Which physician to turn to for help

New here but I have been reading the forum for about a week. I was recently diagnosed with OSA and have have been on a cpap for a week.
The symptom that first sent me my primary care physician related to my mental state. I had spells of "fuzzy head" and impaired memory. I won't elaborate on the 10 months that followed but now I am here.
My primary concern is the loss of mental capacity (sure I'm exhausted all the time and my blood pressure off, numbness and tingling in my feet and hands, easily agitated, can no longer find words, or spell, some visual impairment, shaky hands, easily exhauted ) but I have an impaired ability to learn new information or tasks. Since last September the loss of mental capacity has dramatically eroded my life. If I don't write everything down its as if it never happened.
So this long winded question is who's care am I under? My primary care physician gave me a referral to a neurologist and the nuerologist gave me a referral to a sleep lab and the sleep lab handed my over to a person with that showed up at my door with a CPAP and an 800 number if I had any questions.
Through my work I used to know individuals with brain injury that were able to get occupational therapy that allowed them to continue with their lives and even keep a job. I also read about a treatment using high dosages of B-1 (thiamin) to help stem off some of the brain damage caused by OSD. I have contacted each of these individuals that I have been to during this 10 month journey and each of them points me to the other. Since last September my mental capacity has grown worse by the day. So far I seem to have adjusted fine to the CPAP (but after a week I don't really notice feeling less tired during the day/ I know early) and the physician at the sleep lab said I needed to wait 20 more days before they would read the SD memory card to see how I was doing.
20 days is too long for me to wait for help.
Sorry for the long post. I'm hoping someone who has gone through this could tell me who to turn to if I wanted to look into a treatment with the B-1 and magnesium suppliments or some way of getting occupational therapy that would help me keep my job and family. Or some other way to prop me up until my cpap (god willing) turns around.

Sorry I wrote the abbreviation OSA for obstructed sleep disorder. I think I'm supposed to refer to my apnea as OSD. I have not found a way to edit my posts yet.

unless you post as a registered member, you can not edit your posts

are you in US or what country? if you are in US have you considered using FMLA and/or asking for accommodation under ADA?

if you need a referral to an OT, that probably has to be from your PCP - they should be "managing" your care and all of these referrals. if your PCP isn't doing what they should, maybe it is time for a new one.

it might take months to get better - results are not overnight for all of us - hence, you might consider FMLA if in US or some form of disability coverage if in another country

I wish I had sought out another PCP but that takes months. I have never had a health issue of any kind until now and so the physician referral to referral and medical insurance rules are all new to me. (I have always had an annual physical). Getting an appointment with the nuerologist took 2 months. I worry about what might happen to me duing the time I would loose. But you are right, my primary physician kept sending me to weeks of physical therapy for "positional vertigo" until I requested to see a neurologist.
I unsure about my ability to find a new PCP. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer right now.
Thanks for the clue about registering, I thought I did register but just cannot remember what name or password I used. I tried to find some correpondence from the forum via email but I have had no luck.

I bet you do feel like an underdawg. For starters, what specific machine and mask are you using? If you were to register, there a place to add your equipment. It may be that your machine provides some data in the screen that could be helpful to you. That would be ideal, as you could see if your treatment is effective and possibly spot problems now rather than wait 20 days. Don't be alarmed if you don't feel better right away. Sometimes sleep feels worse until the machine and mask become familiar. And once the body and brain realizes it can safely sleep, it will likely want to get lots of it for a while. That's not you feeling worse. With untreated OSA I ran on adrenaline, forcing myself to keep moving. But once my CPAP treatment was working for me, it was like I yielded because I didn't have to fight any more. Unfortunately there was a time gap between starting treatment and experiencing significant recovery, and once I relaxed my guard I experienced a letdown so overpowering it scared me. But I had not gotten worse, I was experiencing for the first time in years listening to my body and having it require of me what it needed for recovery. This is a time to be kind to yourself. Plenty of sleep (with your machine on of course), minimize your obligations as much as possible for a while, and get proper nutrition. You just may be pleasantly surprised how much enough sleep, good sleep, and keeping your airways open does for your memory and cognition. Time will tell if you need other help. Oh, if you register, your posts will have an edit option.

