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Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
#41
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
Sam will sometimes say that he's like a retired doctor, he's lost all his patience, boy that's bad isn't it, (Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha?)
trish6hundred
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#42
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
So the pressure thing was and is interesting !

Off topic However; I must indulge...........

When I was a kid in Junior High, I thought using a snorkel was cool;:grin:

But wanted to go deeper......... so I made a snorkel 5 feet long...... and when I tried it at only 2 feet down, the water pressure on my chest forced all the air out of my lungs. Oh-jeez

I then got an old air compressor that I hooked up to a gasoling engine ............... Yup, it worked ! ........ as long as I kept the exhaust down wind of the compressor intake. Big Grin
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#43
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
I remember the TV show M*A*S*H where they talked someone (the priest?) over the radio through the process of doing a tracheotomy with a pocket knife and a ball point pen.

Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#44
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
In response to the original post, I have private insurance as well.

I write curriculum for a private school company in Texas, but the pay is horrible. I use to be a Realtor for Windermere but when the market tanked I got out. I feel your pain.

My doctor (GP) mentioned that he felt I had apnea and it was affecting my health. I talked to my wife and she felt the same way. My uncle and older brother both were doing CPAP therapy, so I looked into it. What a racket!

Anyway, I went this route.... Because of my deductible, my insurance would have barely covered any of my expenses, so I bought my own equipment and downloaded ResScan to monitor the results.

I use a ResMed S9 AutoSet which will adjust for better therapy automatically. I personally bought every style of mask in my size.
I have very sensitive nostrils, and I like to sleep on my side (and turn over) through the night. The mask that works wonders for me is the Puritan Breeze. I rigged a tub suspension harness about two feet above my head so I can turn as much as I want.

It took a lot of getting use to, but I finally can sleep through the night and I feel a big difference. My AHIs have gotten down to <2 most of the time. I don't have a prescription and I don't report to anyone every 3-4 weeks.

Since I started, my best friend and my cousin have started therapy. They both did sleep studies and their insurance covered their machines and masks. They have spent thousands covering their deductibles and office visits. They have also had to get several masks on their own.

There is risk in everything. I personally feel that prescriptions are a racket. I have done missionary work in countries where you can buy pretty much anything you need off the shelf. People who truly want to heal themselves will be cautious and do their research. Even now, you can buy a bottle of Tylenol off the shelf and go home and chug the whole bottle till your dead, but for some reason you don't need a prescription for that. No matter the prescription; CPAP, shots, or pills, a doctor is not sitting beside you at night to make sure you do it right anyway. I had a friend tell me how dangerous oxygen therapy is to justify all the regulation and yet people use propane which is far more dangerous and society hasn't broken down. (well not completely yet)

Well, I am sure I have said enough for you to draw any conclusions you need about where I stand on excessive regulation and big government. I wouldn't be surprised that after they develop cpap machines that are better at self adjusting (and sending the data over the internet to the doc), that these machines will no longer require a prescription or expensive sleep study. They will do it all.

Good luck to ya. I hope you get the help you need. Therapy can take a while to kick in and get use to, so don't give up. It gets much better. I like strapping on my machine each night now. When I first started my older brother told me that and my response was... "You're hooking it up to YOUR FACE, right?!" (He still laughs about that)
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#45
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
(04-29-2013, 08:26 PM)archangle Wrote: I remember the TV show M*A*S*H where they talked someone (the priest?) over the radio through the process of doing a tracheotomy with a pocket knife and a ball point pen.
Been there, done that (twice). Not a nice thing to do, but sometimes necessary.
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#46
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
That's nonsense about getting the wrong pressure, at worst you will have pressure too low which will still be better than you are now. If the pressure is too high it will just be uncomfortable, your lungs won't explode, the machines have safe maximum.
The simple list test is oximetry , I had a sleep clinic but still wanted to see my progress. You can buy a logging oximiter for around €70 put it on you finger over night. If you have apnoea you levels will drop significantly over the night.
The pressure may need to be adjusted from time to time so you need to understand what the Cpap is doing and not be afraid to make your own decisions.
With your own oximiter you can quickly see how your getting on.
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#47
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
Too high of a pressure can induce central apnea.
Sleepster

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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#48
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
(05-01-2013, 07:07 PM)Sleepster Wrote: Too high of a pressure can induce central apnea.

Is pressure induced central apnea usually accompanied by O2 desaturation below normal levels?

I more or less assumed (after a discussion with my doc, even though he didn't say it directly) was that pressure could induce hyperventilation (having to exhale harder can cause you to impulsively inhale harder) and the brain corrects the hyperventilation by stopping breathing (or not causing breathing). My (possibly flawed) understanding was that pressure induced CAs usually aren't a concern because they usually don't cause O2 saturation to drop below acceptable levels.

Has anyone here seen significant O2 desaturation correlating with pressure induced central apnea?

I don't have any data because I don't have any significant CAs anymore (something like one 10-12 second CA every couple of weeks), and I didn't have a recording Pulse Oximeter back when I had pressure induced CAs (first couple months of therapy).

What I'm driving at is; if pressure induced CAs don't cause significant O2 desaturations, then do they even matter?

If my under-educated assumptions about pressure induced CA are completely wrong and pressure induced CA causes significant O2 desaturation; then what in the heck is going on - why is the pressure inducing Apnea?
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#49
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
(04-22-2013, 04:33 PM)Shastzi Wrote: Hi dan,
Perhaps one thing you could try is find a sympathetic doctor (if you haven't already) and
get yourself a wrist worn pulse oxymeter that will log your blood oxygen saturation levels while you sleep. ($160)
each morning you can upload the data to your computer and make a graphic printout.

Welcome

There is even a cheaper option for this. I think I paid $70 for a finger oximeter (not wrist worn) that came with the software for me to track my oxygen saturation levels overnight.

That data (assuming it shows desaturations) should help you and your doctor understand what is happening.
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#50
RE: Undiagnosed, Sure I Have It, Self Employed, Need to Keep Costs in Check
(05-01-2013, 07:50 PM)jgjones1972 Wrote: What I'm driving at is; if pressure induced CAs don't cause significant O2 desaturations, then do they even matter?

Just as in an obstructive apnea, you stop breathing, so the possibility of oxygen desaturation is just as likely.

The other negative effect associated with any apnea is arousal. You awaken, or at least partially awaken, and so your quality of sleep is diminished.

As you say, you can measure the desat with an oximeter. The other thing you can do is look at how long the apnea lasts. The longer it lasts the more your oxygen level will drop.

There's really no difference between obstructive and central apneas in this regard.
Sleepster

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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