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new and overwhelmed
#11
RE: new and overwhelmed
@T - even if you have a nearly all CAs, there still may be treatment options that could help. Obviously, there are machines that help, but they are based on force ventilating, or pacing. There also may be psychological solutions.
I have a friend that had CAs and through hypnosis he was able to discover why he was "holding his breath" routinely during sleep. That resolved it for him.
Brain issues are not always physical. The panic you describe made me think of my friend's condition, and how it was resolved. He had a real traumatic event, and survived even though he shouldn't have. Now, so many years later, this kind happy man was re-living horror in his sleep. Not fair.
BTW - You may be aware that PSTD sufferers have a high incidence of apnea.
Dedicated to QALity sleep.
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#12
RE: new and overwhelmed
(01-06-2015, 11:10 AM)justMongo Wrote: ERP and A-Flex is one example.

EPR (Exhalation Pressure Relief) and A-Flex

The Advisory Member group provides advice and suggestions to Apnea Board administrators and staff on matters concerning Apnea Board operation and administrative policies.  Membership in the Advisory Member group should not be understood as in any way implying medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
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#13
RE: new and overwhelmed
Hi guys!

Still in holding pattern hell. It takes 14 business days to get a report from this doctor, so here I wait.

I've been reading about the machines, which ones are good and which are crap. Will I get a used machine? Can DME do that? What parts are considered "dirty"? With my nebulizer, everything is considered dirty, and I am not supposed resell it to someone else. I guess theoretically stuff could get down from the tubing? Idle minds just conjure up stuff I shouldn't even worry about.

I agree about the machine helping me get off the BP pills. There isn't much I can use anymore. I get angioedema from ARBs and ACE inhibitors. Was on clonidine. (NIGHTMARE).

Oh, believe me, I will get the actual report. This isn't my first time at the medical rodeo. This doctor is flakey, but the last one was a flake too. She asked if I wanted to see her because of my asthma (hell no). I like my current doctor. He's not a twitch like you.

I also agree about the equipment. DME dudes are worse than used car salesmen. The nebulizer I originally got was trash. They keep jacking me around like it was my fault. The stupid thing only has a tubing port and an on/off switch. The compressor was dying, and they disagree. Makes me stabby thinking about it. Lol...

I'll report back when I get the report....

Thank you for all your help.
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#14
RE: new and overwhelmed
(01-05-2015, 11:10 AM)mmdupas Wrote: is ASV the same as Auto A-Flex?

Hi mmdupas, welcome to Apnea Board.

ResMed EPR and Philips Respironics A-Flex add small amounts of bi-level pressure reduction during exhalation, synchronized to our own breathing effort, to make it a little easier to exhale against pressure.

If we stop making any effort to breathe, EPR or A-Flex, which are synchronized to our own effort, cease.

If we stop making any effort to breathe, an ASV (Adaptive Servo Ventilator) machine would nearly immediately start cycling the pressure strongly, strongly high (adaptively increasing IPAP, to gently cause inhalation) and returning back low (returning to our previous EPAP, to gently let the air out of our lungs), at the same respiration rate we had been using recently on our own, before we suddenly stopped making effort to breathe.

For example, in my ResMed ASV machine, the amount of Pressure Support (cyclic pressure increase/decrease) which the machine decides to use will automatically adjust itself to maintain 90% of the amount of Minute Ventilation (the total volume of air breathed per minute) that I had been maintaining on my own before I suddenly stopped trying to breathe.

Take care,
--- Vaughn
The Advisory Member group provides advice and suggestions to Apnea Board administrators and staff on matters concerning Apnea Board operation and administrative policies.  Membership in the Advisory Member group should not be understood as in any way implying medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
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#15
UPDATE/RE: new and overwhelmed
Well I got a call from the clinic.

The tech was wrong. My apnea is all OSA. Maybe if I lose the chunk, this nonsense go away. (ever hopeful lol)

All this was verbal over the phone. I will get a copy of my actual report, not just the summary.

345 mins sleep time

31 AHI

longest 15s

14 total closures (my throat closing)

114 total events all together (total and partial closures)

Lowest pulse ox 87%

The person said I recover really quickly from the events.