there is a recent member named underdog - that you?

check your junk mail folder or try to register again - I don't know for sure but if you are already registered with an email address, it will bounce an attempt to use it again and will give you a start on finding out what your name / password are - or of course you can use a "disposable" email address to register again

a lot of insurance demands the PCP do all the referring - not sure your plan - some even require a PCP to write all the scripts for meds I hear - it is time you start reading what your plan does and doesn't cover and start looking for a new PCP if you are interested - that takes time yes, but the time is start is now

some people take many months waiting for appointments to see specialists - some wait months for a sleep lab appointment - some wait months for a machine to come (some even years - was over 4 years from diagnosis to cpap for me - long long story)

you can only move forward and try not to dwell on the past too much - learn from what happened

in the mean time, find your user name or get registered - post what machine, mask, pressure you have etc.

gosh, you might have several things going on there.. with all those symptoms, and not just one cause..

Sorry you are having such a rough time of it, I know you must feel very frustrated and lost.
I do hope you find someone who can be a good mystery solver for you..


I lost my short term memory once, for a year. Well, it took that long for me to get to a doctor, as Im not exactly fond of them.

I couldnt remember anything, it was pretty awful.. The only way I could function was thru email, and I could reread what I just
sent.. I could remember things for about a minute..
REally couldnt talk on the phone except to say uh huh, because I couldnt keep track of a conversation..

Also couldnt figure out change at the grocery, lost the car in parking lots, lost my way home from places near my house, thought I had
alzheimers.. but, turns out it was my thyroid! Got that all situated, and back to normal in no time..

Yes this is me, underdog. I found an email. I think I may be registered. I will look at my machine. It does have buttons and a screen on the top. Hopefully I find my way back here. Does not always happen, but I will leave a note near the computer. I'll try to catch a few zzz's for now. thanks for listening.

You were talking about your hands and feet tingling - have you had your thyroid checked out for any problems?

Julie wrote:You were talking about your hands and feet tingling - have you had your thyroid checked out for any problems?

No, I have not had a thyroid check. I will look into how that might be achieved.
Here is the information from my CPAP:
Philips Respironics
RemStar Pro, C-Flex +
450P
F20D
Remstar heated humidifier 1056215 set at "2"
Nasal mask by Redsmed (Mirage Micro)
Pressure set at "6CmH2o"
C-Flex set at "1"

Get your thyroid checked through your family MD. He may refer you to an endocrinologist, or just do a blood test himself (which'll go to the lab, of course). Your symptoms do sound more thyroid-y than many other things.

A sleep clinician (not really sure what the correct reference is for this individual) came to my house to check to see if my machine was working ok.
She read me the following:
159 therapy hours
150.6 blower hours

she also said I had a 16.9 (something) for 7 days and a 19.9 for 30 days.
She said that they would like to see these numbers closer to 5.
She called a sleep doctor and raised the pressure from 6 to 8.
She also said that I was exceeding the minumum amount of time that I need to be on the machine.
When I tried the mask on with the pressure set to "8" my ears popped and I could feel an unpleasant sensation in my ears. Is this to be expected?

With regard to a blood test for a Thyroid disorder does anyone know what blood test they do. When my health started going downhill my nuerologist ordered at least 8 different blood tests (I remember all the bottles sitting in a tray). Is a blood test for thyroid disorder a special blood test or would a common one rule it out?

ask for a copy of the blood work or call one of your doctors who would have the results and ask if TSH was run - that is the first thyroid test normally run - if it was then ask about T3 and T4 - I am not the expert on this but I believe those would be the tests they would use for checking thyroid

Jules is right on!