Results of sleep study

Hello everyone: Just got the results of my sleep study (done on Feb. 20/06) yesterday. I've been on the CPAP machine for 2 weeks, with very good results. The only thing that worries me is that the report said I have severe OAS during REM (51.7/hr), and AHI was 17, with O2 below 90% 2 per cent of the time, and yet they left me without any treatment for almost 2 months. The sleep doctor told me herself that my chance of a cardiac event was 50% greater because of the apnea, but yet they didn't do anything as soon as results of study were known. I already take meds for high blood pressure and high cholesterol (altho, I'm not heavy, BMI 23.7).
Also, I generally only get 6 hrs sleep per night during the week, so I asked her how I could manage with such poor sleep, and she said I've learned to cope. I think my only saving grace is that I have practiced TM (meditation) for about 30 years, and this has somehow given my brain the rest it was missing from poor sleep. I'm going for my second sleep study in 2 weeks where they will do titration. My snoring has pretty well stopped with the CPAP, except when I first fall asleep when I'm using the ramp function. I find if I turn it on without ramp, the amount of pressure (7 H2O) makes it too hard to exhale comfortably. My wife says the snoring stops after a few minutes. Maybe I should try the APAP or C-flex, thought otherwise I've gotten quite used to the machine very quickly.

Stevie W.

Wow, 7 cu/H2O! I have trouble INHALING 7 cu/H2O with my UMFF. I suspect your titrated pressure will be higher. If it's above 14, tell the Doctor about
your problems exhaling against the 7 cu/H2O, and maybe she will script a bi-level unit, or at least an auto with exhale relief.

After being on and off CPAP for 6 years, experience with 4 different machines, and more masks than I can count, I like my current unit the best....

steview wrote:I'm going for my second sleep study in 2 weeks where they will do titration.

Why waste your time and money? You already know that you can use CPAP, so you're over the biggest obstacle most folks face. I don't know about you, but with my insurance, I'd pay a lot more for the second sleep study, even with insurance picking up most of the tab, than just buying a machine online. You've already got the diagnosis. Does your insurance need more than that?

My vote, and the route I went was to buy an automatic machine online. Get the software too. You'll be on optimum therapy by Monday night. As slow as your providers seem to be working, it'll still be weeks or maybe even months before you'll be on optimum therapy otherwise. And if anything goes wrong, then you'll still be going back and forth with the physician trying to figure out what went wrong. Save yourself the grief.

Regards,
Bill

If you have been on CPAP for 2 weeks with good results, why would you want APAP or CFLEX ? Stick with what works and be thankful.
I have been searching for 5 months for what works for me. If your doing well after 2 weeks, thank your lucky stars and stick with it.

I second that!! If its working, stick with it and thank your lucky stars!

Chuck

I am puzzled. How do they have you on cpap without a titration study. A guesstimate pressure? An APAP I would undertand while you wait for the second sleep study but the CPAP? Very strange.

snoregirl wrote:I am puzzled. How do they have you on cpap without a titration study. A guesstimate pressure? An APAP I would undertand while you wait for the second sleep study but the CPAP? Very strange.

It actually makes perfect sense to me, Snoregirl. I started out at low pressure, and mostly stayed there for a few weeks. Even though my AHI ran about 15 then, that was a lot better than pre-CPAP. One needn't be optimally titrated to benefit from CPAP. Of course, one would think that any decent and caring physician would do his patients a favor and provide them more optimal treatment by prescribing an APAP, but then how many goofy physicians do we hear about here on a daily basis.

Regards,
Bill

Thanks for the comments everyone. I must explain that I live in Canada, and up here the gov't pays for all the studies, as well as most of the cost of the machine. I think the MD was making an educated guess when she prescribed 7 H20, and that the second test is to see how effective it is at that setting. I still snore a bit when I first start out on the "ramp" but once it hits 7 my wife says I'm quiet for the rest of the night. It will be interesting to see if the sleep study results in an increase in pressure. I don't know what the gov't position on providing more sophisticated equipment is, but I guess I'll find out.

Steve