Sleep apnea help...

Well, I don’t know much about sleep apnea but I finally had my follow up with my sleep doctor. I had a sleep study only, not a CPAP yet. My passage way is narrow he says and looks considerably like obstructive sleep apnea. He said he saw a couple red flags with my study and said he couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly what’s happening but he is convinced it’s affecting me. He said I did have episodes of not breathing for 10 seconds and quite a bit of arousals. He also noticed that my heart really starts working in my REM cycles. He says because I stop breathing my heart starts to overwork. He says though that I am not ‘qualified’ as sleep apnea positive but he says that I am being affected by this. He wants me to go in for a second test, this time for the CPAP. He truly believes from what he saw that I am being affected in my sleep. He says it is going to be harder to figure out how to treat me.

I asked for my sleep study results to look at them but its all jargon to me. I don’t know quite what to look for, or what causes what. So I am a bit confused. Has anyone had this happen? My insurance will look at this and see a non sleep apnea person but my doctor says that I am suffering from sleep disorder… not sure if it’s obstructive sleep apnea yet… I don’t know lol just so lost right now because I did not get an answer from my doctor which is frustrating. I figured I would know all my answers after my sleep test… but it only brings up more questions! Uggg I needed to vent, thanks for listening ya all.

I'm no doctor, but I had the worst sleep apnea, which didn't go away until I was nearly at goal.

I don't get why you weren't tested with and without a c-pap in one study. Maybe your doc wants more $$$ by making you do more than one study. It sounds like you probably have a mild case of sleep apnea, which is still serious. I don't see why the doctor would say that's hard to treat.

Again, I'm not a doctor. That's just my thoughts.

He said that sometimes they cannot get both studies in one night, he forwarned me before I even had it done. My insurance covers it all so I am not worried abou the money but like you said it confusses me on why he said I would be harder to treat... Thank you for your input at least I know its not just me that is confussed.

IMNSHO two full night studies give a better picture of what's going on than those split studies do.

Sounds like you're kind of like my husband was back when he first had a sleep study done some ten years ago. (He's gotten worse with age and really needs a new study.) He didn't have quite enough apnea episodes to qualify for that diagnosis, but he had a lot of hypopnea, or oxygen drops (partial obstructions in his case) and a lot of arousals. So his sleep was very poor.

You need further evaluation to see if the CPAP will improve those other anomalies or if you need still MORE testing to see what's happening to wake you up so often. They would have likely caught restless leg syndrome and some types of brain issues on this study. (There are some kinds of seizure type things that happen in sleep. I'm not sure if they are all ruled out in sleep studies or not.)

I'm glad to hear this doc is so thorough.

Thanks for replying EN. He did mention wanting to see how the CPAP affected me while I slept. This makes sense... maybe I just don't like grey areas... lol give me black or white but not grey! I just hope he fixes me because I just don't feel right. He sounds like he won't give up on me though. I am very happy with him as a sleep doctor just not happy he doesn't believe in WLS. So I have been keeping really low key on WLS with him, I don't bring it up and I just focus on the sleep studies. He is a good doctor just very opinionated and there is no swaying him. So I don't push my ideas and we get along GREAT.

Will my insurance consider this as some form or start of sleep apnea then? I hope it does because it is affecting me and it would help getting approved but you know insurance agencies.... >.

Well, to qualify for the actual dx code, you have to have a certain number of apnea episodes. I remember Mr. EN was one short (whether the whole night or per hour I don't recall) and his insurance at the time used that to refuse to pay for his CPAP, despite a zillion hypopnea episodes, which were also helped by CPAP. Jerks.

Do you have any other comorbidities? Sorry, the memory sucks here....

Insurance can be a pain in the ass sometimes:( These are definate fears of mine.

I am afraid my doc is going to perscripe a CPAP machine and that insurance would throw a tizzy and not pay because I am short a few arousals to qualify me.
I am afraid my insurance will not consider this as more proof why I need surgery.

Actually EN I am comobidity free but.... I have issues regarding weight but they don't consider comobidities.
I have PCOS (is proven to help when weight is lost), Hashimoto's Disease (which causes serious metabolism problems), pre-diabetes, and now I have sleep obstruction but not enough to officially label me as having sleep apnea.

What I am hopeing will get me through this insurance approval is my extensive family history. I have diabetes on both sides of my family, morbid obesity, and thyroid problems. My mother had gestational diabetes, both grandmothers, 3 aunts, 1 cousin (my cousin was only 6 when diagnosed) also have diabetes. I could go on and on with how many have thyroid problems but I won't start hahaha

I just hope the insurance seeing I am heading down a dark road if something doesn't change... I really dont' want to go to a higher BMI. I am on a dietician supervised weight loss program and I am GAINING WEIGHT! I am so metabolicly messed up! If I just had that malabsorbtion part I know I could do this!! Wish me luck in my journey, I turn my information in at the end of October.

Well, if insurance doesn't pay for a CPAP you can rent one, or you can purchase one online from a place like www.cpap.com for a fraction of what the medical equipment/home health places charge.

Hang in there. One worry at a time :-).

yea can you tell.... big worry wort! lol