Any and all musings appreciated on this. I go back in 3 weeks to test drive the cpap machine.

What causes your throat to close besides being fat? I weight 180 lbs. The person said there can be other reasons, but all I have ever heard is being fat causes apnea.

I'm so ashamed that I need a machine to sleep.

Oh well...enough pity party. Gotta be positive!

Any and all musings on this welcomed...
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#16
RE: new and overwhelmed
I can tell you definitively that it isn't only weight that cases OA. I have a friend only experiencing OAs (No CAs) and he is the fittest person I know with no fat outside the norm.
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#17
RE: new and overwhelmed
It is not only being overweight that causes sleep apnea so please get that silly notion out of your head.
You are on the right road now, just take one day at a time.
There is nothing wrong with a second hand machine or mask headgear, with the mask just buy a new pillow or cushion for over mouth/nose.
You can pick up some very good deals, new and used from the suppliers on this site.
Don't worry too much about your husband, I know it's easier said than done but once you start using the equipment and he sees the positive results he will soon change his mind.
If you do suffer from claustrophobia you would probably be best suited to a pillow mask, it covers your face the least.
I am using the Nuance by Phillips Resperonics at the moment and find it excellent.
But everyone has their favourites.

As I said just take one day at a time and please do not be feeling guilty about your weight, you are already losing it anyway, and as for all that walking you are doing, I take my hat off to you, I wish I could motivate myself to get up and walk!

Good luck to you.
Sleep Tight...
Gabby
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#18
RE: new and overwhelmed
Dear Tawaki,
Welcome to the board and the journey. I am only on day 23 myself. It is ignorant and simplistic thinking to assume that weight is the only reason folk have apnea. Many things can contribute, a history of smoking, a small oral cavity, issues with adenoids/tonsils/uvula etc. Some folk who have brain malformations such as Chiari 1, will have a proneness to Apnea, central and otherwise. I expect, though don't know for sure, that having allergies/asthma can also complicate the breathing relationship. I have both. I'm new so don't quote me here.

I felt SO bad before c-pap that to me I'd not have wanted to live a day longer as I was, and certainly not to wait around while losing weight which even best case, takes folks months. If you are planning on losing weigh, being on a machine that helps you have restorative sleep, feel alive, improved mental clarity for some, will only HELP you in EVERY.THING. you undertake in life.

I am overweight, but my neck is smaller than is thought to trigger it for women, I am a stomach sleeper which is also rarer, and still I have apnea. Based on symptoms I had it when I was 11 years younger, 40 lbs lighter, walked 2-10 miles a day living in Scotland and worked out with weights 3x a week. Oh and MENOPAUSE...it also has a correlation with increased apnea.

Does your husband snore? If so, there is a real good chance he too has it. Pride does tend to go before a fall (-:
If he cares about you, and for you, he will come to realize that the way to do that, is to see you have good medical care.
You have to take care of YOU in the meantime!

Keep at the good work with your walking, it will help your outlook and if in daytime, your vitamin D levels too!

Susan in San Francisco


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#19
RE: new and overwhelmed
Hi Tawaki,

I have moderate to severe OSA (AHI 30). I am an example of a person that is not overweight and have sleep apnea. My BMI is 25 and that's because I have gained weight over the last 30 years. When I was in my college years I weighed 140 lbs. So let your husband know that weight is not always the cause of OSA. As far as I can remember I snored like a freight train, but in the last 5 years I noticed being more tired and would fall asleep during meetings. I would wake up feeling like I had a hang over from too much drinking. I would seem never to catchup on sleep. CPAP has really improved my quality of sleep and my life. I feel lucky that no serious damage has occurred during that period. It's been over a year now and I am 100% compliant and I feel a lot healthier and I look forward to 7-8 hours of good sleep each night. I asked my sleep Dr. if I would every be cured of this and he said I was in this for the long haul since I was not overweight. I don't look at this as curse but as a routine that I now have gotten use to. I know that feeling good when I wake up means I expect to be around long enough to see grandchildren when that time comes. CPAP is something you get use to so accept it and you will be a lot better because of it and good luck.
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