what would you do?I love my husband

Hi, I have been wondering if my husband has sleep apnea[ though he won't admit it] I really think he does. Today my dr. called and he's going to order me an autopap[rental] to try for 30 days to see if we can improve my therapy. My guestion is, if I can get my husband to try my c-pap for 1 night to see if he has apnea wouldn't that be allright to do?
I know he will never go in for a sleep study unless I could prove to him that he needs one.
He snores really bad.
He has restless leg syndrone.
He gets up many times at night to the bathroom.
He falls asleep, mouth open and snores and gasps in the daytime,[ anytime he sits down]
He has acid reflux
Am i wrong to want to try to prove to him that he needs a sleep study?
I love him!
thanks!!!

Am i wrong to want to try to prove to him that he needs a sleep study?
I love him!

No, you're not wrong to want to prove to him that he needs a sleep study. It is a sign that you love him!

Don't know if your plan will work or not. Have you talked to him about how much better you feel on CPAP?

Wow... he has the whole checklist of symptoms, doesn't he? I don't know if I would put him on the machine without knowing what a safe pressure would be for him. Some folks with even severe SA only need a low pressure to open their airway, while some with mild need a high pressure. I would educate him....print out a few of the pertinent pages from the wiki and hand them to him to read. If he does much online reading, look at some of the good sites and blogs on OSA and bookmark them for him. If going to a sleep lab is not realistic for him, there are home studies that can be done but will yield less info than a lab can gather. It would still be a good starting point and he could be comfortable in his own bed. Ask your doctor about arranging that for him!

I got my sweetie in for the first sleep study, but he was so negative they hemmed & hawed about,
"Well if you can stay off your back, the apnea is under 5."--(But it's over 30 on his back-where he easily rolls while asleep.)
I got him to a support group meeting, where the speaker discussed 'atrial fibrillation'.
Hubby got a LOT more reasonable.--second sleep study 11 months later.
He's picking up his S9 Autoset tomorrow! Yessss!

well, I got sent home with an auto set from four to twenty, and that was my titration at home..

so, yes, my husband has TWO orders from two different doctors to have a sleep study.. he wont go..

so I have put my apap on him a couple of times.. he slept for twenty minutes with it once, but I didnt have the software yet.. but the screen
said he had an ahi of ten..

I tried it again but he ripped it off after a few minutes saying he was being attacked by "gail force winds" I think it was at five..

He has also seen my dreadful misadventures with the machine, and Im not a very good example of an apaper to be sure..

so if you do DO this..

have him try it a low comfortable pressure while he is watching tv awake.. let him practice for a few days awake and see how he does..

then you can nail him with it, but make sure the machine is wide open as if a formal titration... good luck!

Also they have at home sleep studies, he might go for that, they are less then three hundred bucks..

@ elena.... good advice, but the OP has a cpap not an apap machine. So how would she choose a pressure for him?????

Emilia wrote:@ elena.... good advice, but the OP has a cpap not an apap machine. So how would she choose a pressure for him?????

About 10 cm's is the avg pressure, it would be a good starting point, they will have a APAP, for the trial. Jim

Yes, but the apap trial is for her....she asked about using her current cpap for hubby.

Oh, I glazed over the part about the cpap, I just thought she was going to try the apap on her hubby

mmm, well if its a month long trial titration, whatever is on the data card they will think is YOU.... so
I dont know if you would want to slip the card out for a night, or just wait to get your very own shiney new apap, and then
you can have it him..

whatever YOU do, sleep in all positions...

I was such a bush leaguer, I just lay there on my back for a week! dumb! nobody told me not to...

p.s. ... cpap, thats a tough one to guess, everyone is so different

I read stuff on this forum--If I found something that I thought he'd identify with, I'd read it to him--during commercials, of course.
I didn't have to ask him if we ought to start saving up for a headstone, but I was considering it.

My hubby said I snored like a chain saw but didn't stop breathing while asleep. So to convince him I needed a sleep lab study I talked to his Dr.
The Doc ordered a home study and my AHI came back 27. Proof enough... sleep lab was scheduled without a grumble from my husband. Hope you can find a support group near you... a little scare tatic might be in order.
Good luck! And let us know how it goes. Hopefully others will have some ideas that will work
Cindy

Show him this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQtDDO1 ... re=related

He sounds a lot like my husband. I finally called his doctor and just went over his head. He is really struggling with using cpap because he doesn't want to use it. I have been like a drill sergeant about this because it is too important to neglect. We are slowly getting there but it is a hard battle.

If you have or can get a hold of a recording oximeter - just have him wear it for one night. Download the data and show it to him. If he gets multiple desats below 88% then he really needs help.

An oximeter for one night will be a lot easier for him to figure it out for himself than wrestling with an APAP and mask. I had a take home test machine (with oximeter), and when I saw all my desats - and how low O2 I had at times - it didn't take much convincing. I got an Rx and ordered a CPAP within days. I think the oximeter would have been convincing enough. He knows what oxygen deprivation means if he lives with someone with OSA.

If not, threaten him! Wives can do that usually. Mine certainly does.

What finally worked for me was after the drill sergeant routine and then the drama about death and funerals, I then gave him the silent treatment for about three days. It was harder on me than him(I love to talk!), but he finally caved and said he'd try again. He had used it for the first few days for a few hours but then wanted no part of it. By that time I was reading here day and night, got the DME to exchange our M Series PLUS for an AUTO, ordered the software and had a better idea of how to proceed thanks to this forum. It wasn't easy the first few weeks/months, I was overwhelmed and not getting much sleep and little input from hubby, but we persevered and now it's 2 years and going strong! Do whatever it takes, it will be so worth it.