Should I try the CPAP Machine without Seeing a Doctor?

Hey guys, I have sleep apnea and been looking into CPAP machines for a while but I wonder if it's safe to go ahead and purchase a unit without seeing a doctor first? What's your opinion about this?

Without seeing a doctor how do you KNOW that you have sleep apnea?

Gatsby,
You gottta get the PSG or Polysomnogram first to even rule out OSA. Like what LSAT wrote. A PSG will tell you how much REM sleep you are in or out of, oxygen saturation (very important), snoring (unless you've been told you snore) and what types of apneas you have (Obstructive, Central , or Hypopneas) These are all very important in determining if you have OSA and to what degree you have it. This is called an AHI or Apnea Hypopnea Index. Going from Mild, Moderate or Severe. My AHI was 53.3 which was severe. With my new machine, my AHI is down below 1.5 and my 02 sat levels within normal range. Sometimes my 02 was below 80%. If you are diagnosed with OSA and the degree of severity, then you have to have the titration sleep study to see what pressure settings will stop your apneas or get them way down to a safer level. My pressure setting is at 9cmH20. You won't know unless you have the sleep study. Good luck.

CPAP is a prescription item and you will need a script unless you buy off the classifieds or Craigs list.
I think it's very dangerous to assume you have sleep apnea with our eiither a home or in lab test. There is more than one form os sleep disordered breathing.

Ideally you should see a doctor and have a proper sleep study. Make sure no other health conditions are going on and all that sort of thing.

That said..there are people who have self diagnosed and self treated. It can be done but it takes some hard work and a good bit of education on various forms of sleep apnea, machines, software reports and what all that stuff means and how it impacts a person. Several forum members here have done it. I helped my sister and her husband do it.

So I won't tell you that you can't do it yourself because you can... BUT ideally if you can get the a physician's involvement and/or real sleep study to base things on then you will be doing yourself a better service by having proper medical care along with it.

hi
ya, i am also curious how do you know that you have sleep apnea... did you maybe record yourself sleeping? if not, this is something you can do quite easily as a first step and then you can see watch the video and see if you snore/wake up choking, etc.
you can record using a web cam or camera or whatever other means that you have

of course as others said the best is if you can go to a doctor, but if for whatever reason, money or unavailability where you live, you do not have that option you can, as 1 gentleman said, treat yourself, but first do the recording above and you will need to do a lot of reading and studying to understand what you have and how best to treat it

best of luck

p.s. if you are thinking to buy some cheap CPAP from somewhere or someone who has offered you i would not go down that route... CPAP is not a simple thing like a toaster

Hey guys, thanks for the response. I think I have sleep apnea because my wife says I "gasp for air" and snore while sleeping. Mainly, I didn't want to get involved with a physician if I don't have to, because it would spike up my insurance bill or life insurance or any other good stuff.

Hi, I m also one using cpap machine without a PSG. My OSA is because of the nasal anatomy, changed due to an affliction when I was only 7 years old. Today is the 3rd day, I have been using Devilbiss Intellipap Auto-adjust cpap. As of now, I have not got a satisfactory relief. Now I am contemplating to have SmartLink Therapy Management System. I am using 5.5-15 cm range. I do not like ramp. I can sleep with mask-on: compliance is not a problem. I only want to see whether the new machine is helping my condition any better than the previous straight cpap in which I used the pressure of 7cm. I am not, at all, overweight. Anybody out there with similar situation or anyone with suggestions?

winna wrote:Hi, I m also one using cpap machine without a PSG. My OSA is because of the nasal anatomy, changed due to an affliction when I was only 7 years old. Today is the 3rd day, I have been using Devilbiss Intellipap Auto-adjust cpap. As of now, I have not got a satisfactory relief. Now I am contemplating to have SmartLink Therapy Management System. I am using 5.5-15 cm range. I do not like ramp. I can sleep with mask-on: compliance is not a problem. I only want to see whether the new machine is helping my condition any better than the previous straight cpap in which I used the pressure of 7cm. I am not, at all, overweight. Anybody out there with similar situation or anyone with suggestions?

