I have done all kinds of reading the last week and wow, I must say, this is such an awesome community. I am brand new to CPAP therapy and I have a few questions. First, let me start with an introduction:
I am a 38 year old male, 5'9" 240 lbs. I am quite a bit overweight. Moderate to heavy drinker. No smoking. No drugs. Minimal exercise. High Blood Pressure.
Medications:
Toprol XL 50mg daily- High Blood Pressure / Sinus Tachycardia
Lisinopril 20mg daily - High Blood Pressure
Testosterone Cypionate injections - Low T
Anastrozole 1mg - Elevated estrogen from T injections
This whole sleep apnea concept has moved very quickly over the last 2 weeks. It started with my girlfriend noticing very loud snoring and choking sounds. I then downloaded the SnoreLab app to my iPhone to track some of the sounds she was hearing. I didn't think much of it but her and I did some research and realized quickly that I needed to talk to someone about it. It is unknown how long these symptoms have occured since her and I are both very "heavy" sleepers. I decided to reach out to my doctor about this. He is an internal medicine doctor and has diagnosed and treated the symptoms listed above. I was told that this is outside his expertise and to find a sleep doctor. I reached out to several in my area and the earliest appoint was available on February 5, 2020. Around this time, we noticed that we had around $1200 in our FSA account and we have to spend it before the end of the year or it would be gone. It does sound like a rushed approach I took to this, but I was kind of forced to given the time of year I found the symptoms.
Even with the treatments above, I still feel so tired all of the time and I have a terrible time concentrating on anything. So, I found a website that allowed me to do the WatchPAT home test. I did this the first night available and it was found that I have severe apnea with AHI 41.5. I have attached their report as well. So, in order to spend that money, and speaking to their rep, I went with the ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet with F20 full mask. It will be here tomorrow (Monday). The thing I find to be pretty weird about this experience, is that I still have not spoken to a doctor about any of this. The rep did state in an email that, initially, the machine will be set at 4-20. With all of that said, I have the following questions:
1) The mentioned that the unit has a cell card and they can access my reports and make changes as needed. I am not sure of the time period of this service. Can the pressure settings be overwritten?
2) If so, what would be a good minimum pressure to start with? Or should I just go with 4-20 until I can provide you all an Oscar report here in the next day or two? From my research, I fully understand why such a low minimum setting is bad.
3) I do not have a Rx pressure setting obviously, since I did not do any outpatient study. Is this something I need to pursue?
4) I do have a pretty bad cough from the Lisinopril, especially at night when I lay down. How does the machine handle this?
I am really looking forward to feeling better and getting some rest. Any help you guys can provide will be greatly appreciated.
-Chad