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ectx wrote:From reading through this thread it seems that a lot of you had problems with physicians who tried everything else before looking at OSA or just didn't think of it as an option. Is this actually common? My doctor immediately sent me to an ENT who specialized in OSA and sleep disorders to have me tested. This was after a physical on my first consultation. He is fairly young and on top of things, but I still didn't expect him to move so quickly.

You are very, very, very, very, VERY lucky to have had such a knowledgeable doctor, ectx. Good for him!! And good for you for following up on getting tested and treated.

TenmaNeko wrote:Anyone glad they were diagnosed?

Yup. I'm very, very, very, very, VERY glad to have diagnosed myself and put myself on treatment. Better late than never. No doctor involved, other than a cooperative old retired family doc who was willing to write an Rx when I called him up out of the blue and asked him to write it.
viewtopic.php?p=5977#5977
http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?p=7956

I was thrilled to wake up feeling like a "morning" person for the first time ever in my life, after the first night I tried "CPAP."

Yes. it explained allot.

After being very very sick (9 months of antibiotics straight at a time) for 15 years and being told to quit the booze (I do not drink), stop eating bonbons (I wasn't), and move my buns (I was too unbelievably tired, that is what my medical complaint was, beyond never ending bronchitis) a doctor said "May be it is sleep apnea" and ordered sleep test. 13 months later with STILL "no sleep test appointment available" things were starting to get legal...they sent me out of the Kaiser system for a sleep test. Very severe apnea! Then I began the fight (3 weeks) to get a machine. GLAD TO BE DIAGNOSED??? YOU BET! Saved my life. Enjoy cpap?... well 'Fred on my head in bed is better than dead'. Have just ordered, on my penny, new APAP and will be learning more about my sleep data after 9 years on cpap. I laugh, I play with grandchild, I can go places and do things again, I exercise, I LIVE!!!!
Will change my equipment profile when APAP arrives.
Delighted to have found this group!
You all are impressively well informed, charmingly funny, and wonderfully supportive!

Yes I am... My PCP and I were struggling with high blood pressure that would not responded to treatment. After being on a CPAP for only two weeks, my blood pressure is dropping... Which makes me very happy given the family history with stroke! Given my sister and dad had OSA, it make me wonder if my dad's mom had OSA.

For the person that asked about getting up so often to pee at night:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl ... tid=475196

It's because of the increase in this particular peptide in the blood of folks with sleep apnea.....

silver

Glad beyond belief. My husband says I was "slipping away." There were so many things I could no longer do. I am an atypical patient and my extreme extreme extreme fatigue - well, I viewed it as normal. Isn't everybody tired? (Just ask them. They'll tell you they are!) And I have small kids and etc. That's just how life is, isn't it? When you are crying at your kids' school, because you went to pick them up after work and you don't know whether you can make it for the one-block trip home?

My whole, entire life has been turned around by my diagnosis and successful treatment. I probably suffered for up to a decade, getting progressively worse as the years went by, before diagnosis. At some level, I had been preparing to die. Now, I am fully engaged in life again!

I had to struggle to contain that I was happy to finally get the diagnosis. Sure I went through a cycle before getting to acceptance between the sleep study and getting the results from the doctor. But, part of that was from being on here...and learning just how much my symptoms and complaints lined up with this.

Though some days (like now) its hard to be happy with my situation...though overall, I'm better now than before CPAP. I just wish it would all be better.

The Dreamer.

Glad to be treating it: yes.
I pretty much recognized my symptoms and seeked out treatment on my own.
How did I feel seeking help: Ashamed at first. Really. I felt bad that i was having issues with Apnea. It was sort of a moment of realization that there is a certain level of potential mortality involved. Fortune has it that I caught my symptoms when they were mild. That part makes me feel thankful. Those feelings of shame ended as soon as I woke up the first morning after wearing the mask.

I am glad that I was able to seek out and to push for the right treatment. This helped me acclimate to the CPAP device with 100% compliance (now 7 months).

Everyone has said it well. I too was relieved to find I wasn't just lazy and crazy. (Well, the jury may still be out on that! ) But seriously, having an identifiable and treatable cause for my incapacitating mental and physical decline gave me hope for a life beyond just day by day survival. Glad to be diagnosed? Oh yeah!
Kathy

Being diagnosed changed my life and I can see many on here feel the same.I had emergency surgery for an accident and my doctor noticed i quit breating on the table for almost 2 minutes and thought i was going to code.Everyone in the operating room came out to recovery at different times and told me they were worried about the way i just quit breating.My doctor recommended a sleep study and the rest is history.This group of people on this forum i can't say enough kind words of the way you all offer help,encouragement,support and truely care for the well being of each other.I read this forum every day and have only been on the Apap for about 310 nights and 2300 hours of sleep but i can say without a doubt,being diagnosed has been one of the best things to happen as i have now added i sure many years and more health to my life being attached to this wonderful machine.My wife was diagnosed 6 months ago and was happy i knew how to steer her toward careful decisions and quailty equipment from the guidance of people who have helped me here on this forum. Thank you all !

I was glad because it acted as a kick in the pants to lose the 40 pounds my doctor told me to lose, and I hope to lose this mask and machine in August, as a result of losing 44 pounds. And unlike most others, it wasnt a thyroid problem

I'm very happy I found out. I feel so much better. I have more energy. I just wish I found out sooner...not at 43 years. I think I've had this problem for decades.

silver123 wrote:For the person that asked about getting up so often to pee at night:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl ... tid=475196

It's because of the increase in this particular peptide in the blood of folks with sleep apnea.....

silver

This is it. The ANP increase process was and still is considered to be mainly inducted by frequent micro awakenings. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the role of oxygen deprivation and verify the hypothesis that it could be the real major factor in inducing the increase in atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). The answer is clearly no. It looks like that micro awakenings are still the key explicative factor to be retained.

I like the question and the great responses. I was happy with the dx, and thrilled with the treatment.

Like most here, I was feeling so cruddy (mentally moribund while oddly nervous at the same time) that I welcomed the diagnosis.

I felt like a kid at Christmas by the time I got my machine. I expected great things, and got them from the xPAP. It even treated things I didn't know were related to OSA or that I didn't know that I had.

I cried after my first sleep study. I didn't think I had slept long enough for them to get a valid study, and I thought I would never get a diagnosis. It was a bad night. The tech felt bad for me, and told me that I had slept long enough. Then, not knowing how I would react, she cautiously told me that I would very likely be back for a titration study. I could tell she was relieved when I smiled with relief. Heck yeah, I was happy! Like others have said, it took a long time to get to this point with many failures along the way.