I want to slap my sleep apnea doctor...so tempting

They claim it's because they are the only sleep study place for the whole of the Tri-Cities and outlying areas, but I feel January is excessive. In Spokane it was a 3 month wait. I'm calling back to speak to someone else.  I'm also calling back everyday to see if there are cancellations.

Thanks for the reply. :)

Well, then, I think I'd call my insurance company and say, "This is NOT reasonable.  We will need to send me to the coast.  And my copay will remain unchanged and you folks will pay mileage."


ETA...how many pillows do you sleep on?

Good advice.  I will call them today.  I was going to call and find out about hospitals they're contracted with anyway.  My surgeon operates out of two in the Seattle area and my insurance only will cover one. 

I currently have two pillows.  One for my head that I fold up to elevate my head away from my chest to  try to keep my boobs from choking me. The other one is a body pillow that I try to shove my boobs and chest fat under.  I feel better when there is less stuff pushing around my throat.  Can't wait till they all shrink, cuz that's one of my most hated things about being fat and having big boobs.

I got it all straitened out.  I talked to the office manager and she couldn't believe someone told me not until January.  She apologized and I fear for the employee I talked to yesterday.  I have an appointment next week and then a sleep study will be scheduled a week or less after that. 

Call the insurance company and fight. You are describing a life threatening condition in URGENT need of diagnosis and treatment, and they are risking your life by restricting who you can see. Maybe one of the lawyers here can help you draft a strongly worded statement to that effect with the proper buzzwords and such.

Not really. You could try using it the way it is in the interim (and I strongly recommend trying to get in somewhere else sooner) and see if it helps any.

Just don't do that in place of a real sleep study.

Thanks. :)  I'm still planning on doing the sleep study I just thought that the machine would help until I got one done. I had a very bad dream that I jumped off a diving board and went under the water and no matter how hard I swam, I couldn't reach the top.  I started breathing in the water, but it didn't help, then my eyes shot awake and I inhaled sharply.  I've had other times when I wake up from those dreams but I have to slowly start to breath again.  Like I forgot how or something.  Scary **** so I'm trying to get something set up to help it.  I'm calling insurance and the study place today to get in sooner.

You're in trouble. I'm glad they did their f-ing JOB this time because this needs seeing quickly.

Until you are seen, please be EXTREMELY careful doing anything that requires handling machinery, driving or other possibly risky activities. You are seriously impaired and don't have a clue just how bad it is. Once you get this treated you'll totally freak over the difference in how you feel.

Do you have trouble staying awake when you are sitting quietly, say watching TV or something? How about as a passenger in a car? How fatigued do you feel after driving, say, fifteen minutes straight?

To be honest, I thought I was getting some kind of brain disorder.  My aunt has Alzheimer's, she'll come over to visit and I swear what she complains about I have some of the same issues.

I told DH that I can't spell anymore, my memory is **** I can't do math problems that used to be so simple, I'm so tired and driving is sometimes difficult.  I'll drive and I won't remember some of the trip.  I only go short distances lately and make Jeff drive the rest.  I can't stay awake for anything, but when bedtime comes around I can't make myself go to sleep.  I am so tired all of the time.  I also have headaches when I wake up from naps.  I broke down crying the other night because I thought my brain had something really wrong with it.  

Does any of that correlate to sleep apnea?  I'm glad I'm getting this taken care of before the surgery.  Does sleep apnea impact how you get operated on?  Like, do they take extra precautions?

It ALL correlates to sleep apnea, along with lots of other stuff you aren't thinking of in your life right now. There are two big components to the problem: sleep deprivation and oxygen deprivation. They both make you crazy, ruin your thinking ability and make you generally incompetent.

I think I wrote in that one essay on my profile about how when I got my first sleep study, my O2 sats went down to 60% and I had an average of three arousals per minute. I had assuredly been in that condition for YEARS. People described my sleep behavior and snoring to me as what we now know as classic severe sleep apnea as far back as my adolescence. By the time I was diagnosed, I was getting bits of stage one and a tiny bit of stage two sleep, NO deeper or restorative sleep, and had been that way for ages. And here I thought I was just crazy :-p. Well, I WAS crazy--from sleep deprivation. I know why it's used as a form of torture.

The anesthesia folks need to know you have apnea, yes. I don't know the details of what they do that's different or additional with anesthesia, but you'll be closely watched in recovery, required to use your CPAP (somebody forgot to educate my damned ICU nurse on that little detail *snarl*, but that's a different story), and in some cases, you could be brought out of anesthesia in some different way (more slowly maybe? I dunno) or you might need to remain intubated longer.

The real medical pros can explain that lots better than I can. Yoooohooooo Steve......