Noo B or not Noo B - is that the question?
Hello all. New poster. I'd been on CPAP three years ago for ~16 months before a (new) sleep study Rx'd by a new doc found that I didn't have OSA at all. But around 2 mos. ago, a third study showed AHI of 24 and the doc said back to therapy. Then I discovered this great group (friendly and informative) and SleepyHead (a gem!), so the masked man rides again. Been at it two months, and AHI is flirting with the 5 threshold. It would break 5 more often if it weren't for event clusters in half hour chunks - largely CA and HA. (I'm aware that newbies get these clusters, but still have questions about them. Will start a separate thread on that.)
When I saw the doc after this last sleep study, I said "this is bogus." He says "why?" I say, well look, I never went deeper than level 2 sleep - no REM - and didn't have a single OA, yet they diagnose Obstructive Sleep Apnea. (I've since learned that's a generic name.) I don't snore and my BMI is just a tad above normal range. But most of all, the first night back on the machine, the AHI was 9.7, nowhere near 24. And he says... That's because you were on therapy, dummy! DOH! Well, he didn't actually say "dummy," but it never occurred to me that one night of therapy could more than halve the AHI. Doh again.
Bottom line: I'm now pretty well convinced I'm in the club, and feel I'm on the path to effective treatment. I feel fortunate I was given an APAP machine 3 years ago, when I didn't know diddly about feature distinctions. I've learned a ton from lurking here, and hope to post on aspects about which I'm still confused. Thanks for being here.
-Ron
PS. Important advice: If you use a boil and bite toothguard prone to falling out and getting lost in the bed in the middle of the night, don't test it while your wife is on her heating pad. My toothguard now resembles a gum wad recovered from under a 19th century park bench.
When I saw the doc after this last sleep study, I said "this is bogus." He says "why?" I say, well look, I never went deeper than level 2 sleep - no REM - and didn't have a single OA, yet they diagnose Obstructive Sleep Apnea. (I've since learned that's a generic name.) I don't snore and my BMI is just a tad above normal range. But most of all, the first night back on the machine, the AHI was 9.7, nowhere near 24. And he says... That's because you were on therapy, dummy! DOH! Well, he didn't actually say "dummy," but it never occurred to me that one night of therapy could more than halve the AHI. Doh again.
Bottom line: I'm now pretty well convinced I'm in the club, and feel I'm on the path to effective treatment. I feel fortunate I was given an APAP machine 3 years ago, when I didn't know diddly about feature distinctions. I've learned a ton from lurking here, and hope to post on aspects about which I'm still confused. Thanks for being here.
-Ron
PS. Important advice: If you use a boil and bite toothguard prone to falling out and getting lost in the bed in the middle of the night, don't test it while your wife is on her heating pad. My toothguard now resembles a gum wad recovered from under a 19th century park bench.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
