been done to my heart? I always knew that I had a small throat, but since I have never been overweight, so I don't think it ever occurred to my doctors to think about OSA.

Yes.. I would keep a watch and see. My son I have now is 15 and when he was younger just had his adnoids out. The dr didn't see a need for tonsils to be removed. He does not snore much at all..unless he has a cold or something. I also have a small throat and cannot swallow pills , I crush everything I take for pills even the smallest one now. I used to beat myself up over it and wonder why in the world couldn't I swallow pills just like all the rest of the people out there.. then one day I tried to swallow a round coated hard pill. It got stuck.. It took my son ( the one that died) doing the heimlich on me ~ 3 ~ times before the pill finally just went down.. did not come flying out like we thought it would. He saved my life that day. I wish I could have done something to save his. I now get an EGD done annually and most times it is ok and others I have to have my throat stretched a little. A quick echo cardiogram could tell if you have any damage to your heart or not.. they are quick and painless.. like an ultrasound but on your heart. I had to have one done as I take Pletal and one of the side effects is congestive heart failure. So far all are good.. (( looking for wood to knock on )) ...........

My son had just gotten married in my living room 1 month to the day..when he died. He had an 18 month old baby girl who is now 12. On the way home from the funeral was Mothers Day.. was hardest time of my life. I was lucky to have him... he could have been taken from me a lot sooner than he was.