Data? AHI? Pressure average? That is a wide range, it may not be ideal. There is the online smart code thing available with the new Devilbiss Auto Intellipap..did you know about it? There is software that offers additional details that the smart code does not..did you know about that.

Without any data to go on, we have zero idea what is going on with your and what to offer in the way of ideas.

gatsby wrote:Hey guys, thanks for the response. I think I have sleep apnea because my wife says I "gasp for air" and snore while sleeping. Mainly, I didn't want to get involved with a physician if I don't have to, because it would spike up my insurance bill or life insurance or any other good stuff.

Buy a term life insurance policy that is good until the age of 70 before you submit to a sleep study and get diagnosed. Once you lock it in the life insurance company cannot cancel it. If you wait until you get a diagnosis you may not be able to get life insurance or the premiums may be prohibitively high. (I am assuming you have someone dependent on your income. If not then you don't need life insurance except maybe to bury you.)

Same thing for medical insurance. Get something stable. If you have to change policies after diagnosis you are going to have problems.

gatsby wrote:Hey guys, thanks for the response. I think I have sleep apnea because my wife says I "gasp for air" and snore while sleeping. Mainly, I didn't want to get involved with a physician if I don't have to, because it would spike up my insurance bill or life insurance or any other good stuff.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that might be going on that really require a PSG (overnight sleep study - a PolySomnoGraph) to sort out. For example, you might have heart related issues connected with the "gasping for air". You might have central sleep apnea - no effort to breathe (essentially your body fails to recognize that it should breathe). And on and on. The PSG really is needed to sort out the issues. You could certainly try to buy a used unit and mask. But you will not even be able to purchase the masks and supplies without a prescription.

The obvious risks are:

1) You have some other serious problem that you think is apnea, but it isn't. You fail to get proper treatment.

2) You have apnea, but you don't figure out the correct treatment on your own. You feel a little better better and don't go to the doctor and get proper treatment.

3) You hurt yourself by doing your CPAP wrong. Probably not too likely, but you could develop central apnea and make your apnea worse, especially if the pressure is too high.

I'm not saying it's wrong to roll your own CPAP, but you should consider the risks.

I did set my machine wrong and suffered because of it.

gatsby wrote:Hey guys, I have sleep apnea and been looking into CPAP machines for a while but I wonder if it's safe to go ahead and purchase a unit without seeing a doctor first? What's your opinion about this?

Why not ? Many times physicians spend more on diagnosis than treatment. If you have symptoms of SA and you use an auto-titrating unit, and your pressure is say 10 and you feel great, that virtually establishes the diagnosis. In the absence of an emphysematous bleb about to rupture, what's the downside to using about 10 pressure ?

I made diagnosis on my self by such treatment, and only later got a home study. The home study added nothing new, and the same treatment and settings was continued.

So Well wrote:

gatsby wrote:Hey guys, thanks for the response. I think I have sleep apnea because my wife says I "gasp for air" and snore while sleeping. Mainly, I didn't want to get involved with a physician if I don't have to, because it would spike up my insurance bill or life insurance or any other good stuff.

Buy a term life insurance policy that is good until the age of 70 before you submit to a sleep study and get diagnosed. Once you lock it in the life insurance company cannot cancel it. If you wait until you get a diagnosis you may not be able to get life insurance or the premiums may be prohibitively high. (I am assuming you have someone dependent on your income. If not then you don't need life insurance except maybe to bury you.)

Same thing for medical insurance. Get something stable. If you have to change policies after diagnosis you are going to have problems.

Brilliant and good advice. Delay the diagnosis, but not necessarily the treatment, until you are fully insured. OSA will either make you declined for insurance, get you substandard insurance, and/or a very high premium.

I can understand the desire to not have to see a doctor and have the extra insurance costs, but I reasonably think going this route would be a PITA. Yes, a machine can be found on Craig's list, but what about masks, mask cushions and the other items that we replace more frequently that also need an rx? I'm not a germaphobic person, but buying a used mask online would creep me out. And I would think it would not be that easy to find replacement stuff for it when it wears out.

Just my thoughts.

John