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I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
#1
I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
I have been playing this cpap game 1 1/2 years and am now desperate.....I adjusted to mask and cpap easily, however my numbers progressively getting worse. I've posted here a few times a few sleepyhead charts and need to know what I can print out to send to my doctor.

I am losing my life, and I am desperate. I used to have an AHI 4-6 range but now My usual night is 4-5 hrs sleep, 14 AHI with 4% periodic breathing. I struggle to make it through the day at work.

I have seen my nurse practitioner who said my YEARLY AHI was 6 and that's probably as good as I will get.....I'm not sure what printout she gets, but it's not very detailed.

In my last ditch attempt, I am going to print out Sleepyhead reports to send her, and beg for help. I'm going to lose my job. I can't function, and my numbers over the last few months have gradually gotten much worse.

What do I need to print out and focus on?? I am not good with sleepyhead other than the very basics. Is there areas of special interest.. Should I be zooming in on flow rate or anything to help her see what's going on?

I am under high stress, have lots on my plate......elderly mother living with me, my husband needing surgery, I have multiple health issues, I can not lose my job......but I can not survive with 4-5 hours of apnea-filled sleep!!

Plz Help me compose my last-ditch correspondence to my doctor and his nurse practitioner.

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#2
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
Please show us some charts if you can. What can you do to reduce some stress in your life ? Is their someone close that can reduce your burden for a little while to give you a rest ? What social services can you find ? We all get overloaded at times. Asking for help from the ones around you could be all it takes to rekindle youy inner self.

Keep talking to us please. Henry

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#3
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
I don't know what you do or where you are, but you may be able to get your Dr.s to help get you marked as being disabled. That may stay the wolves at the door about losing your job in the short term. And it may give you standing to qualify for Disability.

Various Sleep Apnea conditions as well as other conditions related to or as a result of your sleep apnea can also be used for qualifying you for disability.

I know it's certainly not the way I wanted to come out of work, but, these are the cards of life I've been dealt and all I can do is play em'. It's not like I can tell the dealer, "I'll take 2" and change my hand. I'll just have to see what I can do to better my condition.

But please post your plots and let some that are more skilled at reading them than I take a peek at em' and make suggestions.
Warning: Eating chocolate may cause your clothes to shrink!
[Image: ry6XtE9.gif] <---- That's ME!
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#4
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
Hello Daisylouu

Posting your Sleepyhead data will be the best thing that you can do for yourself. There are some very knowledgeable people here who can make a difference. For example, you've got your pressure set between 8-16 and that's probably too wide. Your machine is probably not being given the best chance to catch up with your apnea events. On top of that if we know things like your 90% pressure, how long you stayed at maximum pressure, can see your flow rate, etc we can help you.

Your Sleepyhead results will give information about what is happening when you sleep, and the folks here can make suggestions, based on their own experiences as to changes you can make. Their advice will be far better than most doctors (I'm assuming you mean a General Practitioner) can give you.

The most important things we need to see from Sleepyhead are:

Event Flags
Flow rate
Pressure
Leak Rate
Snore

Finally, are you in Australia? You used the term Nurse Practitioner which I believe is an Aussie thing which you'll see in smaller rural/outback hospitals.

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#5
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
Hi Daisylouu

There is a very good guide to organising your Sleepyhead charts here: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization It sets out which charts you need, how to present them etc.

You say that your treatment was reasonably good but has been getting worse over time. It could be that your needs have changed, possibly as a result of your other health issues. Perhaps you could let us have some current charts and some from a year ago so we can see the comparison. And let us know if things have changed health-wise. eg have you been diagnosed with a new condition you didn't have before?

And of course stress is definitely the worst thing for sleep problems. It sounds like you've got a heck of a lot on your plate, and that can be thoroughly draining. If it's any help at all, you should know that many of us have been in a similar position, and we can understand what you're going through.


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#6
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
You have started a number of threads on the forum in the past, then abandoned them after getting suggestions on some things to try. http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...e-AHI-high

The data you previously posted is no longer available, but unless something has changed, why not pick up where you left off on that very good thread, with input from RobySue, and give us some useful feedback to allow us to help? You have numerous issues that have been raised in the past, but you have never followed up. This thread just continues a pattern to rant about your ineffective treatment, and the doctors can't help; but you offer nothing useful to help us to help you. We've been here before.
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#7
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
Here is a screen shot.
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#8
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
Please, please read the link that DB posted:
There is a very good guide to organising your Sleepyhead charts here: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization It sets out which charts you need, how to present them etc.

What you posted has very little visible data. Based on that we can only guess. Help up help you, please.

What it does show is that you are at maximum pressure for most of the night and that this pressure is too low to treat your apnea. You need a higher pressure.
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#9
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
About your periodic breathing (Cheyne-Stokes Respiration) ... Have you seen a cardiologist to rule out atrial fibrillation and/or congestive heart failure? Both can affect energy levels and sleep apnea.
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
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#10
RE: I have f'n had it! HELP my final effort!
You appear to be using a fixed pressure of 16.0 with some ramp to get there, and no Flex. If you're not in fixed CPAP mode, then flow limits are keeping our pressure at 16 through the night. Your events kick off with some snore and flow limits, then a pretty good episode of OSA. That is followed by 1-1/2 hours of pretty good results, and another half-hour of OSA. If you were sleeping during the periods of lower events, I would conclude you have serious obstructive apnea, either associated with REM or sleep position. This is the same pattern as you had when your pressure was in auto, with a maximum of 12 cm. At this point, you're getting into pressures where bilevel is generally considered useful.

The only solution I know of for obstructive clusters like this is to either change body position, or increase pressure. It's possible you may tolerate bilevel better if you need to further increase pressure. I think you are right to try to get your doctor to assist you, and am a bit perplexed why that is so difficult. You have a right as a patient to your doctor's full consideration, attention and expertise. Your results are not acceptable, and even the nurse practitioner seems to agree. If your current doctor does not have a solution, then he should refer you to someone that can figure it out, or use a sleep lab to attempt alternative therapies.

Your problem is not central or complex apnea. Tidal volume and minute vent are borderline low, and this might be improved with pressure support in bilevel. You have abundant obstructive events through the night in clusters, and this should be pretty easy to communicate to your doctor. If he won't help, request a referral to someone who can.
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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