RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
Hi CavemanDoctor,
A couple of things I think should be mentioned before you start spending more money.
More than 50% of people don't tolerate PAP treatment for a variety of reasons. If you have mild sleep apnea, the chance of tolerating it is even lower than that. If you're going the PAP route, is there a way to rent one for a bit to see if it is something that benefits you.
As you probable know, weight loss will help to lower your AHI. Generally, a 10% weight loss results in a 25% AHI reduction.
Also, in some recent studies, cardio exercise and throat exercises have been shown to be able to reduce AHI by 50%.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
@CavemanDoctor, my initial PSG showed mostly CA's with a few OA's and H. I probably should not have been put on an APAP but I had some underlying nocturnal hypoxemia which was getting pretty bad. My Pulmo made the call to get me on the APAP quickly to get my O2 under control. It helped imediately with the hypoxemia, but the CA's flared up. Some setting advice from members and some experimenting, those are mostly under control now. I could probably benefit even more from a different machine, but it's not a top priority now.
I chose to pay out of pocket for my stuff. Didn't want to get tied down to a DME, compliance, Insurance headaches. My Pulmo gave me a printed prescription with the machine and all the parts for lifetime. So my treatment is in my control and with the help of the knowledgeable folks here, doing rather well. So if you have the financial means, go off book and do it yourself. Plenty of knowledgable users here to help you out along the way.
One thing to ask your Dr...... If are doing self pay, what model of ResMEd woulld he recommend based on your study? Since you wouldn't need to go through insurance or meet any compliance. He may recommend an ST or ASV in that case. Cant hurt to ask.
With a hard copy of the prescription you could order from any of the supplires on the list here on the forum.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
Supplier #1 currently has the Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset on sale at $598. Supplier #2 is normally the lowest price. You can find good deals on low-hour CPAP machines on Craigslist, Offerup and Facebook Marketplace, and I would probably target a price of under $350 with less than 1800 hours of run time.
Your therapy will not be trial and error with the right machine. We usually can help coach new users to an effective therapy range after seeing a single night of data in OSCAR. You are more likely to have issues getting a comfortable and leak-free mask fit than to have issues with a good auto CPAP like the Autoset.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
Thank you all for the helpful links and suggestions. Mogy, you mentioned renting a machine on a trial period since there's a chance the treatment won't be tolerated. Is there a list of rental services on here somewhere? Sorry if it's against board rules to ask; I looked through the commercial supplier list but those seem to be for products for sale.
As for throat exercises, is there a resource anyone can point me on that? This is the first I've heard of it. I suspect throat exercises may help because as I'm drifting to sleep, I get the distinct sensation my throat may be a culprit.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
CPAP rental is something that a "durable medical equipment" (DME) company will often do under insurance, but at a premium price. Rented equipment in invariably more expensive, and I don't agree at all with Mogy's advise. You are better off to buy used than to rent because you can always get your money back if you paid a fair price. Buying new is predictable and comes with warranty. Very few people that we coach are unable to adapt to CPAP and become comfortable, especially if they get the Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset which is going to provide more comfortable therapy, with more options to ensure success.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
This shouldn't be looked at as a crap shoot. Will I do PAP or will I not do PAP? Is that a choice at all, or just an orientation to a problem? For me, if there's an engineered solution, whether chemical or mechanical, to my health problem, I'm going to educate myself and go all-in. It's what has generated me all my successes so far in my 68 years.
IOW, it's all in the mind. If your history is one of involvement, of self-education, of self-reliance, and problem-solving, you'll figure out how to succeed with pretty much any suitable therapy. Just my opinion, but I gotta agree with Sleeprider.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
Thank you all for the comments. I have just purchased the Airsense. I will keep you all updated. This is such a helpful community.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
Great choice. Get OSCAR on the PC and then you can post a chart. One night's worth should be fine. Good luck on success. If you've not done so, get the clinical manual for the machine in the CPAP Setup Manual link at the top. Ask questions if you have them.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
Excellent news about the machine. When it arrives, you might want to ease into things a little by setting the machine up outside your bedroom and using it for a few hours a day while you do something diverting, like reading or watching TV. You could do that for several days before trying to use the machine at bedtime. That lets your body know what the new experience is like before you try nighttime use, where you're lying there and trying to get to sleep. Keep us posted!
RE: Central and Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Recommendations?
(06-25-2020, 11:15 AM)CavemanDoctor Wrote: Thank you all for the helpful links and suggestions. Mogy, you mentioned renting a machine on a trial period since there's a chance the treatment won't be tolerated. Is there a list of rental services on here somewhere? Sorry if it's against board rules to ask; I looked through the commercial supplier list but those seem to be for products for sale.
As for throat exercises, is there a resource anyone can point me on that? This is the first I've heard of it. I suspect throat exercises may help because as I'm drifting to sleep, I get the distinct sensation my throat may be a culprit.
If Sleeprider feels that buying is the best option, then I guess I will defer to him. It is different for each of us. I am in Canada and it was fairly easy to rent at a machine at a reasonable price a few years ago.
As for the throat exercises, here is a link to a recent study.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6463021/
If you search on YouTube there are videos of the exercises.
If you do google searches with 'ncbi' in the search, you will be able to some more studies on the subject.
If you are interested in this I am more than willing to point you toward some resources.
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